Column: Public transit not open to all

In recent years, both Charlotte and Chapel Hill-Durham have created major plans for light rail development and are getting a lot of good press about it.

But, if light rail in Chapel Hill-Durham follows the same pattern it has in Charlotte, it may enable socio-economic inequality.

For many people, light rail transit is the only appealing option when it comes to public transit. It’s a new technology, quicker than buses, cheaper than paying for gas and you can multitask on the train.

And for a state where many people do not favor government spending and high taxes, government-funded transit projects are quite celebrated.

Students at UNC Charlotte will benefit from the ease of access to get downtown for jobs and internships, while commuters from Durham or Chapel Hill can cut the time it takes to get to work. These projects are good for the environment, good for jobs and good for people. Everybody wins, right?

Although these projects are good, many other aspects of transit are forgotten in the conversation.

When was the last time you heard about new and exciting bus projects? Or new bike lanes? Few people turn to bikes and buses for their daily commute if they have the option to drive a car, myself included.

Yet for people who share a car (or don’t own one), buses, bikes and walking are their primary transit options.

The fact is all modes of transit are not created equal, similar to how not everyone in America is born in equal conditions. Even from an early time in Southern history, racism has played a major a role in the suppression and inequality of public transportation.

Take Atlanta, a city with quite the traffic problem. With the commonality of wealthy people using cars to fly around the city, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority had a different nickname among car owners: “Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta.”

These negative connotations surrounding public transit have permeated Southern culture to this day. This may make some feel uncomfortable or unwelcome on any current models of public transportation.

It would be easy to say that the new light rail projects are a step in the right direction.

These projects are, of course, a great win for the environment by making mass transit modern and emissions-free.

But not everyone will have equal access to the rail.

As a native Charlottean, I have never taken a bus in the city and would most likely drive to my nearest light rail station.

Many people don’t have that option and are therefore excluded from a light rail they paid taxes for.

By investing in transit that appeals to middle- and high-income taxpayers before low-income ones, the paradigm of poor local transit operations will still live on.

So, while all the praise for the light rail projects is well deserved, let’s not forget they still continue the pattern of inequality in North Carolina’s metropolitan regions.