February 4, 2022 | Take the Challenge

Transit Equity Day

Transit Equity Day is a national day of action to commemorate Rosa Parks' birthday by declaring that public transit is a civil right. This day of action is organized by a network of transit rider unions, community organizations, environmental groups, and labor unions.

February 4 was chosen because Rosa Parks is an iconic figure among many of the civil rights era who chose the tactic of refusing to give up her seat on the bus. This act of resistance highlights the rights of all people to high-quality public transportation powered by clean and renewable energy.

Transit Equity Day supports a just transition from the fossil fuel economy to clean, renewable energy as a way to confront the climate crisis. A just transition also requires that we uphold worker and civil rights: everyone should have access to free or affordable public transportation regardless of age, race, or class. Finally, a just transition means supporting the rights of workers to organize. 

Partner Organizations

To officials: will you take the Challenge?

1. Ride the bus to and from work or wherever you go on Friday, February 4th in honor of Rosa Parks’ birthday

2. Talk about your experience on social media to show solidarity with everyone who relies on transit to get around every day. Use hashtags #TransitEquityDay #TakeTransitATL 

3. Inform your constituents about what’s happening with transit in our communities (we made a list to make it easy). Be sure to talk about MARTA's bus network redesign, NextGen Bus, that's underway, and how it could affect/benefit riders. 

4. Adopt a resolution recognizing Transit Equity Day on February 4th, 2022. Thank you Atlanta City Council for adopting Resolution 3053 expressing support for the call to observe a day of action on public transportation as a civil right. The measure passed with 14 yeas and 1 nay. 

6. Take transit as much as possible throughout the month and beyond. Keep sharing stories of your own experiences as well as those of the riders you meet.

7. Vote for transit equity: more funding for transit and projects that address inequities in our systems and create a more equitable future.

Who's pledging?

• Atlanta Council President Doug Shipman
• Atlanta Councilmember Post 2 At-Large Matt Westmoreland
• Atlanta City Councilmember District 1 Jason Winston
• Atlanta Councilmember District 2 Amir Farokhi (Transportation Committee Chair)
• Atlanta Councilmember District 4 Jason Dozier
• Atlanta Councilmember District 5 Liliana Bakhtiari
• Atlanta Councilmember District 11 Marci Collier Overstreet
• Atlanta Councilmember District 12 Antonio Lewis
• Atlanta Department of Transportation Commissioner Josh Rowan
• MARTA Interim General Manager / Chief Executive Officer Collie Greenwood

To transit riders: challenge your elected officials!

• Contact your officials and ask them to take the challenge!

• We’ve asked our elected officials to take the #TransitEquityDay Bus Challenge by taking public transit to work, run errands, and other activities in their daily lives to experience firsthand what it’s like to navigate bus and train lines in Metro Atlanta. Not only can you join Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens in taking the bus to work, but you may run into Councilmember Jason Dozier while waiting at a stop or Representative Bee Nguyen on her way to the Capitol. If you spot your elected official participating in the challenge, post a pic on social with the hashtag #TakeTransitATL and #RidingWithJason or #RidingWithBee. 

• Even if you don’t see any officials out and about, you can still participate in the discussion with them by posting your transit commute with #TransitEquityDay #TakeTransitATL and letting everyone know what transit equity means to you. Posts on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #TakeTransitATL will appear below: 

In February 2021, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and PEDS announced that our two organizations were considering plans to merge. We are thrilled to share that in May both boards voted unanimously to move forward with the merger, and as of June 17, 2021 the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and PEDS have officially merged.

We are excited to join forces with PEDS’ leadership and community to strengthen our advocacy for an Atlanta where everyone moves safely, easily, and sustainably. As we move forward with the process, we will share relevant updates on the merger — including the timeline, process, and frequently asked questions — on this page.

Timeline

We're celebrating a success for this campaign! Safe Routes to School is funded in the City of Atlanta's FY '22 budget.

