2026 Theses Master's

The Production of Transit Inequity: Space, Power, and Justice in the SEPTA System

Harlow, William

The transit funding issue facing the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) affects millions of residents in the Philadelphia metropolitan region, with disadvantaged populations experiencing greater harm. While federally-mandated Title VI analyses require the avoidance or mitigation of harms to disadvantaged populations, the same level, or an acceptable level of difference, of service reduction does not affect advantaged and disadvantaged populations equally.

The primary explanation for the disproportionate impact is the spatial segregation of these disadvantaged groups. Previous research has explored how historical planning decisions on housing, transportation, economics (jobs), and city services have inequitably and unjustly distributed city resources, entrenching and reinforcing access to the city.

We will use socioeconomic, sociodemographic, geospatial, and transportation/mobility data, complemented by semi-structured interviews with Philadelphian transit riders, local advocates, and transit professionals to situate this issue of spatial justice in a Philadelphian context. Local- and state-level policy decisions to deprioritize SEPTA’s intracity and regional public transit continue to restrict Philadelphians’ “right to the city.” This research argues that equal service reductions do not produce equal social impacts because transit dependence is spatially and racially uneven across the five-county SEPTA region. As a result, procedural Title VI compliance alone is insufficient for evaluating transit justice.