Transportation Advocacy in an Era of Fascism 

For close to three decades, Transform has launched programs, built coalitions, and won campaigns to promote thriving transit, dense, affordable housing, and safe, vibrant, people-oriented streets. While the core of our work remains the same — reshaping housing and transportation to advance equity and combat the climate crisis — the current political environment provides extra challenges and requires a shift in focus.

Here’s how our movement must continue to change as we continue our vital work during an era of unprecedented oppression, polarization, and distrust.

Better stewardship of transportation funds

State and local budgets are under increasing strain as they try to backfill massive federal cuts, from electric vehicle rebates and transportation infrastructure to food stamps and Medicaid. Meanwhile, the climate crisis is upon us, and urgent and unpredictable budget demands like wildfire relief will only become more intense in the coming years. Making better use of existing resources is not only best practice, but a political necessity. 

Caltrans’ budget is $20B a year. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s 5-year transportation improvement plan leverages $11.7 billion in already-committed funds. These are giant pots of money to advance equity and combat the climate crisis. We need to make sure every dollar counts. 

Unfortunately, the Caltrans budget is currently a black box. The agency has little public oversight for a portfolio that prioritizes highway expansion instead of solutions that actually reduce congestion. That’s why last year, Transform passed AB 2086 to force accountability at Caltrans, a needed step toward government transparency.

Regionally, the Bay Area continues to invest in highway expansion even though it will not reduce congestion and undercuts public and active transportation investments. We will continue to campaign against projects like the proposal to add lanes to State Route 37, even though much of that section of roadway already floods and will be permanently underwater due to sea level rise within a couple of decades.

But there are also bright spots in the Bay Area. SB 63, which authorizes a regional transit ballot measure in 2026, is a model for what better stewardship of our transportation systems could look like. One hundred percent of funds from the measure will be devoted to protecting and improving transit service, with no money for highway expansions. The measure also includes accountability and efficiency provisions that will result in a more effective expenditure of taxpayer resources and more coordination between transit operators.

Inclusive processes build trust and power 

The history of housing and transportation decision-making is steeped in racism, exclusion, and opaque bureaucratic processes. We support recent legislation that streamlines affordable housing and green transportation investments. But doing so at the expense of marginalized communities undermines trust in government and prevents us from building power with natural allies. 

At Transform, our vision starts with the community voices that have been left out. This stems from both our strategy and values. The reality is that we’re not going to build the diverse movement we need without centering those who have been left behind. But more fundamentally, we all win when we center these voices in policymaking. This thinking is called the Curb Cut Effect, a term coined by Angela Glover Blackwell, founder of PolicyLink, who illustrated how the success of disability advocates in requiring streetscape improvements actually benefits everyone, from parents pushing strollers to travelers carrying luggage.  

Transform’s Mobility Hubs in Affordable Housing pilot is a great example of what an inclusive process can achieve.  A mobility hub is a strategically located site within a community that integrates multiple transportation options and services — such as EV carsharing, transit passes, bike storage, ride credits, and educational resources — designed to make sustainable, affordable mobility more accessible to residents. But rather than simply providing a set of transportation services, Transform’s Mobility Hubs pilot began with a community needs assessment, centering community leadership, tailoring solutions to local needs, and ensuring we were providing clean mobility benefits that people would actually use.

Beyond the bus: health, economic justice, and democracy

The Trump regime’s scapegoating of immigrants and trans communities is an intentional tactic to divide and disorient us and to erode the very systems that allow people to build power together and speak up for change. In Trump’s America, we need to reconceptualize collective acts like walking school buses or celebratory gatherings like Transit Month as acts of resistance that are vital to strengthening our social fabric and reaffirming community. The streets where families walk to school, where neighbors gather, where youth speak up for change — these are the places where democracy needs to live and breathe. 

So let’s move beyond transportation as lines on a map and start talking about why limited access to public transit is associated with lower employment. About the fact that biking supports healthy lifestyles and personal autonomy. Or why high-frequency transit is one of the best tools to help struggling downtowns recover and get out the vote. 

The fierce urgency of now

Transportation advocacy under a fascist regime requires a much more expansive view, one that centers our most vulnerable communities, makes connections with more than just our traditional allies, and holds government accountable for how it spends taxpayer dollars. It won’t be easy, but we’re not called Transform for nothing.