From marthacroberts at netscape.net Thu Jul 3 14:34:50 2003 From: marthacroberts at netscape.net (Martha and Aiyanas) Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2003 14:34:50 -0700 Subject: [Busriders-van] Bus Riders Union Steps Up Summer Campaign Message-ID: <3F04A17A.6060502@netscape.net> BUS RIDERS UNION STEPS UP SUMMER CAMPAIGN Night Owl Buses: End the Curfew Now! PUBLIC MEETING Monday, July 28th, 6:30pm Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House (800 e. Broadway) Following on TransLink's decision to ignore the demands of bus riders for retored Night Owl bus service, the Bus Riders Union is stepping up our campaign to secure justice for bus riders. At their meeting of June 25th, the TransLink Board decided to implement an inadequate Friday and Saturday only service along four routes. This measure, taken in response to the lobbying of downtown business owners, leaves bus riders out in the cold five nights a week. Even on Friday and Saturday most bus riders will face long walks getting to and from one of the four routes, which are designed with only downtown bar patrons in mind. The Bus Riders Union is building a campaign for the full restoration of all 14 Night Owl routes cut in October 2001. Anything less is an insult to the night-workers, mostly people of colour, who continue to suffer under the TransLink imposed curfew. Anything less is a slap in the face to all bus riders, low-wage workers, the unemployed, immigrants and refugee, senior, students and people with disabilities. We deserve full and equal access to the social, political and economic life of our region 24/7. The BRU is on the streets and on the buses organizing bus riders to fight for More Buses! Lower Fares! Get involved in the struggle for social and environmental justice! Get Involved: GRASSROOTS RESEARCH -- If you have been affected by the Night Owl bus cuts fill out a Bus Riders Union "Public Transit Rights Violation Form". We use the stories we gather to document the impact of the bus cuts and to put pressure on TransLink serve the needs of bus riders. If you would like us to send you a form call or e-mail. ORGANIZING -- Join us on Thursday, July 24th, 10pm - Midnight, for another Late Night Mass Leafleting. Hit the streets with Bus Riders Union organizers as we pass out leaflets, gather testimonials, poster posters and talk with the folks affected by the TransLink imposed curfew. SOLIDARITY -- Become a member of the Bus Riders Union (for only $1). Help build the mass movement we need to win justice for poor and working people in this region. ACTION -- On Wednesday, July 30th, we take our demands to the TransLink Board Meeting. Join us for our July 28th Public Meeting to find out more about our delegation to the board meeting to demand that TransLink END THE CURFEW NOW! BUS RIDERS UNION bru at resist.ca bru.resist.ca 604 215 2775 -- We can learn what we did not know. We are not only good at destroying the old world, we are also good at building the new. Mao Tse-Tung, 1949 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From marthacroberts at netscape.net Mon Jul 21 22:44:32 2003 From: marthacroberts at netscape.net (Martha and Aiyanas) Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 22:44:32 -0700 Subject: [Busriders-van] Bus Riders Union Takes to the Streets Message-ID: <3F1CCF40.4070906@netscape.net> PRESS RELEASE FOR JULY 24, 2003 Bus Riders Union Takes to the Streets BRU organizes riders left in the cold by inadequate 'Night Bus' service On Thursday July 24 the bright orange t-shirts of the Bus Riders Union (BRU) will once again be visible throughout downtown Vancouver. BRU organizers are taking to the streets organizing bus riders to oppose TransLinks cuts and mis-priorities. The action is the latest in a series of mass organizing drives in which BRU organizers have talked to hundreds of bus riders affected by the lack of late night bus service in the region. This time BRU organizers will be talking with those bus riders, many of them night workers, who are left in the cold by TransLinks inadequate Friday and Saturday only 'Night Bus'. "We certainly applaud any increase in bus service," says BRU organizer Martha Roberts, "but this two nights per week service really doesn't address the needs of transit dependent people. We need late night buses seven days a week. Transit dependent people work nights seven days a week; we are hearing from riders that hundreds, if not thousands, of bus riders work late and finish work after the last bus stops running. Women, youth, gays and lesbians and others who face violence and harassment on the streets need access to a safe affordable ride home seven days a week." As part of the action the Bus Riders Union will be collecting signatures on their 'Billions for Buses' petition, and gathering testimonials from bus riders who continue to face hardship since TransLinks October 2001 transit cuts. "We've already collected testimonials from dozens of people impacted by the Night Owl cuts", says BRU organizer Yang Chang. "And what we're finding is that the way transit dependent people have 'adapted' to the cuts is by losing their jobs, by losing hours at work, or by spending way more than they can afford on cabs. In other words, bus riders are experiencing this curfew that TransLink has placed us under as a serious economic hardship. Moreover, we've learned that it is indeed already marginalized groups that are hit hardest by these policies: First Nations people, immigrants and refugees, and women working low-wage jobs." The late night leaflet is part of the Bus Riders Union Campaign "Night Owl Buses: End the Curfew Now!" Other upcoming events related to the campaign include a Public Meeting on July 28, 6:30pm at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, and a delegation which will take bus riders' demands to the July 30 meeting of the TransLink Board of Directors. BRU Night Leafleting Thursday, July 24, 10 pm Granville Skytrain Station (Granville St. Entrance) Media Contacts: Martha Roberts 604 215 2662 or Jen Efting 604 255 4745 -- So many deeds cry out to be done, And always urgently; The world rolls on. Time presses. Ten thousand years are too long, Seize the day, seize the hour! Mao Tse-tung, 1963 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: