History was made Dec. 15 when President-elect Joe Biden named former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg as his Secretary of Transportation. In addition to being the first openly gay member of a U.S. President’s Cabinet, Buttigieg is also noteworthy both for his lack of hands-on experience managing any sort of transportation department or agency and for his small-city background. But according to one analysis of the appointment, this may actually be a good thing, for it may mean that federal transportation policies may actually pay attention to those Americans who get the lowest quality of transit service, namely, those living in our smaller cities.