Take a moment and visualize: You’re walking down a street in a large city when you happen upon a bus stop.
You see a few people waiting for the bus. The bus rolls up, passengers get off, and those waiting at the stop climb on. Who do you see? As the bus drives away, you see vehicles trail behind. One is an electric car. Who do you see driving it?
Growing up in Chicago, public transportation was part of my everyday life and that of many others. As a young child, my whole family rode the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses—my sister and I to school, and my parents to work. Public transit helped us escape traffic, nap on the way to work or school, and avoid scraping ice or snow off a car in harsh winter months. However, by far the greatest reason that people on the south and west sides of the city opted for public transit was to save money. Driving a gas-powered vehicle can be costly if you’re low-income. But there’s an alternative, one that no one promoted in my community growing up: electric vehicles.
So who did you picture getting on and off the bus? Who did you picture driving the electric car? The stereotypical electric vehicle driver is the high-income white environmentalist. But electric vehicles could be a crucial recovery strategy for low-income communities most impacted by pollution and unequal mobility accessibility. Folks in underserved communities make mobility trade-offs due to budgetary constraints, all while often living in areas with the poorest air and water quality.
This stems not only from direct vehicle emissions but also polluted runoff from highways, which have had a history of being inequitably placed through Black and Brown communities. Expanding electric vehicle access and educating communities about the cost breaks associated with electric vehicles will help improve air quality and mobility in low-income communities plagued by environmental racism.
High costs of gas-powered cars
The limitations endured by low-income individuals without vehicles are deeper than mere inconvenience. Individuals without car access are limited in a number of ways. For instance, buses tend to operate on reduced schedules very late at night or very early in the morning, which hinders people with unconventional work schedules. Public transportation also has limited coverage, and doesn’t help everyone equally—service is often dependent on where you live and where you are going. Furthermore, traveling efficiently to emergency services—such as the hospital for immediate medical care—on public transportation is difficult, if not impossible.
Despite the benefits of car ownership, many low-income folks cannot afford gas-powered vehicles—and a primary consideration is the cost of gas itself. The cost per gallon of gas in Chicago has historically been higher than in surrounding areas such as Northwest Indiana or some of the Illinois suburbs. Some people even cross the border from Illinois into Indiana to fill up.
