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SEPTA Workers Vote To Authorize Strike

October 25, 2021 Pat Ralph, Philly Voice. , ,
SEPTA's transit union has taken another step towards a potential work stoppage, as workers voted unanimously Sunday to authorize a strike if a new contract can't be agreed upon over the next week. More than 1,000 members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 gathered Sunday for the vote at the Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall in South Philly, according to KYW Newsradio. A vote to authorize a strike doesn't guarantee that all 5,000 members of SEPTA's transit union will be walking off the job. Rather, it gives union leadership the power to call for a work stoppage if a new deal can't be reached with SEPTA by the end of the month. "Our members are essential workers who have risked their lives and put their own families at risk during this pandemic," Local 234 President Willie Brown said this week.

Take This Job And Love It

October 21, 2021 Jaisal Noor, The Progressive Magazine. , , ,
In the six years that Michael Ugwu has worked as an Uber driver in New York City, he’s seen a growing share of his earnings diverted into venture capitalists’ pockets. Uber and Lyft require workers to assume a myriad of expenses that can quickly trap drivers like Ugwu into debt and poverty. “Currently, they’re taking out between 35 to 40 percent, when you add up all the deductions,” Ugwu says. “You end up not having enough to pay rent, maintain the car, pay the car loan, and buy gas. They’re continuously ripping us off.” By 2017, rideshare drivers were earning less than half what they made just four years earlier, a study found. Meanwhile, executives at Lyft and Uber have raked in tens of millions of dollars in compensation.

Taxi Drivers Plan Hunger Strike For Debt Relief

October 19, 2021 Annie McDonough, City and State N.Y.. , ,
Details of how the hunger strike will work are still being finalized, but Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the driver group New York Taxi Workers Alliance, said that dozens are signed up to join so far. “We cannot wait for the next administration,” Desai said. “Leaving drivers at $300,000 (or) $500,000 in debt is not a resolution. It’s a set-up for failure.”

Reno Transit Workers Holding Firm In Second Strike Since August

October 18, 2021 Scott Cooper, Left Voice. , , ,
Reno, Nevada, - Workers for the Washoe County Regional Transit Commission (RTC) went out on strike against the RTC’s contractor, Keolis North America — a division of a notoriously anti-union company based in France that manages bus and rail operations in several U.S. cities, including Boston, Fort Lauderdale, and Los Angeles. The strikers — around 200 workers in all, including drivers, mechanics, and cleaners —  were provoked by Keolis proposing a new health plan for the workers — one that would replace their existing coverage with what’s known as Health Plan of Nevada. That’s a plan offered to low-income families,” Michael Lansborough explained. “It’s a travesty for those who need that insurance when we can afford what we already have.”

Climate Activists Stage Protest At Airport Against Private Jet Emissions

October 3, 2021 The Canary. , ,
Extinction Rebellion activists claim to have blocked all major entrances to a private airport in protest against emissions from private jets. As part of the protest, a stretched limousine has been parked at the gates to Farnborough Airport in Hampshire. The protesters, including a former airline pilot, are raising awareness of the emissions caused by private flights.

World’s First Battery-Powered Freight Train Unveiled In Pittsburgh

September 24, 2021 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. , , ,
The world's first ever battery-electric freight train was unveiled in Pittsburgh on Friday. The train, known as the FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive, was built by rail-freight company Wabtec and showcased at Carnegie Mellon University as part of a bid by the two organizations to decarbonize rail freight transport in the U.S., The Guardian reported. "A bolder, cleaner, more efficient transportation system is in our grasp," Wabtec chief executive Raphael Santana said, as The Guardian reported. "This is just the beginning." In addition to partnering with Carnegie Mellon on this venture, Wabtec is also working with fellow freight company Genesee & Wyoming, according to Railway Age.

Railway Workers Strike Amidst Wave Of Transportation Struggles

July 21, 2021 Brunna Machado, WSWS. , , ,
A strike by São Paulo railway workers last Thursday, July 15, shut down an important section of public transport in Brazil’s largest city over the demand for higher wages. More than 40 stations and four railway lines of São Paulo’s Company of Metropolitan Trains (CPTM), which carry about one million riders daily, were affected by the strike.

Demonstrations In Bloomington During 300-Mile ‘Walk For Licenses’

July 17, 2021 Phyllis Cha, Indiana Daily Student. , , ,
Undocumented immigrants, immigrants and allies of the community passed through Bloomington Thursday on day six of their seven-day, 300-mile “Walk for Licenses” through Indiana, according to a press release from Cosecha Indiana. The goal of the walk, which started Saturday in Gary, Indiana and East Chicago, is to bring attention to the need for drivers licenses for undocumented Indiana residents, according to the release. The walk will end in Indianapolis on Saturday. Cosecha Indiana, which organized the walk, is a part of a national movement, working towards permanent protection, dignity and respect for all immigrant workers, according to their Facebook page The group started in Switchyard Park before marching to Sample Gates and then to the Islamic Center of Bloomington.

