A Trip Down Memory “Train”: A Brief History of Public Transit

Being able to get from place to place is the foundation for a thriving community and sets the stage for growing our economy and upward mobility. For more than a century, the United States has recognized this, and maintaining roads and bridges has been a core function of federal, state, and local governments. While public transit is also a key option in getting around, it has suffered from chronic disinvestment despite its many community-wide benefits, and the current system leaves many of us disconnected, especially those who have long been divided by highways and borne the brunt of the cumulative impacts of environmental pollution. The federal government embraced a role in supporting transit in the 1970s, but this was cut back for the past 40 years and didn’t rebound until the pandemic.