People Power Transit

  • Made By CUP With:
  • Community Partners
  • Tags:
  • Infrastructure,
  • Transportation

A guide that explains how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is run and who holds decision-making power within it.

CUP staff Siyona Ravi reviews the final poster with a Riders Alliance member at the launch event.

Most New Yorkers can agree that riding buses and subways can be frustrating and unreliable. Inaccessible stations, long commutes, and delays are just some of the problems riders face daily. It’s even worse for low-income people of color—who make up the majority of public transit riders—because they have longer commute times, making it harder to get to work and access things like groceries and healthcare. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

Riders have the power to change the transit system. But to hold the MTA accountable, riders first need to understand how the MTA is run and who makes decisions about it. That’s why Riders Alliance teamed up with CUP and designer Sean Suchara to create People Power Transit! The guide breaks down the MTA and who holds decision-making power (hint: it’s the governor, not the mayor). People Power Transit folds open to a poster that shows riders steps they can take to organize their community and why that’s so important.

People Power Transit! launched at an organizing event for Riders Alliance members. Riders Alliance is distributing the guide to their grassroots network of riders across the city and using it in their member trainings.

The project team discusses an early design draft.
The project team reviews and gives feedback on a print proof.

Check out the Project

The cover and four-page spread of People Power Transit

Download a Free Copy

Click here to download

Project Collaborators

Community Partner

Riders Alliance

Sophia Zarsky

Designer

Sean Suchara


Special Thanks

Jesse Beck, Alan Belsky, Stephanie Burgos-Veras, Sara Clugage, Karen D. Hamilton, Kerry Grace Herlihy, Elisabeth Kalomeris, Matt Lam, Jeanne C. Majors, Bobby Preti, Nina Psoncak, Katie Reilly, and Samuel Santaella

Product Details

8″ × 11″ color pamphlet; unfolds to 22″ × 32″ poster

Funding Support

Support for this project was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

General support for CUP’s programs is provided in part by The Kresge Foundation, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New York Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.