Baltimore's Black communities are struggling to get to work after pandemic-related cuts to city's bus system scaled back service. (Wikimedia Commons)
December 28, 2020BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore group pushing for more equitable transit policies commemorated the 64th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott with a virtual rally, linking the civil-rights campaign of the 1950s to the fight against local public-transit cuts brought on by the pandemic.
In response to record low ridership in recent months, the Maryland Transit Administration aimed to eliminate 25 Baltimore bus lines that would affect mostly Black neighborhoods.
Sharif Rashid, a Baltimore resident, and the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition pushed back to stop the agency but it still slashed service, making it difficult for Rashid and others to get to their jobs.
"When the pandemic hit I had to change the location of my job, and now I'm currently at FedEx," Rashid explained. "Just for, you know, a $16 or $17 wage, I've got to go hours out of the way. If I catch a Lyft or Uber, it's $25 or $30; I didn't really make anything for the day, you know what I mean?"
Rashid spoke at the virtual rally. About one in three Baltimore residents lacks access to a car, and nearly 40% of bus riders work essential jobs.
The rally was sponsored by groups including the Equity Coalition, Racial Justice Baltimore and the Maryland Sierra Club. It's on the Facebook page of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition.
The 64th anniversary of the Montgomery bus boycott is a compelling reminder of how public transportation activism can result in social change.
Brandon Scott, Baltimore's newly elected Mayor, made that point at the rally. He said Baltimore's Black neighborhoods are still dealing with the challenges and injustices of biased transit policies.
"Historically, transit and equity has always been linked back to racial injustice, in Baltimore and beyond," Scott remarked. "The work that's happening today is building on the work of civil rights leaders like Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, who we know started the Montgomery bus boycott."
Claudette Colvin, the first person arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white person, also spoke at the rally.
The Central Maryland Transportation Alliance's 2020 report card gave Baltimore's transit system a letter grade of "D" for the fourth straight year.
Diane Bernard, Public News Service - MD
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