On September 6, 2019, 14-year-old Jermaine “J.J.” Wallace, Jr. was killed by a speeding driver as he waited for the school bus on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway.

“His mother rushed to the scene to find her son in critical condition laying in the street. Paramedics rushed the Douglas High freshman to Grady Memorial Hospital, but he did not survive. Dorothy Porter, who is a mother of four, fought back tears as she talked to FOX 5 Aungelique Proctor about the unexpected loss. ‘My son was the life of this house. My son was everywhere. Everybody loved Jermaine Jr. Everybody. My son was an honor roll student. He never missed school,’ Ms. Porter recalled."

In Atlanta, some 8% of Atlanta’s streets account for 88% of fatalities and 52% of severe injuries, and just 10 streets account for one-third of traffic fatalities. Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, named after the prominent Atlanta civil rights attorney, is among the ten most dangerous corridors forming Atlanta’s High-Injury Network. 

High-Injury Network streets are not evenly distributed across the city — in fact, roughly two­-thirds of the network is located west of Northside Drive or south of I-­20. On the whole, neighborhoods with more miles of the High­-Injury Network had lower median incomes, a larger share of Black residents, higher rates of walking, biking, and taking transit to work, and lower rates of vehicle ownership.

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) Pedestrian Safety Action Plan says Donald Lee Hollowell is one of the “top corridors in Georgia with clear patterns of pedestrian crashes that resulted in serious or fatal injuries,” and in 2019 its Atlanta Intown Multimodal Safety Analysis Study found that Hollowell was among the corridors with high rates of people being hit by speeding drivers.

For decades, residents have decried the lives lost and advocated for safety improvements for Donald Lee Hollowell. Tragically, their efforts were ignored — until recently. 

In 2018, the City of Atlanta asked the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to make a section of Hollowell near the Bankhead MARTA station safer with a lane reduction to reduce speed. GDOT’s District 7 denied the request at the time, but the pressure to prioritize safety over speed on state routes continued to grow. Community activism combined with attention from the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, PEDS, other organizations, elected officials, and City staff, along with GDOT’s own safety goals finally led to concrete results.

In 2019, following J.J.’s death, neighborhood leaders and elected officials organized a series of town hall meetings called “One Corridor.” Alongside public agencies and state elected officials, community members discussed the challenges facing people trying to use or cross Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway.

Around this time, GDOT initiated an analysis of state routes in Atlanta. The study, released in 2020, found that redesigning the most dangerous corridors could save lives through safer street designs (find out why some roads are more dangerous than others).

One year after J.J.’s passing, in 2020, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) responded to community calls for safety with the announcement that it would install three signalized crossings on the corridor. GDOT installed one pedestrian crossing, outside the Johnnie B. Moore Towers senior center, in January 2021. As of May 7, 2021, the power company had not turned on electricity to the signal. The timeline for the remaining two signalized crosswalks, planned for Woods Drive and Eugenia Place, remained to be determined. 

But better news was on the horizon. 

In the summer of 2020, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition gathered community members to form the Donald Lee Hollowell Safe Streets Committee with support from the Energy Foundation. Following six weeks of training on the basics of safe street design and advocacy, the committee got to work.

Now, there's a major milestone for a safer Hollowell — the announcement that GDOT will convert 2.8 miles of the corridor to three lanes with a center turn lane. The safety project is intended to meet community demands to reduce the dangerous speeds, add a buffer between the roadway and the sidewalk, and make crossing the street on foot, bike/scooter, or wheelchair safer and easier.

This safety project, shown here on GDOT’s website, "proposes a 4-to-3-lane road diet between SR 280 / Hamilton E. Holmes Dr / James Jackson Pkwy and Stiff St. The project would reduce total crashes by as much 47% and create space within existing right-of-way to install short strategic medians for pedestrian refuge/prohibiting unsafe conflict points, turn lanes, and pedestrian crossings along the corridor." 

