D.C. Transit Recovery ‘Slow and Bumpy’

A blog post from TransitCenter, using data from their Transit Equity Dashboard, assesses the state of Washington, D.C.’s post-Covid transit recovery, which, according to the post, “has been slow and bumpy.”

Unlike other cities that have restored service to pre-pandemic levels, the blog notes that “In August 2022, Washingtonians could access only 91% of the jobs that were accessible by transit in February 2020. In fact, since March 2020, DC residents have never had a level of transit access equal to before the pandemic.”

When it comes to equity, the picture is equally bleak. “White and Asian communities consistently have much better transit service than Black, Hispanic, and low-income communities across every tracked metric. This is despite the fact that Black and Hispanic people are more likely to commute by transit – 17% of Black and Hispanic residents of the District commuted on public transit in 2021, compared to only 7% of White and Asian residents.” Black District residents are able to access 55 percent as many jobs as white residents, 5 percent lower than before the pandemic disrupted transit services. Black residents also have longer trips to reach their nearest hospital.

The blog notes that D.C. transit services are slowly improving, but vast racial and economic disparities remain. See the blog post, linked below, for more details on the District’s transit recovery.