Lessons Learned From Year One of Running a Student Transportation Advocacy Organization

By Sirinya Tritipeskul and Juan Matute, Buidling LA’s Future’s 2009 “David Bohnett Leadership Fellows”

Editor’s Note: Building LA’s Future (www.endinggridlock.org), a nonprofit effort to fight gridlock in LA, asked Sirinya and Juan to prepare this summary of Bruins for Traffic Relief (BTR) with the hope it might inspire students at other schools to start their own transit groups, and so that others could learn from BTR’s success.

About Bruins for Traffic Relief

Bruins for Traffic Relief (BTR) is a UCLA-sponsored student organization founded in the spring of 2008 by Misha Silin, a 2009 graduate of UCLA, and his two fraternity brothers. Misha was inspired by a course he took on civic engagement to make a difference in a tangible way. BTR is his response to the Los Angeles’s high levels of traffic congestion and limited transit options, particularly contrasted with his hometown of Moscow, Russia.

BTR was founded as a joint undergraduate and graduate student club. In its first full year, Juan served on graduate student cabinet and was able to secure resources for club activities. BTR participated in a number of activities, including the following:

1) A grassroots campaign to support Measure R, a half-cent sales tax to fund transportation improvements around Los Angeles County through 2039. The grassroots campaign inspired the official campaign to push harder. Measure R passed by a hair.
2) Organized public support to encourage Metro to make scheduling data available on Google Transit via the launch of “Los Angeles Wants Google Transit”, a Facebook Group. Over 800 people joined the group. Today, Metro data is now on Google Transit, lowering barriers to transit use for those with iPhones, other smart phones, and computers.

3) Produced one of three City Council District 5 runoff electoral candidate debates at UCLA in April 2009 in conjunction with the UCLA External Affairs office. Moderator Adrienne Alpert asked several questions related to transportation and the state of retail in Westwood that were written by Bruins for Traffic Relief members.
4) Collected signatures for petitions demonstrating support for Westside Extension and Phase 2 of the Expo Line from students.
5) Attended and made public comments at meetings of the Metro Board of Directors, Westside Extension, and the Expo Line Rail Authority.

Lessons Learned

We had a lot of fun participating in Bruins for Traffic Relief, as we got to make new friends, meet local decision-makers and politicians, and learn how to leverage traditional grassroots activism with social media to advance our agenda.

We also learned a lot of things along the way about running a first-year organization vested in engaging with the public regarding transportation.

1. Funding - This was crucial: In BTR’s first year, we were able to rely upon funding from the UCLA Sustainable Resource Center to pay for materials, such as our signs
   
2. Recruit both undergraduate and graduate students.
   
3. Establishing Track Record: We found that that we were very lucky around start an advocacy campaign well-organized series of events around a single, discreet cause to maximize perceived impact while minimizing perceived commitment.
   
4. Developing a succession plan for long-term sustainability and retention:
   
   1. The first year members were also in their last year of school. They sought to recruit younger students to take over with limited success
      
   2. Seek to formalize new student organizations within existing student governance structures in order to facilitate resource acquisitions and annual transitions
      
5. Managing new media:
   
   1. With Measure R, we were able to capitalize on media coverage by taking photographs and writing copy in emails and on blog entry during week one, with a goal of using a using snowball effect to expand media coverage over the 4-week campaign
      
   2. With “LA Wants Google Transit”, we established ourselves as a reliable source on LA Metro’s transition to Google Transit with local blogs.  We would send tips and blog entries when appropriate.  We also mobilized the digital following we had established  with the Measure R campaign to support the campaign for Google Transit
      
6. Cultivating recognition, working relationships with people who were willing to mentor us and educate us on the local policy arena.
   
7. Recognizing the realities of fragmented agenda – We often asked ourselves whether should the club be a transit advocacy group or a broader transportation group that also advocates for bicycle infrastructure?
   
8. VERY IMPORTANT: Dressing in UCLA school colors for meetings conjures nostalgia and positive feelings among many stakeholders (except for Art Leahy [CEO of Metro], who is a HUGE USC fan)