Does Your City Need a Transit Riders Union?

They tell a favorite story within the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union about the moment when the barely two-year-old organization first began to wield real power in the city. It was 1994, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority was preparing to raise fares and eliminate the monthly bus pass on which many low-income riders depended. The Bus Riders Union filed for a temporary restraining order against the changes. And a judge actually gave it to them.

"For us, that was the single biggest breakthrough, and we knew the entire county was not going to be seeing us in the same way again," says Francisca Porchas, an organizer with the union today. "We were the people who had actually stopped the fare increase from going into effect."