Public Transit

As reporter Robert J. Hawkins notes, "It's like 2008 all over again." Back then, skyrocketing gas prices sent people fleeing to use public transit. Today, the pattern remains the same, at least in San Diego.

April 11, 2011 - San Diego Union-Tribune

A new report is cause for concern in Canada. It shows that poor public transit and bad traffic are damaging the economic engine of cities like Toronto.

March 26, 2011 - The Globe and Mail

One way to help build an expensive new extension of L.A's subway system is to accept corporate sponsorships, argues Joel Epstein in this op-ed.

February 15, 2011 - Los Angeles Business Journal

My sense is that most new urbanists and smart growth advocates were happy to see Barack Obama elected President two years ago.  While John McCain opposed Amtrak and had not been overly supportive of local public transit, Obama created an Administration full of advocates for transit and urbanism, and high-speed rail is one of his Administration's signature programs.  So the Obama Administration will slow sprawl, and will make our cities more transit-oriented, prosperous and walkable.   Right? 

February 13, 2011 - Michael Lewyn

Bus rapid transit is growing in popularity throughout the world, though implementation is lacking in the U.S.

February 4, 2011 - THE DIRT

It was nearly 50 years ago, when streetcars were seen on the roadways of downtown Washington, DC. Dan Tangherlini, the former transportation director for the District discusses why streetcars matter in the United States capital.

January 16, 2011 - The City Fix

Metro stations, train stations and streetcar systems have distinct ways of showing how to get from one area to another. TheCityFix's Jonna McKone looks at mass transit systems from Mexico City to Paris and the visual representations used in each one.

January 11, 2011 - TheCityFix

Prevailing wisdom is that transit mode and frequency of service is dependent on residential density, which leaves low density, outer suburbs in a lurch, instilling an auto-dependent lifestyle. Not so, says Australian researcher and author Paul Mees.

January 5, 2011 - The Age: Victoria

As Congress begins to draft transportation legislation next year, fiscal scarcity may induce a fight between transit and highway advocates over federal funding, rather than the cooperation of the last few years.  And if highway advocates seek to tear down federal support for other forms of transportation, they will probably rely heavily on federalism considerations, arguing that highways are inherently an interstate concern while transit and non-motorized forms of transportation are a nonfederal concern.  For example, Alan Pisarski writes: “If sidewalks and bike paths are federal then everything is federal.” There are two flaws in this argument.  First of all, highways are not always primarily an interstate concern

December 14, 2010 - Michael Lewyn

Randal O'Toole argues that transit will never be energy efficient because ridership is never high enough to warrant the energy expelled.

November 29, 2010 - The Antiplanner

Virtually every modern economy is mixed: governments produce some goods and services and private companies produce others. Governments generally provide those goods and services that are either considered essential and should be available to everybody regardless of ability to pay, or that require strategic coordination, including police protection, basic education, transportation infrastructure, parks, and public health services. Transportation facilities and services are among these basic government functions.

November 15, 2010 - Todd Litman

Business interests on a downtown commercial street complain a transit mall is making the area less attractive for retail.

November 5, 2010 - Streetsblog

Fear of crime and uncertainty about safety keep many people from using public transit, according to a new study. But how should transit agencies react?

November 1, 2010 - Next American City

Walder’s arrival from London, where he transformed a flagging bus and subway system, brought high hopes for New York’s transit system, says Michael Grynbaum. But is he meeting the expectations of riders and officials?

October 26, 2010 - The New York Times

With the debut of the latest map of the Moscow Metro, TheCityFix's Jonna McKone takes a look at mass transit maps from across the globe and chats with mapmaker Cameron Booth.

October 26, 2010 - TheCityFix

Is there a difference between the two most common fare structures in public transit?

October 23, 2010 - TheCityFix

A conversation series from the National Trust for Historic Preservation asks what it would take for people to ditch their cars and rely solely on walking, cycling and public transportation.

October 22, 2010 - Glass House Conversations

In the last ten years, more than two thirds of poverty growth has happened in suburban areas of American cities. According to Brookings', social services such as transit have failed to keep up in the face of decreasing tax revenue.

October 16, 2010 - The Next American City

  Why didn’t the chicken cross the road? Because pedestrian Level-Of-Service was below “C”.  

September 22, 2010 - Todd Litman

A couple of years ago, I was listening to a friend explain why she left Rochester for Jacksonville. "I was tired of digging my car out of the snow." It occurred to me that the nexus between driving and winter weather may at least partially explain the decline of America’s northern Rust Belt. Here’s why: car care and storage makes snow a bigger bother than might otherwise be the case: if you don’t have a heated garage, you have to dig your car out of the snow every day, and if you park on the street you may have to constantly move your car to accommodate municipal snow removal.

September 3, 2010 - Michael Lewyn