Racism Has Shaped Public Transit, and It’s Riddled with Inequities

"I’ve been a transit board member, leading a transit network redesign at Houston METRO. As a planning consultant, I’ve worked with agencies in Boston and Fort Worth. I wrote a book about transit in the United States. I strongly believe that better transit can make better cities.

"But, through these experiences, I’ve seen how racism is embedded in nearly every planning discussion in America — often hiding beneath the surface. I’ve seen that transit often enables and supports racist systems. That won’t come as news to the many Americans who have lived with this reality every day since childhood. I’m not an expert on equity or a historian of race, and I know my own experience as a white man is very different from most of the people who ride transit in Houston. I definitely can’t say I’ve always gotten it right. But this is something we all have to think about and call out. 

"We in the transit world, all of us who are involved in decisions about what kind of transit service to provide, and where and how to provide it, are the stewards of systems that have racism deeply rooted in them. And, unless we step back and question ourselves, are willing to have uncomfortable conversations, and share our power, we will continue to perpetuate that racism."