A pair of climate-focused teenagers convened outside the San Diego Association of Governments to advocate for public transportation.

According to the Times of San Diego, the SANDAG Board of Directors allocates $1.3 billion annually for infrastructure and transportation, and its plans are reviewed every four years. 

The teens, KC Gupta and Elena Grilli, showed up to protest an infrastructure initiative that would sidestep spending on public transit to accommodate more cars on the road.

That plan involved hundreds of miles of highway expansions, which would make San Diego even more reliant on cars. Highway expansions would unnecessarily increase traffic and demand for vehicles in San Diego, exacerbating dirty fuel pollution. 

At the same time, public transportation project timelines often stretch "far into the future," and Grilli expressed concerns about a rapid bus line taking 25 years to complete.

Gupta and Grilli held signs outside SANDAG to oppose highway expansion plans, to express support for trolleys, and to demand an end to delayed spending on public infrastructure.

"We're the riders. High schoolers, college students, young workers — it's really a campaign led by people under the age of 25 who take the bus to school, ride the trolley to work, or wait in the heat for an unreliable 929," Gupta said, referring to a San Diego bus route.

Gupta is originally from New York City, and he recalled a rocky adjustment to San Diego's less reliable public transit system. 

Cities with car-focused infrastructure can be extremely limiting to residents, making it harder for those without cars to do basic things like commute to work or even buy groceries. 

Trams, buses, and other forms of public transportation are critical services, particularly to people with disabilities and those who live in out-of-the-way neighborhoods.

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When young people make their voices heard and demand a better future, lawmakers and local governments can be persuaded to listen and take action — and even small movements can inspire others to act locally or donate to environmental causes.

Gupta and Grilli — who are also volunteers and community leaders for the People's Platform of San Diego and the Youth vs. Oil Campaign — intend to keep the conversation going and to host more rallies. 

Gupta maintained that relatively minor infrastructure investments can have major impacts. 

"Small changes … that are less than 1% of the SANDAG budget can have a massive difference on transit riders," he explained.

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