Architectural Exclusion: Access to Public Transportation

By Kaylee Chou

What allows one to feel comfortable in a space? For some, it may be living near parks and playgrounds. Perhaps it’s having easy access to city services. Or maybe it’s being in a residence close to a bustling city. Regardless of what it may be, everyone wants to feel comfortable, safe and welcomed in their environment. Just think: what makes your city accessible for you to live in? Now imagine if those amenities were taken away–how would you navigate your life; what would be different for you?

That being said, oftentimes architecture is overlooked when it comes to making space accessible for all– specifically when it comes to transportation.

Architectural exclusion, as defined by Sarah B. Schindler in, “Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination and Segregation through Physical Design of the Built Environment” is “discrimination and segregation through physical design of the built environment.” This can be seen in different features of an environment such as access to transportation systems.

Public transportation is a service that many people rely on. Aside from being a more sustainable and cheaper way to navigate the city, it provides a means of connection for people to reach their families, homes, and careers. Without it, people must rely on other methods of transportation such as cars, which may not be affordable to some, or bikes, which are not always convenient due to long distances or certain weather conditions.

According to the American Public Transportation Association, in 2019, 9.9 billion trips were taken on public transit. However, despite this proven reliance on public transit, 45% of Americans do not have access to it.

In Canada, according to Statistics Canada, there were 1.2 billion public transit trips in 2022. Canadians living in bustling cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are generally able to better access this transit, while rural areas have expressed a need for more convenient public transit. It makes a world of difference. In communities that are unable to access public services and facilities by walking, public transit means access to healthcare, careers and education. However, with many people still lacking this, disparities in these areas will only continue to grow. There is a history to this.

In, “Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination and Segregation through Physical Design of the Built Environment,” it is highlighted how those who rely most on public transit are low-income and people of color. Therefore, areas that do not welcome or lack public transit are much more difficult for them to reach. While multiple reasons exist for this, racist policies and ideologies have contributed to the current transit systems society experiences today.

For instance, Atlanta, Georgia, is ranked as one of the worst U.S. cities for public transportation being that the average commute by transit takes close to an hour. Part of this is rooted in how Atlanta’s transportation and housing policies were implemented.

Reported in a study by Leah Binkovitz at The Urban Edge, in the mid-1990s, these policies, “subsidized suburban growth for white homeowners, leaving the city core underfunded and crippling the ability of black families to build wealth.” Being that white families were residing in the suburbs, there was a bridge needed to connect them to much of the economic ventures that occurred in the city. This brought in networks, like the freeway system and MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority).

For one, these freeway systems often cut through the neighborhoods and communities of people of color, affecting the area’s social and economic development, and adding health risks such as pollutants from vehicle fuel. In addition to this, with the separation between suburbs and the city, “business elites still maintained an interest in making downtown economically vibrant and facilitating connections to the suburbs to manage traffic,” as reported in The Urban Edge. This marked the start of MARTA.

Upon MARTA’s legislature, the organization faced much backlash from Black voters who did not approve of the proposed design's emphasis on suburb-to-downtown access,” and wanted a greater say in MARTA’s development.

MARTA complied by altering their development plans to reach more Black neighborhoods, which helped them gain the votes of people of color for their future funding. However, in two out of the four counties where MARTA was set up, this initiative failed. As mentioned by The Urban Edge, “The two counties, notes the report, were rural and largely white. Racial fears were certainly part of their opposition." MARTA would be referred to as, “Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta–” an idea that seemed to scare some, and make it increasingly difficult for Black people to access transit. The impacts of this have lasted to modern day, with Alex Karner, a city planning professor with the Georgia Institute of Technology and co-author of the report from the Partnership for Southern Equity, saying, “Those policies fueling residential segregation were inextricably tied to transportation in the region.”

In Canada, lack of transportation access has had lasting impacts as well. British Columbia’s Highway 16, otherwise known as the Highway of Tears is notorious for the many women and girls, particularly of Indigenous background, that have gone missing or been murdered while on it. The highway connects the northwest coast of Prince Rupert to the inner city of Prince George, with 23 First Nations surrounding it. The area, as defined by The Canadian Encyclopedia is, “characterized by poverty and, until 2017, lacked adequate public transportation, which forced many locals to resort to hitchhiking as a form of transit.”

This risky form of transportation puts these women and girls in an incredibly vulnerable position and with the ruralness of the area, help is not exactly easy to get.

The exact number of the women and girls that have gone missing or been murdered along this highway is blurred. While the RCMP reports 18 cases of murder from 1969-2006, many First Nations groups say this is inaccurate and that the real number could exceed 40. It is important to note that many of these cases remain unsolved– with much of the reasoning for this being the lack of attention and regard the government has given Indigenous issues.

While bus services in 2017 began, much work still must be done to ensure better transit access for all people living along Highway 16. In an article by the Vancouver Sun, it reported that, “Gladys Radek, whose 22-year-old niece Tamara Lynn Chipman disappeared while hitchhiking in Prince Rupert in 2005, told the inquiry she knows people who have to hitchhike just to go to work.” She mentioned that these services should be free, adding that, “I’ve even picked up a young lady, just outside of Smithers, to take her back to Moricetown because she had to go see a doctor. She was nine months pregnant.” As people risk their lives to gain access to the services they need, it is further called into question how long it will take to implement a transportation system. Over the 2024-2025 year, British Colmbia’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has dedicated $10.2 million to a five-step plan, created to guarantee the safety of all people traveling along the Highway of Tears.

However, until this plan is implemented, residents will be left to the devices they have—which, evidently, are not enough.

Discrimination exists in many forms– and it can manifest differently. Architecture, while it may blend into the day-to-day lives of people, holds immense power in the lifestyle one can live. Demonstrated throughout history and seen in modern day, architectural exclusion has impacted the well being of many, particularly those living with low incomes and who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). From racist policies, lack of inclusion, to disregard for issues affecting BIPOC communities, we must not neglect how we can harness architecture in bridging disparities. In the case of public transit, it is more than being able to catch a bus or train ride– it means access to healthcare, careers, education, and community.