Digital Gatekeeping and Racialized Access to Smart Mobility in U.S. Smart Cities

• In Event: Digital Inequalities 3.0: New Problems and New Approaches

Abstract

Smart mobility platforms—such as app‑based ride-hailing, shared e‑scooters, and micromobility—are widely promoted as equitable transportation innovations in U.S. smart cities. Yet participation in these systems depends on digital prerequisites including smartphone compatibility, data and GPS access, English‑dominant interfaces, and credit‑based payment systems. These conditions operate as digital gatekeeping, shaping who can access smart mobility and under what terms. This study examines how digital gatekeeping may reproduce racialized and classed mobility barriers among transit‑insecure residents of color in Austin, Texas and Columbus, Ohio. While prior research identifies longstanding transportation inequalities, far less is known about how digital infrastructures themselves produce new forms of exclusion. Drawing on mobility justice, mobility data justice, and race‑and‑technology frameworks, the study conceptualizes smart mobility as a digital infrastructure that can enable or restrict movement. Using original survey data, the project assesses racial disparities in app/GPS failures, payment verification issues, and trips abandoned due to digital problems. Anticipated patterns suggest that digital requirements may create distinctive barriers for marginalized riders.

Author

• Dezerae Reyes, Texas A&M University-College Station