Fixing Transit Is More Than Just Infrastructure
To address challenges like climate change and inequality, the Biden Administration and Congress will need to stop funding transportation like it’s the 1980s.
In cities like Pittsburgh, only a small fraction of workers can reach jobs via public transit. To improve service, technology can play a role.
Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg
While advances in technology mean we can track our pizza delivery from the moment it leaves the oven, for millions of people reliant on public transit, waiting outside for a bus with no way to know when it will arrive is an all-too-common experience. Today only a small fraction of public transportation budgets are allocated to innovation and technology, lagging significantly behind other sectors. This doesn’t have to be the case.
We are founders of transit technology companies whose software powers public transportation systems in hundreds of cities across the world. We know that the technology to meaningfully enhance mobility, advance equity and economic opportunity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is readily available today. But the U.S. lacks the policies and funding mechanisms to encourage and enable cities to access these innovations at scale. President Joe Biden has identified four urgent challenges facing the U.S.: the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial equity. Transportation is fundamental to addressing every one of these challenges. To do so, the federal government must radically rethink its approach.