The Bus Riders Union

From the lecture by Edward Soja: Seeking for Spatial Justice, he mentioned the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles which can be a good example of the spatial justice. The Bus Riders Union (BRU) is a United States civil rights social movement organization established in 1994. Led by a planning committee, mainly of the low-income people. This union mainly represents the civil right. They forced the MTA to put bus system improvements at the top of their list in the budget. So the MTA needs to buy a large number of environment-friendly buses. Now Los Angeles has the largest environment-friendly bus system in the United States, but same time they also spent billions of money to deal with the big system such as scheduling, the crime at stops, daily maintenance and research. The switching system in LA now also inspired lots of other cities in America. BRU helped and pushed the MTA changed the plan helping poor people to a bus plan that helps to reach a little bit but helps the poor much more like a revolutionary.