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: 

When we launched Atlanta Streets Alive in 2010, we set out to shift Atlanta’s culture. We wanted to inspire Atlantans to re-envision and reclaim our city streets as public spaces for people. Now, 10 years, 29 open streets demonstrations, 83 miles, and 1.7 MILLION participants later, a modest mile on Edgewood Avenue has evolved into an award-winning initiative. It’s clear that Atlanta Streets Alive has been embraced by Atlantans as part of our city's cultural signature. So where will the next decade take us?

DeKalb Avenue is fast, dangerous, and out of control. In 2015, Atlanta voters overwhelming approved the Renew Atlanta Infrastructure Bond to update and improve our streets, including a Complete Street for DeKalb Avenue.

Yet in 2019, after three years of public meetings, funding for the Complete Street on DeKalb Avenue was cut, leaving only resurfacing and replacing the reversible lane with a center turn lane and design for a future Complete Street in the budget. It's not clear where funding would come from to actually build it. 

The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, along with community members and neighborhoods along DeKalb, is continuing the fight for a DeKalb that serves more than high-speed traffic speeding through our communities. DeKalb Ave connects 11 neighborhoods -- all but 1 wrote letters of support for a Complete Street. 

We are calling for any project, including repaving, that affects this key, flat corridor to make the road safer -- for everyone. The resurfacing project should include a buffer between people walking on the sidewalk and cars, and a place for people to bike. 

The City of Atlanta retained Arcadis as the design firm for the striping design for the first phase of resurfacing on this project. They are pursuing short-term safety improvements that can be accomplished within the resurfacing project, with an eye toward long-term improvements that can be built in a future second phase.

The design team intends to begin meeting again with various local stakeholders in January and February 2020 to be followed by a public meeting. It's not yet clear when the design will be finalized and when the resurfacing project will go to construction.

Atlanta Bicycle Coalition remains an advocate for both long and short term solution to the dangerous conditions on DeKalb Avenue. The improvements should address the glaring gap in bike facilities stretching from the Stone Mountain PATH trail to the Inman Park-Reynoldstown MARTA station.