This paper describes how the circumstances bus operators manage presents unique challenges to the feasibility of high-level automation in public transit. Avoiding an overly rationalized view of bus operators’ labor is critical to ensure the introduction of automation technologies does not compromise public wellbeing, the dignity of transit workers, or the integrity of critical public infrastructure. Our findings from a group interview study show that bus operators take on work — undervalued by those advancing automation technologies — to ensure the well-being of passengers and communities. Notably, bus operators are positioned to function as shock absorbers during social crises in their communities and in moments of technological breakdown as new systems come on board. These roles present a critical argument against the rapid push toward driverless automation in public transit. We conclude by identifying opportunities for participatory design and collaborative human-machine teaming for a more just future of transit.

Public sector agencies aim to innovate not just for efficiency but also to enhance equity. Despite the growing adoption of data-driven decision-making systems in the public sector, efforts to integrate equity as a primary goal often fall short. This typically arises from inadequate early-stage involvement of underserved stakeholders and prevalent misunderstandings concerning the authentic meaning of equity from these stakeholders' perspectives. Our research seeks to address this gap by actively involving undersevered stakeholders in the process of envisioning the integration of equity within public sector data-driven decisions, particularly in the context of a building department in a Northeastern mid-sized U.S. city. Applying a speed dating method with storyboards, we explore diverse equity-centric futures within the realm of local business development, a domain where small businesses, particularly women-and minority-owned businesses, historically confront inequitable distribution of public services. We explored three essential aspects of equity: monitoring equity, resource allocation prioritization, as well as information and equity. Our findings illuminate the complexities of integrating equity into data-driven decisions, offering nuanced insights about the needs of stakeholders. We found that attempts to monitor and incorporate equity goals into public sector decision-making can unexpectedly backfire, inadvertently sparking community apprehension and potentially exacerbating existing inequities. Small business owners, including those identifying as women-and minority-owned, advocated against the use of demographic-based data in equity-focused data-driven decision-making in the public sector, instead emphasizing factors such as community needs, application complexity, and uncertainties inherent in small businesses. Drawing from these insights, we propose design implications to assist designers of public sector data-driven decision-making systems to better accommodate equity considerations.

This paper examines the rapid turn to remote public meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on a mix of archival materials, participant observation, and interviews within and around two mid- to large cities in the Rust Belt and Midwest regions of the United States, we consider how public officials introduced digital meeting platforms and surveys in place of traditional forms of in-person public consultation. We also examine emergent strategies of residents as they worked to have their voices heard and concerns met during a time of compounding crises (e.g., pandemic, economic recession, racial violence). Drawing from this case study, we articulate the concept of disruptive testimony, forms of public witnessing that trouble established hierarchies of power, surface conflict, and open opportunities for social change. We argue consideration for collective counter-power is increasingly important to GROUP scholarship as it attends to civic engagement beyond participation in formal, sanctioned government processes.

Over the past several years, micromobility devices—small-scale, networked vehicles used to travel short distances—have begun to pervade cities, bringing promises of sustainable transportation and decreased congestion. Though proponents herald their role in offering lightweight solutions to disconnected transit, smart scooters and autonomous delivery robots increasingly occupy pedestrian pathways, reanimating tensions around the right to public space. Drawing on interviews with disabled activists, government officials, and commercial representatives, we chart how devices and policies co-evolve to fulfill municipal sustainability goals, while creating obstacles for people with disabilities whose activism has long resisted inaccessible infrastructure. We reflect on efforts to redistribute space, institute tech governance, and offer accountability to those who involuntarily encounter interventions on the ground. In studying micromobility within spatial and political context, we call for the HCI community to consider how innovation transforms as it moves out from centers of development toward peripheries of design consideration.