Public Transit

A pair of recent articles examine what it’s like to use public transit every day, year after year. One examines the mechanics of on-time delivery and service—the other, the unwritten rules of ridership.

March 5, 2014 - Greater Greater Washington

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is well known among planners as a cheap method to improve bus service and provide an alternative to rail, but BRT projects around the country have met resistance from an array of status quo interests.

February 26, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

The Regional Connector, a light rail improvement project in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, is one of the closest watched transit projects in the country. The federal government recently allocated a $670 million grant for the project.

February 21, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

The developers of a transit-tracking app have some for exciting news for public officials: There's a way to improve transit rider satisfaction without reducing fares, buying new vehicles or expanding service. Just give your users more information.

January 22, 2014 - The Atlantic Cities

New York and Washington D.C. are among the U.S. cities looking to revamp the payment systems for their trains and buses over the next several years. Many will ditch paper and plastic farecards in favor of credit cards and smartphones.

January 9, 2014 - The Washington Post

Though new streetcars, light rail, and subway projects get much of the attention, the lowly bus does most of the heavy public transit lifting across the U.S. Even in rail-heavy cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, bus ridership exceeds trains.

December 22, 2013 - Next City

Former Treasury Secretary LaHood made distracted driving a pet cause. The dangers of walking and texting are well documented. But would could straphangers have to fear from smartphones? Plenty, as the death of a S.F. Muni rider illustrates.

October 15, 2013 - San Francisco Chronicle

Carrying 2.3 billion passengers a year, London's buses are the most popular they've been in more than fifty years and 60 percent more utilized than in 2000. Is the city doing enough to plan for future demand and threats to service?

September 11, 2013 - The Guardian

Chicago's Fulton Market's new transit stop is attracting attention and investment in the neighborhood. Increasingly, more cities in the Midwest are embracing transportation projects as a means to revitalize downtowns and historic districts.

September 4, 2013 - The Architect's Newspaper

A scholar and former New York City planner has an interesting idea for improving the financial state of America's often beleaguered public transit systems: let non-profits run them instead of public agencies. Eric Jaffe explains his reasoning.

August 18, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

Forget reducing congestion and improving the environment; a new paper makes perhaps the strongest argument yet for investing in public transit based on its ability to agglomerate, or cluster people together, raising wages and productivity.

August 14, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

When it comes to meeting the transit needs of millennials, real time information about train arrivals is as important as the transit itself. This is one of the key findings of a New York MTA survey conducted to inform strategies for the future.

July 25, 2013 - The New York Times N.Y. - Region

Is your city's transit agency caught in a cycle of rising fares, declining service, and chronic financial problems? Mark Aesch has used an innovative approach to turn around the bus systems in Rochester and Detroit. Could it work in your city?

July 19, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

'Unruly' protests by residents opposed to planned hikes in the cost of bus fares have shaken Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in the past week. The country has a history of transit fare protests going back 130 years.

June 16, 2013 - The New York Times

The research wing of the non-profit think tank Future Cape Town has produced an infographic that provides valuable insight into the mobility patterns found in some of Africa's largest cities. Less sustainable options are growing, raising concerns.

June 13, 2013 - Future Cape Town

One of Los Angeles's most congested corridors may have gotten a bit more congested this week - for autos that is - as the first segment of an eventual 12.5 miles of bus only lanes opened along Wilshire Boulevard.

June 6, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

Forty years ago, Dade County officials sketched a vision for a paradigm shift away from highways and towards a multi-modal transportation system for the area. Four decades onward, highway expansion is alive and well in Miami-Dade. What happened?

May 20, 2013 - TransitMiami

Planners must anticipate how people would respond to new options, such as better walking, cycling and public transit services. This requires imagination.

May 19, 2013 - Todd Litman

Chris Hedges warns that corporate consolidation of public transportation is leading to increasingly dangerous conditions for both drivers and passengers, especially in intercity bus systems.

April 17, 2013 - AlterNet

Despite falling ridership numbers on the region's public transit system (bucking the nationwide trend), the Georgia Department of Transportation is studying options for building a multi-modal transit hub in downtown Atlanta.

April 2, 2013 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution