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Advocacy group files complaint against MTA, Metro
An African-American advocacy group has filed a civil rights complaint with the Federal Transit Authority against Metro for its proposed 25-cent bus fare increase.
The complaint, filed by a group called Power to the People, alleges “racial and socio-economic discrimination” by the Metro Transit Authority, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Metro Planning Organization and the Regional Transit Authority.
Power to the People is seeking a suspension of all federal funds to those four governmental agencies. The complaint also asks the FTA and the U.S. Department of Transportation to put a stop to the proposed rate hike in addition to the elimination of the seven MTA bus routes.
MTA has proposed a 25-cent hike, raising its fare to $1.60, in addition to the elimination of seven lesser-used routes. The increase and route reduction come at a time when MTA says it is faced with an estimated $2.9 million budget shortfall because of a cut in its Metro budget and soaring diesel fuel costs.
The complaint says MTA did not have sufficient public meetings (it held a total of five) on the issue of a fare increase. It also alleges that MTA does not sufficiently provide information on public meetings to low-income and minority riders.
Additionally, Power to the People alleges that Tennessee does not support public transportation enough — offering $400 million annually in highway maintenance and just $40 million in public transit funds, according to the complaint.
An MTA spokeswoman said they were not aware of the complaint.
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Increasing the bus fare by a quarter is racism and a violation of civil rights? Wow. Even by the most convoluted logic, I don't see the connection.Let's look at what they are asking:Suspend all federal funds. For MTA, they receive $7.4M of their $41M budget from the Federal government. Shut down routes, stop service, fire people to absorb this 18% loss. Why not suspend the state contribution also? There's another $5.4M lost. So, why not cut their budget 31%? Of course, that will also cut down their earned revenues of $10.9M, so the downward spiral continues.What they are asking for will effectively shut down the MTA. Then, no bus service for anyone. Isn't equality wonderful?
Fares only contribute 1/4 of the cost of operation so fares are a bargain. I have no problem with the increase. What troubles me is the loss of routes. Some parts of town will be totally without service, such as Old Hickory, Lakewood, Bellshire and MOST of Madison. These cutbacks are appallingly short-sighted. At a time when ridership is increasing and gas is going sky high, to cut back routes and services is crazy. Make the Mayor, his staff and all the councillors ride the bus for a month and see what happens.
Tennessee is a donor state when it comes to transit. Most people, including the legislature do not know that the state law limits the percentage of transportation funds that a county can spend on transit. When new forms of transit are introduced like trains or light rail, the bus service often suffers as they try to serve that new function with the resources of the old bus system. North Carolina has a free bus system with no fare box in Chapel Hill and it still struggels to fill up the seats.
Does anyone here see this rising to the level of racial discrimination? If not, does the filing of a complaint by this group trivialize real racial discrimination?
MTA is already subsidized. Costs have increased dramatically, so they need to increase the price of the tickets purchased by the people who ride the bus. This does not seem particularly complicated. Inappropriate complaints like this are no help to anyone.
As a daily bus rider, I have to agree that the fare increase is necessary and appropriate. I'd rather spend $.25 more each way than to drive my car from my home to downtown. The alternative is NO bus service. No business can stay afloat if the income does not cover the outgo. With costs skyrocketing, this meager increase is a drop in the bucket.As for the loss of routes, the only routes that will be discontinued (as I understand it) are the routes with low ridership. I feel that MTA has looked long and hard at the issue, and that these proposed changes are logical and well thought out. I do feel sorry for those who lose their route, but perhaps there are alternate routes that can be taken.
Only liberal logic can equate a rate increase to racism (racial discrimination). This is real easy...the department is in the red and there are two ways to reverse this situation; increase revenue (rates) or reduce expenses. To its credit, MTA has elected to do both concurrently.
This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that our legal system is broken.
Every time you fill up your car, 2.28 cents per gallon goes to transit. The federal government then adds money to the Transit Fund from the federal General Fund. If we were not sending so much money to the east coast blue states for their public transit, we could have more to spend here. Since most of the people complaining seem to be voting for the blue state favorites,they should take this up with their congressman.
Hmm, are they only charging the African Americans more? I didn't think so,What a waste of time this complaint is.
Hey, the loonies discovered another civil rights violation, socio-economic discrimination.So, according to these people, "taxing the rich" is a violation of civil rights and should be prohibited by law.
I ride the bus daily. The increase in fare is expected due to the soaring gas prices. Eliminating some of the routes is unfortunate. If I was thinking about moving, I would have to eliminate looking in certain areas for housing because there would be no bus service.These are tough times and I think MTA is doing the best thing.
Skybolt said: "but perhaps there are alternate routes that can be taken."There are NOT alternate routes for some. For instance, one route to be cut would be the ONLY bus which serves Old Hickory (and the senior highrise), Lakewood, another senior highrise in Madison, plus Summit and Skyline Madison hospitals would lose the only service they have, which is only 4 times a day as it is. They should keep those routes and make incremental cut backs on other routes. For instance, cut back 3-4 trips on the Gallatin Rd bus but give the route the double bus which it needs, as the bus is usually SRO.
The pessimist in me has to ask, are there under performing routes in downtown? If so would the service cuts be another example of the downtown-centric attitude of Metro government and its quasi-government agencies. Buses are used by the people who live here and most of the living occurs in every other neighborhood except downtown.I am thinking that MTA has saturated the downtown streets with various bus services ensuring limited wait times. Conversely this wonderful brand of service in downtown means less marvelous (or even no) service in the rest of metro (where a majority of the homes and jobs are). Downtown has a reputation it does not deserve for being the place where people work. So much so that it is used as a hub by transit often left wondering why ridership is still so limited in much of Nashville. A train that runs to 1st avenue where it is miles and miles (and multiple transportation legs)away from thousands of work places is only one example of this.Decrying racism is silly. There are many reasons to be mad at public transit but racism in not a viable one.
I thought we had welfare to take of stuff like this.