At one end of this project, the intersection with Hamilton E. Holmes Drive / James Jackson Parkway, Hollowell transitions to two lanes. At the other end is Stiff Street, just past the Bankhead MARTA station. At this intersection, Hollowell has been widened to fluctuate between four and five lanes with a median.

A representative of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms stated that her support for reducing the number of lanes on Hollowell, saying “she has made it clear that the safety improvements on Donald Lee Hollowell are a priority.” 

The Donald Lee Hollowell Safe Streets Committee noted,

“We are honored to advocate for a corridor with such an inspirational namesake. Donald Lee Hollowell’s work should be further honored by improving the street to prioritize safety and inclusion.” 

Resources

• High-Injury Network
• Georgia Department of Transportation Pedestrian Safety Action Plan
• Georgia Department of Transportation Board member Stacey Key celebrating the long road to a safer Donald Lee Hollowell in the AJC
• GDOT Project Information: 0017926 SR 8/US 278 FROM SR 280 TO CS 6701/STIFF STREET

Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway in the news

• "Microsoft's planned Grove Park campus, other projects, spur urgency for pedestrian safety" (Atlanta Business Chronicle, July 2021)
• "Opinion: Improving safety on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway Corridor" (AJC, April 2021)
• "False text message enraged Atlanta residents over road project" (AJC, Feb 2021)
• "Atlanta council may override of mayor's veto on road deal" (AJC, Feb 2021)
• "'Relief' comes to Hollowell Parkway as crosswalk installed on deadly stretch of road" (AJC, Jan 2021)
• "Pedestrian unfriendly: after deaths on Hollowell Parkway, residents await fixes" (AJC, Oct 2020)
• "Police say pedestrian killed by hit-and-run driver" (AJC, Sep 2020)
• "GDOT to add crosswalk where 14-year-old was hit, killed while waiting for school bus" (AJC, Jan 2020)
• "Mother of teen killed in hit and run speaks" (Fox 5 Atlanta, Sep 2019)
• "Teen hit by car walking to school remembered for his kindness: He was a 'one-of-a-kind child'" (King5, Sep 2019)

Atlanta Board of Education Policy Agenda: Make it possible for kids to travel safely and sustainably to school

In 1969, almost half of all students ages 5-14 walked or biked to school. By 2013, that figure dropped to 17.4 percent. Sedentary lifestyles have led to an epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States. Overweight and obese children face an increased risk of health problems and are more likely to miss school and struggle academically. The pandemic has made us even more aware of the health benefits of exercise in maintaining strong respiratory and cardiology systems.

Atlanta Public Schools has the responsibility to help all children become more physically active by implementing proven strategies that promote walking, biking, and rolling to and from school. Physical education classes, recess, and after-school programs currently support students’ opportunities for physical activity, but more can be done. Measures like traffic calming, transportation safety education, and infrastructure improvements will further enhance students’ overall health and personal development through opportunities to increase physical activity, engage with their communities, and form life-long healthy transportation habits. This responsibility requires action, with a deliberate focus on children in school communities where negative health indicators are highly correlated with one’s zip code.

Education is fundamental to building future travelers who get around in ways that build community, save money, improve health, and conserve space. How kids get places today can be a good indicator of how they will move throughout the city tomorrow.

Public transportation, or transit, benefits everyone — even people who don’t use it. Transit cuts down on traffic, helps students and employees get to work on time, and is safer than other modes of travel.

City of Atlanta Policy Agenda: Transit & Affordability Recommendations

Public transportation, or transit, is a public good — it benefits everyone, even people who don’t use it. Transit cuts down on traffic, helps employees get to work on time, and uses less space than parking in cities where land use is at a premium. For those who rely on it or use it occasionally, public transportation is less expensive than car ownership, provides more chances for social interaction than sitting in traffic, and is the safest way to travel. Atlanta’s severe lack of solid transit options is a major barrier to economic and cultural development. It also hinders our ability to become more resilient in the age of climate change.

