Santa Rosa CityBus, Petaluma Transit, and Sonoma County Transit are offering fare-free rides on Tuesday, Feb. 4, in observance of Transit Equity Day commemorating the life and legacy of Rosa Parks and other transit trailblazers who pursued equitable transportation for everyone. This year come help us celebrate in-person at the Downtown Santa Rosa Transit Mall on the day at 10:00AM. The event will take place on the southeast corner. Attendees can take home a one-of-a-kind button style pin as a symbol of their commitment to standing up for equity.
Sonoma County’s local bus transit agencies are partnering with the NAACP Santa Rosa-Sonoma to observe Transit Equity Day, a National Day of Action to promote equity in transit that is safe, reliable, and accessible for all. This day is celebrated on Feb. 4 to commemorate Rosa Parks’s birthday. She became a key figure in the Civil Rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama public transit bus and was arrested in Dec. 1955. Her acts of defiance are considered a pivotal moment that helped lead to the U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional. While she was not the first person to resist bus segregation, her defiance became an important symbol for the civil rights movement.
Before Rosa Parks, four women set the stage for the desegregation of public buses. In 1955, Claudette Colvin (age 15), Aurelia S. Browder (age 37), Mary Louise Smith (age 18), and Susie McDonald (age 77) all defied bus segregation laws leading to their arrest. The four women became plaintiffs in the case of Browder v. Gayle, the case that determined bus segregation was unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
On Feb. 4, everyone is encouraged to participate in observing this National Day of Action by riding fare-free on all Santa Rosa CityBus, Petaluma Transit and Sonoma County Transit’s regular fixed routes. The seat location where Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat will be identified on each participating bus countywide with a timeline and information leading up to the U. S. Supreme Court 1956 decision declaring segregation on public bus transit unconstitutional.
