The T Riders Union (TRU), a program of ACE, organizes public transit riders to build a unified voice and movement for better public transportation in Greater Boston. We have joined together to demand our fair share of service because the MBTA and the state have failed to meet the needs of riders in low income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color. Buses are unreliable, crowded and slow, and continue to pollute the air we breathe with dirty diesel exhaust.

ACE builds the power of communities of color and lower income communities in New England to eradicate environmental racism and classism and achieve environmental justice. We believe that everyone has the right to a healthy environment and to be decision-makers in issues affecting our communities.

Boston Transit Riders Union members and organizers were in the streets and on the phones urging riders to vote NO on Question 3. This ballot initiative would reduce the state sales and use tax from 6.25% to 3%. If enacted, some of the impacts would have been more reduced service hours, increased fares and massive layoffs of bus drivers, a local amplification of the current national crisis in transit systems. Organizers spoke with riders at Dudley Station and South Station in the last few weeks to bring attention to the potential harms of a sales tax reduction.

The ballot measure was sponsored by the Alliance to Roll Back Taxes. The election on Tuesday, November 2, brought good news to Massachusetts and TRU. Unlike the rest of the country, the Republicans and Tea Party did not have any successes and Question 3 was defeated 57% to 43%.