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If you have never been to Baltimore, you should come to visit. From Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, you can ride the light rail to downtown in 25 minutes for one of the best deals in the country. If you ride the train between Boston and Washington, you can walk out of Pennsylvania Station and board the Charm City Circulator to downtown, and it\u2019s free! However, if you live in the city of Baltimore and you want to rely on transit to get you to all of life\u2019s functions, you need to recalculate your aspirations for life\u2019s necessities and ambitions. For the 30 percent of people who live in Baltimore without a car (which, coincidentally corresponds with the percentage of people between 16 and 64 not in the labor force), the pursuit of economic opportunity, particularly beyond the confines of downtown, comes with limitations.<\/p>\nThis image of a public servant\u2014say, an airport security guard\u2014forced to sleep on a hard chair because they have no way of getting home after a late shift epitomizes the conditions of today\u2019s unjust city.<\/blockquote><\/figure>The above example serves as powerful reminder of how access to opportunity, transit mobility and the missing luxury of transportation choice is a critical gap in the path to shared prosperity for many in places like Baltimore. It is equally important to understand and underscore that fostering a more just place that includes all, especially those with the most limited means, is not a zero-sum game, but can create greater benefits for everyone.<\/p>\nBaltimore is a wealthy region in the highest-per-capita income state in America. With the Port of Baltimore\u2014the furthest inland deepwater port on the Atlantic coast\u2014significant highway access and the birthplace of the B&O railroad, Baltimore in its heyday boasted one of the best intermodal transportation networks in the nation. At one time nearly 40 percent of the US population was within a day\u2019s drive of Baltimore.<\/p>\n
Despite its proximity to abundant wealth, Baltimore is a poor city. The median family income in the city is less than two thirds that of the next closest jurisdiction, and most new jobs, particularly those that pay good salaries, are located outside of the city in areas disconnected from public transit and inaccessible to the 30 percent of Baltimoreans without a car.<\/p>\n
There are racial dynamics that further complicate this picture. Baltimore is a poor and majority black city in a wealthy and majority-white metropolitan area. Nearly 70 percent of the regional\u2014read suburban\u2014population is white, while 64 percent of the Baltimore City population is black. The racial dynamics of this spatial mismatch\u2014defined as the gap between home and employment\u2014is real and unavoidable for now.<\/p>\n
While there has been a move towards \u201ctransit-oriented developments\u201d in the region, these have tended to intensify existing disparities by catering to those who can afford market-rate rents, many of whom also happen to work commute-friendly 9-5 days.\u00a0 Meanwhile, those don\u2019t have that coveted first-shift schedule\u2014many of them lower-wage service workers\u2014find themselves at the mercy of a broken transit system. In one example, late-shift airport workers at BWI Airport must either take a bus to a transfer point and wait a few hours for the next leg of their journey home, or find a place to sleep in the airport until light rail operation commences in the morning. In other instances, transit services terminate at the edge of business parks, leaving employees trekking the last mile or more on foot.<\/p>\n
This image of a public servant\u2014say, a TSA agent\u2014forced to sleep on a hard chair because they have no way of getting home after a late shift epitomizes the conditions of today\u2019s unjust city.<\/p>\n