Now the transportation budget of his former mayor, 38-year-old Pete Buttigieg, looks set to take a giant leap forward – he will soon manage more than $ 85 billion after President-elect Joe Biden named him leader of the U.S. Department of Transportation this week .
Those familiar with Buttigieg’s work in South Bend say he is well-suited for the job, given his track record, intellect and view of transportation as more than just moving vehicles. They point to his success in revitalizing downtown South Bend. He redesigned streets, attracting new businesses, increasing property values and making the city safer for pedestrians.
But now Buttigieg is stepping onto a national stage, with bigger and more complicated challenges than what he faced in a city of about 100,000 people. It will have to address the challenges faced by national transit and driving hail workers, and integrate electric and autonomous vehicles.
C. Michael Walton, a transportation professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said that Buttigieg may not have as much direct experience as previous secretaries, but that the most qualified candidates have not always been the most successful.
“With his youth and energy, he has the opportunity to show the future of transportation,” said Walton. “We honestly need it.”
The next massive shift in U.S. transportation could be autonomous vehicles, and a debate is already underway.
Buttigieg’s presidential campaign called for leading the world in safe and zero-emission autonomous vehicle technology, saying he would advocate a strong federal role for regulation and oversight.
Perhaps most urgently, Buttigieg needs to take action on public transport. According to the American Public Transportation Association, most transportation companies are considering serious cuts to their services given the low ridership during the pandemic.
The ridehail companies are already on Buttigieg’s radar when he protested drivers outside Uber’s headquarters in 2019 for seeking better wages and benefits. It’s possible he’s pushing for better protections for gig workers. Biden spoke out this fall against an election initiative in California that exempted Uber and Lyft from classifying their employees as drivers
Amid his South Bend successes, Buttigieg didn’t go against the wider national trend of declining public transportation.
Passenger numbers on public transportation in South Bend fell 32% between the time Buttigieg was elected mayor in 2011 and the time he left office in 2019.
Other Indiana towns also saw steep declines. Evansville, Indiana saw a 42% decline in the same time, and Fort Wayne, Indiana saw a 16% decline. Both cities have public transportation budgets comparable to South Bend.
The South Bend streets that Buttigieg redesigned had less serious pedestrian accidents, according to Santiago Garces, who served as Buttigieg’s chief innovation officer in South Bend. There were also fewer empty storefronts and higher property values, he said. One-way streets were transformed into two-way streets, bicycle lanes were added and sidewalks were widened.
Biden has called for infrastructure to be installed for pedestrians and cyclists, and Buttigieg’s experiences in South Bend may prove valuable.
“We were a city you drove through and you didn’t stop,” said Greg Downes, who was the CEO of an insurance company in South Bend when he met Buttigieg on his first campaign for mayor. “Nothing is too big for this man.”
Downes said he had already committed to another candidate for mayor when he agreed to meet with Buttigieg for a quick coffee before Buttigieg’s 2011 campaign. Downes said he was so impressed after a two and a half hour interview. the impression was that he agreed to support Buttigieg. He later served on Buttigieg’s redevelopment committee in South Bend.
Kim Irwin, executive director of Health by Design, an Indianapolis organization that focuses on the impact of public spaces on public health, said she was encouraged by Buttigieg’s selection, given his previous approach to transportation.
“He looks at things from a system level and sees how things are connected,” Irwin told CNN Business.
Wide sidewalks allow for outdoor dining, creating lively street life. When streets are not that wide to cross and cars are not moving at extremely high speeds, pedestrians also feel more welcome and drawn to city streets.
Now Buttigieg is going to see if he can translate his South Bend successes onto a national stage.
Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association, a transportation research group in New York, believes Buttigieg intervenes at the most important time for U.S. transportation since the Interstate Highway system was developed in the 1950s.
“This is a critical time,” said Wright. “The policies and culture behind the US transportation system are up for grabs.”