Conversation

After the war, consumer demand and public policy swung the other way. Many white commuters took advantage of the GI Bill, federally subsidized mortgages, an expanding highway network and cheap automobiles to escape #MassTransit – and the neighborhoods that it served.

Black Americans, in contrast, were largely shut out from access to these benefits, keeping them trapped in decaying urban cores.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/08/20/this-single-photo-of-a-packed-trolley-illustrates-the-ups-and-downs-of-us-public-transit

So, racism turned public transit into the Cinderella of US transportation.