Sustainable transportation modes — biking, walking, riding transit, running, or using wheelchairs, strollers, skateboards, or scooters — are less expensive than owning a car. Yet the cost of driving is often built into other goods and services. Because Atlanta’s housing sector continues to grow more expensive and more burdensome on people’s budgets, we are looking for ways transportation policy can lower the cost of housing. When people are less burdened by housing costs, they are able to dedicate more resources to invest in their community's ability to thrive, whether that's supporting local businesses or freeing up more time to participate in community engagement processes.

City of Atlanta Policy Agenda: Funding Recommendations

One major barrier to building an inclusive transportation network is the lack of money available to build projects. These recommendations intend to provide more resources for sustainable transportation projects. We define sustainable transportation as relatively green ways of getting around that are low-emission and reduce the negative impacts of transportation on the climate and environment.

City of Atlanta Policy Agenda: Safety Recommendations

Nationally, the number of people killed while walking in the U.S. increased 54% between 2009 and 2018. This followed a three-decade drop in pedestrian fatalities. Fatalities increased fastest among Black men and people over 60. In the city of Atlanta, fewer people died on our roadways in 2020 than the year before, yet the loss of even one person in traffic is unacceptable when we could have prevented it. Too many of our streets are not safe in any mode of travel, but especially not for people walking, biking, running, waiting for the bus, or using wheelchairs, scooters, or strollers.

What’s more, the most dangerous roads — Atlanta’s “High-Injury Network” — are concentrated on the south and west sides of the city, in neighborhoods where most residents are Black and where incomes are below the city’s median income due to systemic racism. Unsafe streets in systematically marginalized communities also lead to more interactions with the police. We need leaders who understand the need for an equitable approach to safety. Equity is a just outcome that allows everyone to thrive and share in a prosperous, inclusive society. Equity puts into practice, through policies and allocation of resources, principles that intentionally dismantle generational power structures and other disparities that continue privilege. 

Regardless of where you live or who you are, it’s time for the era when a simple trip to the store could turn deadly to come to an end. We have to make a decision: prioritize safety or accept the status quo? 

In 2020, the City of Atlanta committed to Vision Zero — a safe systems approach that strives to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries. Achieving that level of safety in our streets will require the City to fund and build streets safe for people to bike and walk, to install curb ramps so people using wheelchairs can get to sidewalks, and to deliver transit service that doesn’t punish riders with long wait times and bus stops without shelters or benches. 

When combined with infrastructure projects that prioritize safety for people using all modes of transportation, the policy recommendations can create an Atlanta where no one dies in traffic, people can use streets without fear of biased enforcement, and vehicles travel at safe, predictable speeds throughout the city. 

It's time for Atlanta's leaders to elevate safe, equitable, sustainable mobility solutions to the top of the agenda.

Join the movement by signing on to our equity & mobility policy agenda today.

Thank you to the partner organizations who helped develop and support this agenda!

Community Organizations Urge CDC to Prioritize and Protect Transit As Safe, Equitable Public Good 

As our society starts to re-open in ways that keep people safe, the undersigned organizations believe we should focus on supporting those disproportionately impacted by both COVID-19 infections and the economic harm inflicted by the pandemic, which have hit communities of color hardest. Yet the CDC’s “COVID-19 Employer Information for Office Buildings” released last week include a disturbing willingness to give up on ensuring transit is safe for riders and operators, the majority of whom are people of color.

The CDC guidance from May 28th recommended: “for employees who commute to work using public transportation or ride sharing, consider offering the following support: offer employees incentives to use forms of transportation that minimize close contact with others, such as offering reimbursement for parking for commuting to work alone or single-occupancy rides.

By June 1, the CDC had added “biking and walking” to “driving or riding by car either alone or with household members” and removed the reference to reimbursing parking. They also added a link on “how to protect yourself when using transportation” with more neutral guidance on all kinds of transportation.

Any guidance from the CDC that tells people to stay away from public transportation is not the answer. What’s more, it’s irrelevant to the lives of the many who rely on transit. Transit is a public good. Our society should focus on protecting it, not telling people to avoid it. 

