Racial Representation and Diversity on Non-Elected Transit Advisory Bodies

Abstract

Non-elected advisory and planning bodies of transit agencies help planners determine the agency’s service, operations, and future developments. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requires reporting of the racial and ethnic makeup of those bodies to receive federal funding. This paper collects those data and compares them with the service area demographics of those agencies. This paper is an attempt to determine if those bodies are representative of the people they serve. This paper sets forth possible metrics to judge representation by and finds that most bodies in the United States are not representative, and instead over-represent the white population. This implication suggests that people of color in the United States are not being represented in the decision-making and planning processes of the transit agencies that serve them.