The Australian Broadcasting Company’s Future Tense radio program recently did a long interview-format show on free public transit. The whole thing is good. I’m in there for about four minutes starting at 9:30 about the need to focus fare discounts away from the peak rush hour. You can download and listen here. Related Posts Canberra: […]| Human Transit
Nothing. In today's CityLab, Eric Jaffe expresses concern about the fact that support for public transit in many American cities is far exceeding its ridership. Every transit advocate knows this timeless Onion headline: "98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others." But the underlying truth that makes this line so funny also makes it a little […]| Human Transit
Last month I did a radio interview for Alex Sloan of ABC 666 Canberra (the main public radio station in Australia’s national capital) on the broad future of public transit in that city, along with Monash University Professor Graham Currie. Much of what was said, especially about light rail and bus rapid transit, is true […]| Human Transit
OK, the headline is a little exaggerated, but California’s Senate Bill 79, authored by Senator Scott Wiener and just signed by Governor Newsom, is a game-changer. It prohibits most cities from forbidding dense development near rapid transit stations. All over America, we have built rapid transit systems and then allowed local governments to prohibit dense […]| Human Transit
Almost everywhere I travel as a consultant, someone asks me whether it’s realistic to expect people to walk given the extremes of their climate. They don’t just ask me this in Edmonton and Singapore. I’ve even been asked this about Los Angeles, where the climate is very mild by global standards. Well-traveled elites can form […]| Human Transit
It’s been embarrassing to be traveling in Europe during critical weeks when several states I care about — including Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Illinois — are going through major transit funding crises. But the same crises are coming for much of the US in the next year. So I wanted to lay out everything I could […] The post “Should We Let Public Transit Die?” My New Piece in Bloomberg appeared first on Human Transit.| Human Transit
Is there a more confident, polished, completely self-satisfied city than Bern, Switzerland? It’s not just that it’s the “Federal City” (please don’t say “capital”) of a famously wealthy and orderly country, the meeting point among its French, Italian, and German identities. It’s not just the long history of sovereignty, not just as a city […]| Human Transit
The Pennsylvania State Senate has decided that the transit system of America’s fifth largest city should be substantially destroyed. Similar dramas are playing out in Illinois, Oregon, and Rhode Island. Each crisis has arisen from the state legislature’s refusal to find new funding to save public transit, but Pennsylvania is the first state to actually […] The post The Fall of Philadelphia appeared first on Human Transit.| Human Transit
For a while I’ve wanted to synthesize some material that’s scattered through my book (and more recent work) but that needs to be presented more directly. It’s long, but there are handy section dividers along the way, and pictures near the end. When transit is planned with the goal of high ridership, what does that […]| Human Transit
A US transit agency client just gave me a really interesting bit of feedback on our work as transit network planning consultants at Jarrett Walker + Associates. They said (paraphrasing): ‘We really appreciate your willingness to challenge us. Most consultants tell us what they think we want to hear. When we went into our last […]| Human Transit
I’m happy to announce that we’ve scheduled the next session of my “inexcusably fun” two-day intensive course in transit network design. It will be October 30-31, 2025 in Portland, right after the Mpact conference. Tuition is US$495. This course isn’t just for transit planners. It’s for any professional whose work depends on great public transit: […] The post Intensive Course in Transit Network Design Comes to Portland, October 30-31! appeared first on Human Transit.| Human Transit
Two of our recent successful bus network redesigns have helped lead to APTA Outstanding Public Transportation Agency awards! Congratulations to Akron METRO in Ohio and Monterey-Salinas Transit in California, both of which implemented our redesign plans in the last couple of years. (We also made MST’s public network map!) We certainly don’t take credit for […] The post Two of Our Bus Network Redesigns Help Lead to Awards appeared first on Human Transit.| Human Transit
My travel plans will have me in the UK for much of the month of September this year. This is a great opportunity for British friends to think about events they might want me to do. First, I can do speaking events related to my book, for free as long as there’s a reasonable marketing […]| Human Transit
It’s a time of rapid change for urban bus services in England.[1] Since Margaret Thatcher’s privatization reforms of 1985, these services have been subsidized but not really controlled by government. I wrote here about Thatcher’s vision for privatized public transport, including why it has been teetering for some time and is now being swept away. […] The post Bus Service in England: The Need for Clearer Maps appeared first on Human Transit.| Human Transit