It is imperative that we invest in making transit safe for riders and operators. Anything less undermines the dignity of the essential workers who use transit and who operate transit. Many people don't have another option. Sixteen percent of Atlanta households don’t have access to a motor vehicle. The families residing in these households include our frontline and essential workers. 

What’s more, by riding transit people contribute to a social benefit --- better air quality. COVID-19, a respiratory pandemic, is made even more deadly by a reliance on driving alone. Particulate matter in the air kills, and it kills people in low-income communities of color at higher rates.

Recommendations

For the CDC

• CDC’s guidance on protecting yourself when using transportation includes all modes: “Public transit, rideshares and taxis, micro-mobility devices, and personal vehicles.” Their guidance to employers reopening office buildings should do the same. Transit is not inherently unsafe. 
• If office buildings can be made safe enough for employees to return, transit must be given the same or greater consideration. In other cities around the world, densely-packed transit systems have continued to operate without increasing the number of cases, seemingly due to widespread adoption of face masks. 

For transit agencies, including MARTA

• MARTA recently cited concerns about enforcement and political debates among reasons not to require riders wear masks, but masks should be encouraged and even provided. Transit agencies should ensure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is widely available to transit riders and operators: for example, through mask and glove dispensers and hand sanitizing stations at all entrances and exits and on platforms. They should launch public awareness campaigns to encourage mask wearing. Emerging research is showing that awareness and changing expectations to normalize mask use have the benefit of being more effective than enforcement. 
• They should provide operators and other personnel access to sick leave and policies that encourage them to stay home if they feel sick and make sure those who keep the system clean have plentiful cleaning supplies and equipment. Transit agencies can also take the lead in creating an innovation market for sanitation and cleanliness. 

For cities

• When too many buses come in a row or are too far apart, it becomes harder to social distance on transit. Cities should invest in bus lanes to keep buses moving, as well as other transportation infrastructure that prioritizes essential workers. 

For companies

• Companies and large employers should use their influence and connections to support the necessary investments to make transit safe for everyone. 
• They should also adopt policies that actively foster sustainable transportation options, including biking, walking, and riding transit, for their employees and commit to making sustainable transportation the first choice in commuting for their companies.

About the Partners

• TransFormation Alliance, a broad partnership of organizations from the private, public and nonprofit sectors dedicated to creating thriving, mixed-income communities anchored by transit and linked to all the opportunities and amenities that make Atlanta great. 
• Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, an advocacy organization dedicated to creating an Atlanta where everyone moves safely, easily, and sustainably throughout the city.
• MARTA Army, an independent grassroots action group, committed to enhancing the ridership experience on public transit here in Metro Atlanta.
• Central Atlanta Progress, a private nonprofit community development organization providing leadership, programs and services to preserve and strengthen the economic vitality of Downtown Atlanta.
• Thread ATL, a non-profit that aims to influence Atlanta’s planning and design decisions toward a greater focus on good urbanism
• PEDS, dedicated to making streets and communities in Georgia, safe, inviting, and accessible to all pedestrians. 

• Generator, bringing people together to generate ideas that shape the future of cities.  

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the critical importance for people working essential jobs and getting to essential services to have safe, convenient, and affordable transportation options. Yet cuts to transit service mean options are even more limited than before the pandemic. 

More and more Atlantans are turning to biking and walking to get where they need to go. Unfortunately, our city lacks a safe and connected network of spaces for these essential forms of transportation. 

In May and June of 2020, you joined us in calling on the City of Atlanta to fully fund and rapidly build already-planned projects with community support and to prioritize first- and last-mile connections for those who continue to rely on transit, especially frontline and essential workers, who are disproportionately people of color and women. Atlanta’s April 2020 adoption of Vision Zero shows the City is committed to getting to the goal of zero traffic deaths--these investments would be a strong immediate step in that direction.

Read more for initial results from this campaign.