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
I was in Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, on Sunday with a piece about the urgency of bus priority. An unpaywalled version is here. Canada’s major cities and transit authorities will continue to propose street design changes that nudge everyone toward sharing the scarce space of the city street more fairly. These proposals […]| Human Transit
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser has announced that the DC Streetcar, a single line of mixed-traffic streetcar along a portion of H Street, will be replaced by a “next generation streetcar.” The Washington Post headline cuts through the spin: If I could have edited that headline, I might just have said “DC Streetcar to be […] The post What Was Wrong with the Washington DC Streetcar appeared first on Human Transit.| Human Transit