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Voces de Casa Maria

Message from a Bus Rider, V1

< 1 min read As we lead up to the decision by Tucson’s City Council on whether and how to raise bus fares on September 20, TBRU will publish a Video Blog everyday. We know that if our City Council Members would come to the transit centers and talk to bus riders or get on the bus that they would think differently about how to best manage and grow our transit system. Our first Video Blog comes from Arminda. Please watch it, share this blog post and make a call to Mayor and Council urging them to not raise the fares. 791-4201 Mayor Rothschild 791-4040 Regina Romero 791-4687 Paul Cunningham

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An Open Letter to Tucson’s City Council

2 min read September 1, 2016 An Open Letter to Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Council Members Regina Romero, Paul Cunningham, Karen Uhlich, Shirley Scott, Richard Fimbres and Steve Kozachik,   Dear friends, I write this with a heavy heart. Your support of bus issues and defense of poor people over the years has been most appreciated. If you now choose to raise bus fares it will be an attack on poor folk and the planet too. In recent months, the Bus Riders Union has successfully been making the connection between climate change and the dire need for a highly functional transit system that increases

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What’s at stake in the transit debate? / ¿Qué es lo que está pasando con el debate del Transito?

6 min read By Sarah Launius, PhD Candidate in the School of Geography and Development at the UA No doubt you know already that the Mayor and Council are looking to raise fares for bus and streetcar riders. The different proposals put forward each place a heavy burden on different types of riders. Although the city claims they do not want to have to reduce service, make transit less accessible to current and potential riders, or increase fares (all of which are debatable) the message is clear: The City Council does not want to pay for transit out of the city’s general fund.

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SIX ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SIGN A LETTER ASKING THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL TO NOT RAISE FARES AND INSTEAD, INVEST IN TRANSIT

3 min read August 9, 2016 Mayor Jonathan Rothschild 255 West Alameda PO Box 27210 Tucson, Arizona 85726 Cc: Members of the City Council Dear Mayor Rothschild, As organizations with long-standing commitment to the many species and ecosystems that comprise the Sonoran Desert, we urge you to increase public transit services in the City of Tucson. Our climate is changing at an unprecedented pace due to greenhouse gas emissions, most of which are the result of burning fossil fuels. This is a critical moment for Tucson to reduce carbon dioxide from personal vehicles by improving public transit service and providing residents with incentives

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WE NEED TO REDIRECT THIS CONVERSATION

4 min read by Sarah Launius for the Bus Rider Union * Since this blog was posted Sun Tran staff presented a revised projection of Councilor Cunningham’s proposal. A revised table showing these adjustments are at the bottom of the blog. The question persists as to why staff presented an inaccurate Cunningham proposal to begin with. Why are we choosing from equally BAD plans? Why should riders agree to higher fares when there are NO plans to improve bus service? How do we improve bus service if we drive ridership down because of increased fares? These are just some of the questions Bus

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TUCSON BUS RIDERS UNION NEWS-THE POSITIVE SPIN

2 min read by Brian Flagg, Approximately 30 of us from the Bus Riders Union, loud and proud, attended the emergency Transit Task Force meeting yesterday. Our presence there helped the Task Force vote to stop $458,000 of the proposed $1.1 million in cuts to 9 bus routes. Particularly disappointing was a 4-3 vote to reduce frequency on the Broadway bus (the #8). I am trying to be positive about this. Our efforts did force a process that will restore a small portion of the cuts. So why do I feel so frustrated? I guess this makes me evaluate our recent bus rider

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ONE COUNCILMANS QUEST TO PUNISH TRANSIT AND ENRICH DOWNTOWN DEVELOPERS

3 min read By Jimmy Ojeda Shame on Councilman Kozachik for trying once again to balance the budget on the backs of the poor! According to him the City of Tucson should prioritize and move in the right direction, by increasing bus fares and cutting services. In his last newsletter dated May 11, 2015 he wrote: “We have to take a serious look and simply stop doing that which is beyond our core responsibility (but transit is one of his core responsibilities!) If we added a 10% fare increase to the base fare, we’d add another $730K in revenues that would go to

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COUNCIL VOTES 5-2 TO NOT RAISE BUS FARES OR MAKE SERIOUS CUTS IN THE BUS ROUTES

< 1 min read We Thank God for Councilwoman Karin Uhlich, Regina Romero, Paul Cunningham, Richard Fimbres and Shirley Scott for standing tall in the face of opposition to bus riders living in poverty, our award winning bus system and the planet earth for a true Transit constituency, the Tucson Bus Riders Union. Special thanks to Karen for explaining to the Mayor that sticking up for transit is not enslavement to the status quo and that the days of trying to use Transit as a whipping boy in regards to City budget problems must end.

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