Ben Jealous

If you had to guess the single strongest factor in determining who escapes poverty, what do you think it would be? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is transportation.

We may not think about it every day, but access to buses, trains and metros is a crucial link to opportunity and economic mobility. In fact, a recent Harvard University study found the single strongest factor in determining economic mobility was commuting time. A lack of transportation options can keep a struggling community treading water. It is bad enough when a neighborhood lacks access to fresh produce; it is even worse when the closest grocery store is only accessible by a bus that only shows up occasionally or not at all.

If there is a personal equivalent to this public policy problem, it would have to be the struggle of catching a cab as a person of color, especially as a black man. Nearly every person of color I know has a first- or second-hand story about a time when a taxi refused to pick him or her up or even drive to their neighborhood. Even President Obama has recalled experiencing discrimination when he was a young man.

The vexing experience of trying to hail a taxi is a powerful incentive for many people of color to seek alternative methods of transportation.

The most exciting alternative is ridesharing. Ridesharing companies, such as Uber and Lyft, manage to be more efficient than traditional taxi services and also more colorblind. When a driver selects a customer for pickup, he or she is completely blind to what that customer looks like or where that customer is going. Using an app, anyone can get a reliable ride, whenever and wherever they are.

The added bonus of ridesharing services is that they serve as a form of economic empowerment. As these services ramp up across the country, they are providing tens of thousands of flexible and easily accessible jobs.

When these drivers come from the communities they serve, it essentially creates a new market for transportation services. Everybody wins, from the passengers to the drivers to the local economy.

We often think about how technology and smartphones make our lives more convenient and easier. It’s important to remember that technology has the power to protect our dignity and make our society fairer as well.

Ben Jealous is former president and CEO of the NAACP and a partner at Kapor Capital, an early investor in Uber.