The bus is no longer just the bus. To members of the newly formed Transit Riders Union, it's a way to level the playing field.
"Inevitably, this is a social justice, civil rights issue," featured speaker James Bible, President of the Seattle/King County NAACP, said at the Nov. 15 meeting of the newly formed Seattle Transit Riders Union.
About 50 people showed up for the kickoff of the group, which was formed by Katie Wilson, Scott Myers and Chris Mobley.
They launched a campaign in August to raise rider awareness about planned Metro service cuts.
Passage of the $20 car tab fee in King County prevented those cuts, but Wilson said she and her colleagues feel there's more to be done on behalf of low-income and working class people who depend on public transit.
"We wouldn't all be sitting here tonight if there wasn't something that posed a great threat to our transit system," Wilson said.
Transit advocates are looking down the road to prevent future cuts.
"We got the $20 car tab [congestion reduction fee approved by the King County Council] but that really wasn't what we wanted," said Dick Burkhart, president of the Washington State Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice. "What we wanted was a more progressive option."
Activists need to push for better sources for transit funding, he said.
Bible, of the NAACP, said that the bus system provides transportation for all and is focal point for community interaction and social justice.
Preserving cuts to such service requires community involvement, said Nate Chappelle, Metro's Operator of the Year for 2007: "The only way things will change is when everyone says 'enough is enough.'"
For more information, see transitriders.org.