Report: Inequality in transit industry leadership leads to underrepresentation, unequal policies for riders

Janitors and office workers, single parents and childcare professionals, immigrants and locals—people of all ethnicities, religions and perspectives move through urban landscapes via the same public transportation systems. But while transit systems are supposed to be equitable, a new report from TransitCenter highlights a “fundamental mismatch between who is making key transit decisions at public transit agencies, and who is most affected by those decisions.”

Specifically, the report, “Who Rules Transit? An analysis of who holds power in transit agency decision making and how it should change,” cites that 66 percent of leadership positions within the public transit workforce “are held by white people, despite accounting for only 40 percent of transit riders, while people of color are underrepresented in every area of the industry despite making up a majority of transit riders.” And within the transit workforce, while 45 percent of workers identify as Black, Latinx and Asian-American, only 33 percent of transit leadership positions are held by minorities—with Black employees comprising a quarter of the workforce but only 20 percent of managerial positions. 

The findings are important because decisions made by leadership “affect the health, economic status, and social well-being of transit riders and local communities. Decisions like where to site a bus stop, how to change a service schedule, how much to charge for a trip, or which stations should receive capital improvements affect people’s access to jobs, education, medical care, and other necessities.” 

Driving this diversity problem, researchers found that transit boards often give more representative power to suburban areas than urban centers. At the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, for example, “38 percent of the service area’s residents and 71 percent of its transit riders live in Philadelphia, yet only 13 percent of the board seats are allocated to the city’s representatives,” the report continues.

Elsewhere, in New York, 88 percent of the system’s ridership lives in the city, but only 18 percent  of board seats are allocated to appointees representing city constituents. And “In three southern U.S. cities—Richmond, New Orleans, and Savannah—suburban jurisdictions adjacent to the central city are allocated board seats even though those jurisdictions don’t pay into the system or have service.” 

Without equal representation, areas with more density receive less attention while generating the lion’s share of revenue. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for example, “is nearing completion on a $11.1 billion project to bring suburbanites into midtown Manhattan on the Long Island Rail Road, while proposed capital projects within the city limits that would serve far more people and a far more diverse group of riders are delayed,” the report says. And in Texas, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority “has spent billions of dollars on low-ridership lines to low-density suburbs, while disinvesting in service in the parts of the city where potential ridership is highest.” 

There’s also gender disparity within the industry, and that reveals itself in policies and processes that “don’t consider barriers such as work schedules outside 9-to-5 hours, or child- and home-care responsibilities.”

Out of 108 board members included in the report, 32 are women, even though women comprise more than half the nation’s population. To that end, the report makes a number of steps administrators can take to even the playing field. First, make appointment structure more visible and increase accountability of processes; make sure appointees look like their constituents; ensure diverse participation in board meetings; and build relationships with board members—one of the most effective ways advocates can influence lasting change, according to the report.

Beyond that, power structures can be shifted through “more inclusive internal and external engagement,” the report notes. This includes looking within for expertise—frontline transit employees like bus drivers and rail operators “interact directly with the riding public on a daily basis. Frontline positions also account for a significant share of agencies’ Black and brown employees.”