Transit for All PA! has built a grassroots movement to win the policy solutions that fund critical transportation in rural and urban communities. It draws on the individual expertise of local activists and brings them together for statewide campaigns to win statewide solutions to local transit issues. Nearly 100 community organizations and businesses, 17 labor unions and labor councils, including eight different Pennsylvania locals of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents bus drivers in the state, and over 60 elected leaders have signed on to support Transit for All PA!’s platform.
One of Transit for All PA!’s most significant narrative interventions was to bring a disability justice lens into the conversation on public transit. By bringing organizers with disabilities into leadership roles into their base, the campaign amplified the experiences of disabled riders and made more urgent the need for public transit in both urban and rural areas of Pennsylvania. Their organizers also highlight the importance of public transit to civic engagement, including voting.
The coalition has empowered local transit activists to tell their stories and has created a database of individual stories about public transit across the state. If a policymaker claims public transit is not a problem in their community, Transit for All PA! can turn to their storytellers to share their real experiences. They draw upon their trusted networks to identify trusted spokespeople, including locals of the Amalgamated Transit Union all across the state, who can help identify the right people to tell a specific story from a particular area – the people to whom state and local elected leader will listen closest.
The case study highlights the work and policy impacts achieved by a group in Pennsylvania to support public transit access across the rural-urban divide. Narrative Initiative did not engage in the advocacy activity discussed below.