We need Free MUNI for Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Youth

We need Free MUNI for Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Youth

City Hall Steps Rally and MTA Hearing
Tuesday, Dec 2
12 PM: Rally on Polk St. City Hall Steps
1 PM: MTA Board Meeting, City Hall, Rm 400

Please come to the noon rally and MTA Board meeting to demand Free MUNI for Seniors. People with Disabilities, and Youth.

Thanks to tremendous work by Senior & Disability Action, the Chinatown Community Development Center, and the Free MUNI for Youth Campaign, who started the whole Free MUNI movement, the MTA Board seems persuaded that Free MUNI for low- and middle-income seniors and people with disabilities is a good idea. They also see ready to continue Free MUNI for youth and extend it to 18-year olds. This is a good, but they need to actually pass these measures.

It is also unfair to increase cash fares for other seniors and people with disabilities, to add a one-dollar surcharge for certain times and routes, and requiring the more expensive BART+MUNI fast pass during rush hours. And we need to assure that MUNI improvements benefit all parts of town.

All Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Youth need Free MUNI. With our limited incomes, our rapidly-rising rent, food, and medical costs will be barely affordable. We will still need public transit to go to food stores, to doctors, to community events, and to school. We cannot afford cars. We deserve to be able to live independently and not need to be in nursing homes.

If the overall budget is the problem, why is downtown businesses not being asked to pay for MUNI bringing them their customers and workers? Why are developers not being asked to pay for MUNI increasing the value of their real estate? Why are the high-tech companies not being asked to pay the hundreds of millions in taxes they would otherwise owe? Surely, if the City can afford a free ride to these groups, it can afford a free ride to all Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Youth.

Gray Panthers salutes the organizers of the Free MUNI for Youth campaign, and thanks them for their inspiration and help in extending it to other low-income groups.

We need Free MUNI for Seniors, People with Disabilities, and Youth, and we need it now.