Action Alert: Petition
Suspending service in response to uprisings against police brutality while simultaneously transporting police on buses is transit racism. We're standing alongside our partners and calling on the MBTA to do better.
TransitMatters Calls for an End to Police Brutality & Urges the T to Commit to Freedom of Movement
UPDATED: BOSTON, JUNE 5, 2020 -
Re: T Decision to Stop Busing Municipal Police to Protest Sites:
TransitMatters thanks the FMCB for their swift action and the MBTA for listening and responding to the calls to stop transporting municipal police to peaceful protest sites. We also thank the many MBTA employees who demonstrated the courage to speak out against a policy that sent all the wrong messages and ran contrary to the very purpose of a public transportation agency. And we thank the entire TransitMatters membership, our numerous allied organizations, and social media followers for their unwavering support of our efforts to reverse T policy in this matter.
Over the past few days, we all have seen how the actions of public agencies send powerful messages about the values we hold dear, and the kind of society we aspire to be. Today’s decision sends a new message that is appropriate to the fundamental mission of the MBTA: the focus of our transit agency will be first and foremost to provide people with safe and reliable access to destinations, whether those destinations may be jobs, schools, healthcare or peaceful protests.
We understand and appreciate how difficult these times have been for MBTA officials and employees. But this we can say with certainty: we must never lose our moral compass, and in the present moment we must show solidarity with those who protest peacefully against a culture of police brutality against black people in America, and who demand change that is lasting. By taking this step, and going one step further by committing to not shutdown stations in ways that limit freedom and endanger protesters (a step yet to be taken), the MBTA can provide all riders and residents of Boston the confidence that it understands the urgent and legitimate need to stick to the business of providing people with the transportation services they sorely need.
In addition to the continued work to address systemic racism and inequality, which we all must continue to pursue, there’s also a lot of work to do to help the MBTA recover from the impacts of COVID-19 - our economy, our environment and the people of this region need the T that emerges to be stronger than when it entered the shutdown. We will continue to support our environmental justice and transit justice partners in their call for MBTA Police reforms. We will also continue to press the MBTA to expand its statement to include improvements to their station shutdown practices, and ending busing of all types of police departments and during all types of events. And we commit to continue to work with the FMCB and T officials on that post-pandemic recovery strategy.
For media inquiries, please contact media@transitmatters.org.
UPDATED: BOSTON, JUNE 4, 2020 -
Re: GM Statement and Use of Buses for Police:
MBTA leadership is failing to rise to the occasion at a time when it needs decisive leadership that speaks with clarity. One example: the General Manager’s inability to use the words “police violence” or “police brutality” in his statement yesterday - at a time when every police force in America should be having a conversation about excessive force and racial profiling - is tone deaf.
It was also disingenuous to say that the T didn’t shut down the whole system. Shutting down the four main transfer hubs and most other downtown stations effectively stranded hundreds and severely inconvenienced hundreds more. The General Manager’s statement, “it is our preference at the MBTA to always provide service to our customers unless safety concerns necessitate closure” reflects a peculiar mindset. It is the duty and responsibility of the MBTA to provide service to the public. The bar for closures related to safety needs to be high, proper communication and transparency in decision making must be ensured, and the MBTA must always find a way to safely transport riders as soon as it is safe to do so.
We watched in disappointment when MBTA buses were put into use the past two days to transport police to protest sites. TransitMatters respectfully requests that the MBTA respond to the following questions before the end of the day today:
Is it your policy to continue to use MBTA buses and bus drivers to transport police to protest sites?
What did the recent use of MBTA buses cost the MBTA?
Who specifically is responsible for making the decision to use MBTA property to transport police to protest sites? Is this decision delegated, and if so, by whom to whom?
What are the factors that the MBTA takes into account before agreeing to place its buses into service for transporting police to a protest site?
Are MBTA bus drivers being given the choice to opt out of driving the buses commandeered into use to transport police to protest sites?
For media inquiries, please contact media@transitmatters.org.
BOSTON, JUNE 3, 2020 -
TransitMatters stands with our colleagues and allies across the nation deploring the terrible acts of violence committed against Black Americans, including extrajudicial violence committed by law enforcement officers. TransitMatters also stands with our colleagues and allies across the nation supporting the right to peaceful protest at all times. We have seen clearly in the past few days the unacceptable treatment of peaceful protestors from coast to coast and the threat to our precious rights to free assembly and freedom of speech. We take our stand for freedom, and against any and all efforts to diminish the rights and humanity of all people.
In these difficult times, safe and reliable transit matters a lot. Access to public spaces is a necessity to exercising our constitutional rights of speech and assembly. Egress is a necessity to keep protestors safe and allow them to peaceably withdraw after the exercise of such rights. We are concerned that in many cities across the country, the power to shut down or block access to transit has been used as a weapon by police against peaceful protesters, endangering them in the process. The recent decisions to close down certain components of the MBTA bus, subway, and commuter rail systems in the midst of peaceful public protests and during police orders for dispersal prompts us to ask the T to do better next time. Because there will be a next time.
The starting premise is simple: transit is a public good and necessity at all times, including times of crisis. Whether that crisis is related to public health or peaceful protest, the T must be a safe and reliable provider of access for all. Freedom of movement is freedom.
Our public transportation system cannot become a tool in the hands of law enforcement officials. MBTA senior leadership must retain full control over operational decisions at all times and in all circumstances. If a government imposed curfew is in place, the T needs to operate to get people home. If a police-ordered dispersal order is in place, the T needs to function to allow people to disperse.
We understand that this will be challenging in the middle of a moment of crisis. We understand that the MBTA rightfully desires to protect its employees and property in dangerous situations. That’s why the public needs to know that the T has a thoughtful plan to put into action in future such circumstances. We’ve experienced large protest events before and must expect them again. Such a plan should be geared toward providing pre-planned and communicated evacuation service levels and station operation contingencies, maximum real-time information and full rush-hour service levels to get people home or, in certain circumstances, out of harm’s way. The T has become accustomed to implementing special operational service plans and pre-communicated contingencies for large events such as adverse weather, championship parades, New Year’s Eve, and July 4th. It should be able to leverage that experience to respond to these circumstances.
We call upon the MBTA, without delay, to adopt and commit to the following principles:
MBTA employees, buses, and facilities will never be commandeered by law enforcement or put into service on behalf of law enforcement to transport people who have been arrested during peaceful protests.
The MBTA will not delegate operational decision making to law enforcement under any circumstances, or at any time. Real time operational changes to routes, frequencies, and stations will be communicated in real time across all MBTA platforms, including through real-time transit apps.
The MBTA will prepare and make public a plan to remain in operation during times of protest in order to provide people with access to their homes or other destinations.
We look forward to the MBTA stepping up to this momentous occasion.
We have to do better as a society. TransitMatters commits itself to build a world where the streets belong to the people, where access is a human right, and where transit, and indeed, the whole community, is able to function safely without police presence. Change begins locally; it begins with decisive action by state and local agencies. And it begins with our support for black-led organizations and those focused on the needs of black communities. In that spirit, we encourage you to consider supporting the following organizations:
For media inquiries, please contact media@transitmatters.org.