Here’s Where People Of Color Can’t Access Opportunity Without A Car

June 24, 2021 Kea Wilson, Streets Blog. , , ,
Even the most transit-rich cities in America are failing to connect people without cars — who tend to be disproportionately low-income or people of color — to job opportunities, a new analysis finds. Analysts at TransitCenter comprehensively measured disparities in public transportation access among demographic groups in six major cities between February 2020 and February 2021, a period during which some of society’s most enduring inequities were only magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. All six of the cities analyzed in the group’s new Transit Equity Dashboard — Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington — rank in the top 10 largest transit systems in the United States by ridership (a seventh portal for the Boston region is forthcoming).
A national public intercity service, especially if supported by regional public services, would make for a welcome system dedicated to the public interest rather than the profit motive. Image by Canadian Dimension

With Greyhound Gone, Let’s Replace It With A National Public Operator

May 18, 2021 David Moscrop, Canadian Dimension. , , ,
After serving Canadians with varying degrees of success for the better part of a century, Greyhound Canada has elected to cease serving them at all. On May 13, the intercity coach service ended its routes in the country for good. The national press release discussed the “decision rationale” for closing up shop. The company looked back to 2018 and its suspended services in the west, citing “years of declining ridership and the impact of a changing and increasingly challenging transportation environment, including de-regulation and subsidized competition such as VIA Rail and publicly owned bus systems.” Then, it pointed the finger at the pandemic and a 95 percent drop in ridership along with “negligible” support from the public purse. In short, the private market space was untenable.

Virginia Finalizes $3.7 Billion Deal To Acquire Train Tracks

March 31, 2021 Jordan Pascale, DCist. , ,
Virginia officials and freight railroad company CSX have signed a $525 million deal to transfer 223 miles of track and 386 miles of right-of-way to the commonwealth, a key part of a larger $3.7 billion program announced in 2019 to increase Amtrak passenger service and VRE commuter rail service in Virginia over the next decade. “Today, we’re celebrating a major, major milestone in our work to make it easier for people and goods to move around Virginia and up and down our East Coast,” said Gov. Ralph Northam, who stood alongside officials from CSX, Amtrak and VRE during a signing ceremony at a VRE station in Alexandria on Tuesday. Tracks in America are almost universally owned by freight railroads, which allow passenger service like Amtrak and VRE to operate.

New Study: School Streets Improve Air Quality

March 14, 2021 London.gov. , , ,
London, UK - Closing the roads around schools to traffic at pick-up and drop-off times has reduced polluting nitrogen dioxide levels by up to 23 per cent and is strongly supported by parents, new research published by the Mayor Sadiq Khan reveals. To measure the air quality benefits of the new School Streets, 30 cutting-edge sensors from the Breathe London network were installed at 18 primary schools across Brent, Enfield and Lambeth to record nitrogen dioxide levels. The air quality monitoring project, funded by FIA Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, was launched in September 2020 to give the most accurate indication yet of how the School Streets scheme is working.  Since April 2020, almost 350 School Streets have been delivered across London with funding from Transport for London (TfL) and the boroughs to tackle children’s exposure to air pollution and improve their health.

Trade Unionists And Ecologists Demand A Just Transition Towards Less Air Traffic

February 11, 2021 Stay Grounded, Popular Resistance. , , ,
London/Vienna - Today, the UK trade union PCS and the global network Stay Grounded published together a paper entitled “A Rapid and Just Transition of Aviation - Shifting towards Climate-Just Mobility”. Tahir Latif, PCS Aviation Group President, says: “This paper clearly shows: the aviation workforce needs to accommodate the urgent requirement for a reduction in flying. This is imperative to avoid climate catastrophe. We need to retain job security through retraining and redeployment into jobs, some within aviation and some in other sectors, that help to restore the planet, not destroy it.”

More Parking Puts More Cars On The Road

January 31, 2021 Michael Andersen, Sightline Institute. , , ,
Do cities create greener lifestyles? Or do they just enable them? It’s very, very, very clear that people who live closer to other people drive less. But how much of this is due to the fact that people who were already predisposed to driving less—those of us who don’t particularly enjoy driving, for example—are deliberately living where parking is scarce and buses are frequent? A forthcoming academic paper finally begins to answer this crucial question. Its “breakthrough” conclusion: Bigger parking lots make us drive more. Even if we ignore the breathtaking economic costs of dedicating scarce urban space to car storage, mandatory parking isn’t an “all of the above” strategy that simply lets people choose their favorite mode of transportation.

Penguin Climate Activists Block Berlin Airport Opening

October 31, 2020 Stay Grounded, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Berlin - The climate justice group 'Am Boden bleiben', a member of the international Stay Grounded network, today blocks the opening of the new airport in Berlin with protest actions. The opening of the BER had been delayed for nine years, after a series of expensive construction and corruption issues. Am Boden bleiben carries out an action of civil disobedience and says that there is no room for new airports in times of climate crisis. You can follow the action live on the Twitter accounts of Am Boden bleiben and Stay Grounded. 
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