In L.A. area, public transit is free Saturday to honor civil rights icon Rosa Parks

James Rainey
·2 min read
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David Mendoza, 17, left, and his sister Yolanda Mendoza, 21, center, who are here on vacation from Michigan, board the MTA bus #222 headed to Hollywood from Thorton and Hollywood Way in Burbank on Tuesday, March 16, 2010. The two got tired of spending up to $50 in cab rides, so they now ride the metro for the remainder of their vacation. (Raul Roa/Leader)
Metro is offering free public transit in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties on Saturday in honor of civil rights activist Rosa Parks. (Raul Roa / Leader)
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Free rides are being offered all day Saturday on Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County public transportation to celebrate the sixth annual “Transit Equity Day,” honoring the birthday of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Trains, buses and light rail lines operated by L.A. Metro, Metrolink, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority are offering the free trips.

“We’re offering free rides on our bus, rail and bike system on Saturday, February 4, to honor Transit Equity Day and the birthday of civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who in 1955 famously refused to give up her seat because she was Black,” an L.A. Metro announcement said.

The Los Angeles transit agency said that turnstiles at rail stations would be unlocked and riders are free to board without using electronic card readers or fare boxes.

The system’s Metro Bike Share is also free for 30-minute rides. To redeem the free ride, customers were advised to select "1-Ride" at any Metro Bike Share kiosk, online or in the Metro Bike Share app, and use code 020423. The code may be used multiple times throughout the day.

For Metro Micro, the on-demand rideshare service, riders can pre-book the ride online and use code 2023 for a free lift.

On regional Metrolink trains, riders were advised they would not need a ticket to board any train operating within the five-county Metrolink region.

Also free throughout the day Saturday will be San Bernardino County transit providers, including Metrolink, Basin Transit, Mountain Transit, Needles Area Transit, Omnitrans, and Victor Valley Transit Authority.

L.A. Metro hailed the “action and courage” of Parks, who died in 2005. In 1955, she refused to leave her bus seat for a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala. Her court case led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on transit was unconstitutional, the transit agency said, “an important milestone in dismantling the Jim Crow laws that persisted in the U.S. for a century after the end of the Civil War.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.