Transportation is an essential thread woven into the fabric of our everyday lives. Public transportation systems impact the landscapes of communities in ways that often go unnoticed, both reshaping urban environments and reinforcing racial and economic disparities. Accessible and equitable public transportation infrastructure is particularly crucial for low-income communities. Systemic disinvestment and car-centric transportation policy have consistently and disproportionately harmed marginalized communities, widening economic and social gaps. Guests on this episode describe how addressing longstanding neglect and discriminatory practices in transportation planning is imperative to supporting racialized communities in the fight for economic justice.
This episode was researched and produced by the Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) 2024 Summer Research Fellows: Oreoluwa Ale, Shaleyah Carter, Wisdom Chandler, Aliyah Davenport, Loren Floyd, Chelsea Mendes, Priyanka Mukhara, and Mardet Mulugeta.
2024 Summer Research Fellow, Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI)
Chair and Professor of Transportation & Urban Infrastructure Studies, Morgan State University
Assistant Policy Counsel, Legal Defense Fund (LDF)
Deputy Executive Director, The League of American Bicyclists
The TransitCenter Equity Dashboard tracks how well public transit systems serve their riders. It measures access to key destinations, service coverage and frequency, and service affordability for various demographic groups. For example, during March 2025, Black riders in Washington, D.C., could access an average of 8,000 jobs within thirty minutes using public transit, compared to an average of 16,000 jobs for white riders. Explore the data and compare how transit access serves different racial groups here.
In June 2015, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced the cancellation of the Red Line, a planned east-west mass transit light rail. Instead, all state funding earmarked for the Red Line was redirected to a newly created Highways, Bridges, and Roads Initiative, which focused largely on rural and suburban areas outside Baltimore. The Red Line would have cut Baltimoreans’ commuting times, increased their access to job centers, and dramatically decongested traffic along highways and roads inside of and leading into the city.
Expert analysis, research, and community interviews, as well as the state’s own analysis, pointed to the disparate impact of the Red Line’s cancellation on Black residents of Baltimore and Maryland. In 2010, approximately twenty-five percent of Baltimore’s 620,961 Black residents—63.7% of the city’s total population—relied on public transportation to travel to work, compared to only eight percent of white residents.
LDF, along with the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, Covington & Burling LLP, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, filed a complaint with the United States Department of Transportation on behalf of the Baltimore Regional Initiative Developing Genuine Equality, Inc., and Black residents of Maryland. The complaint stated that the cancellation of the Red Line violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits state agencies that engage in discrimination from receiving federal funds. Read the full complaint here, and read the report on the implications of the Red Line’s cancellation here.
On June 15, 2023, Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced the relaunch of the Red Line Light Rail Project.
