Transit Equity Day highlights need for transportation options for everyone, including in rural communities
On the birthday of Rosa Parks, BEST highlights that people of all backgrounds and abilities needs ways to get where they need to go, including people in rural communities.

Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913–October 24, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
On what would have been her 112th birthday, BEST joins people across the country in honoring her efforts and recognizing Transit Equity Day 2025.
BEST also joins Transportation for America in highlighting the need for transit in rural communities.

Transit Equity Day Principles
Public transit provides basic mobility for many in our communities. It is also essential infrastructure–just like roads, bridges, tunnels and utilities–that is crucial to the economic, social and environmental well-being of all our regions.
Everyone has a right to a public transit system that includes:
- Safe, reliable, environmentally-sustainable and affordable transit that is accessible to all, regardless of income, national origin, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, or ability.
- An affordable public transit system that reliably connects people in all communities to the places we need to travel: home, work, school, places of worship, shopping, health, and recreation, in as efficient, and timely a manner as possible. We must ensure that all communities have access to transit; no community should be left behind. Public transit in rural, less densely populated communities should be provided in any master transportation plan despite the special challenges that may present.
- Living wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and union rights for transit workers, including those who manufacture transit equipment, and access to family-sustaining transit jobs and training opportunities for people from underserved communities.
- A just transition for workers and communities who are dependent on our current automobile and highway-centered transportation system, to ensure that no one is left behind as we transition to a more public, accessible, and cleaner transit-based system.
- Rapid transition of our transit systems to electrified, non-polluting transit powered by electricity from renewables. This transition should be made for school buses also.
- Safe, healthy and livable neighborhoods that are connected by public transportation and by bicycle pathways and sidewalks, and that are planned to expand safe access to transit and reduce single occupancy vehicle miles traveled.
- Dedicated and sustainable public funding for public transit.
Source: Labor Network for Sustainability
External links
- Transit Equity Day 2025 Promo Video (Transit Equity Network)
- Transit Equity Day 2025 (Labor Network for Sustainability)
- Transit Equity Day 2025 (Action Network)
- Voices for Public Transportation
- Montgomery Bus Boycott (History.com)
- Rosa Parks, 1913–2005 (National Women’s History Museum)
Further reading
- Transit Equity Day is February 4, honoring Rosa Parks on what would be her 112th birthday (Lane Transit District at Instagram, 2/4/25)
- TheRide buses in Ann Arbor are reserving a seat for Rosa Parks on Transit Equity Day (Detroit Free Press, 2/4/25)
- Sierra Club Celebrates Transit Equity Day on Feb. 4, Rosa Parks’ Birthday (Sierra Club, 2/4/25)
- Transit Equity Day is February 4 (Lane Transit District, 2/1/25)
- Transit Equity Day highlights the need for transit in rural communities (Transportation for America, 1/31/25)
- Transit Equity Day honors Rosa Parks and reminds us that equity in transportation is still a fight (Oregon Environmental Council at Facebook, 1/27/25)
- Innovations in Rural Public Transportation: Data Standards Undergird Equity (AARP, 4/6/23)
- LTD celebrates Rosa Parks Transit Equity Day (KMTR, 2/4/22)
- Rosa Parks Transit Equity Day is Feb. 4 (Lane Transit District, 2/1/22)
- Rosa Parks’ Pancake Recipe Helps Us See the Human Side of a Hero (NPR, 5/2/17)
See also
- BEST honors Rosa Parks, recognizes Transit Equity Day (BEST, 2/4/24)
- Transit Equity Day: Happy Birthday to Rosa Parks! (BEST, 2/4/22)