A VIA bus waits at a stop. Credit: Courtesy of VIA Metropolitan Transit

VIA Metropolitan Transit riders will have access to free bus rides all day this Wednesday in celebration of civil rights leader Rosa Parks’ defiant stand in Montgomery, Alabama, 69 years ago.

The VIA Board of Trustees in 2019 approved a resolution to commemorate Parks’ contributions to the Civil Rights Movement every Dec. 1, the anniversary of her 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat for to a white man. Because the date fell on a Sunday this year, VIA opted to celebrate Wednesday.

The free-fare offer pertains to all VIA transit options. A full list of its bus routes is available online.

Although Parks was arrested and fined for refusing to give up her seat, her resistance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a 13-month protest that ended with the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public transit is unconstitutional.

Although VIA recognizes Parks every December, the transit system displays its observance of the importance of the Civil Rights Movement year-round. Every VIA bus features a yellow seat near the front in honor of Parks. Those seats are accompanied by plaques explaining the significance of her protest.

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This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 10, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...