How Pete Buttigieg Could Save Mass Transit
Could the most consequential member of the Biden cabinet be the secretary of Transportation?
The future secretary of Transportation and his preferred mode of transportation (as of November 2019).
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images North AmericaWhen President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet takes office later this month, all eyes will be on the public-health officials coping with Covid-19. But one of the most difficult and important post-pandemic tasks — restoring America’s deteriorating mass-transit systems — will rest with the secretary of Transportation.
The question is not so much whether Pete Buttigieg is ambitious enough to try to do something big with what’s traditionally been a small job. (He is.) It’s whether he’s willing to take on the Democratic Party interests necessary to bring about true reform.