When you ask voters to approve taxes for public transit, what you mostly get is a map of residential density. Here's the latest from Spokane, WA where the measure narrowly leads at the moment.
Jarrett Walker
@humantransit.bsky.social
Public transit planning consultant and commentator. Author of the book “Human Transit” and the blog HumanTransit.org. The consulting firm is jarrettwalker.com. Also obsessed with literature and plants.
Good interview with @humantransit.bsky.social , including implicitly how much reliance on pro-cyclical fare revenue to fund operations has harmed transit since COVID by forcing service cuts. Park and ride commuters only forced onto transit by rush hour traffic are not coming back! 🧵
The War on Cars@thewaroncars.bsky.social · yesterdayNew episode up! We talk with transit planner Jarrett Walker, author of the recently reissued classic Human Transit, about why buses are so great, how we can make them better, & how advocates should fight for public transit in a hostile federal funding environment. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
I was not familiar with Jarrett prior, but this might be one of my favorite episodes of TWOC this year
Jarrett Walker@humantransit.bsky.social · yesterdayGreat new podcast interview of me by Sarah Goodyear about the new edition of my book HUMAN TRANSIT. We touch on rail-bus debates in Atlanta and Portland, free fares in NYC, and on how to be a more effective advocate. A fun half hour for all! Pls share! thewaroncars.org/2026/08/04/e...
Unpopular opinion: US election day should be a week earlier so that Halloween doesn't land in the most frenzied and anxious days of the campaign.
Karen K. Ho@karenho.bsky.social · yesterdayI want to make a really good Halloween costume this year (yes I know it is only August). The only things I can think of are "Sexy Anglerfish", a giant spotted yoyo painted like a Yayoi Kusama pumpkin for "Yo-Yo Kusama", and a large bag of Taylor Farms lettuce adorned with cyclospora oocysts.
@humantransit.bsky.social is one of the most rational thinkers/practitioners working in transit. I've learned from him to follow the math. EPISODE 178: Human Transit with Jarrett Walker – The War on Cars share.google/0qF6l9ZA8sfE...
EPISODE 178: Human Transit with Jarrett Walker – The War on Cars
share.google
Is your region taking public transit as seriously as (checks notes) Oklahoma City? (No, despite the photo, this story is not about the streetcar!) usa.streetsblog.org/2026/08/03/o...
Oklahoma City Is Taking Transit Seriously (Which Is What Booming Regions Should Do) — Streetsblog USA
The Big Friendly considers a small sales tax to boost transit, which is so necessary in a booming region.
usa.streetsblog.org
Great new podcast interview of me by Sarah Goodyear about the new edition of my book HUMAN TRANSIT. We touch on rail-bus debates in Atlanta and Portland, free fares in NYC, and on how to be a more effective advocate. A fun half hour for all! Pls share! thewaroncars.org/2026/08/04/e...
EPISODE 178: Human Transit with Jarrett Walker – The War on Cars
thewaroncars.org
Keynote by @humantransit.bsky.social at Transportation Camp DC this year was fantastic. Give this a listen.
The War on Cars@thewaroncars.bsky.social · yesterdayNew episode up! We talk with transit planner Jarrett Walker, author of the recently reissued classic Human Transit, about why buses are so great, how we can make them better, & how advocates should fight for public transit in a hostile federal funding environment. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Always such fun to talk with Chuck Marohn of @strongtowns.org. Chuck and I discuss my revised book HUMAN TRANSIT and where US public transit is right now. Pls share. humantransit.org/2026/07/new-...
New Interview of Me on Strong Towns Podcast — Human Transit
Chuck Marohn, founder of Strong Towns, just released a new podcast interview of me, where we talk about how to have clearer conversations about public transit. The invitation was triggered by our rec...
humantransit.org
Most transport technology hype inadvertently advertises what a tiny number of passengers will be served. It wants you to imagine that you will get this convenience, but if everyone uses it, it won’t be like this at all. Nothing is more old-fashioned than transport tech hype.
Most transport technology hype inadvertently advertises what a tiny number of passengers will be served. It wants you to imagine that you will get this convenience, but if everyone uses it, it won’t be like this at all. Nothing is more old-fashioned than transport tech hype.
remarkable how it's consensus within all realms of transportation academic/professional/political pundit spaces that transit projects cost too much and how rarely it's coupled with "we spend orders of magnitude more on highways which also suffer from exorbitant cost overruns and consultant grift"
Benjamin Schneider@benschneider.bsky.social · last wk.There's some truth here: Transit projects cost too much and the urban transportation market is getting more competitive. Withholding transit grant money, as the Trump admin is doing, addresses neither of those things, of course. But what would help? t.co/cZmiMFc6yf
Having worked through fiscal cliffs at three different agencies in my career (thankfully all where the agencies averted catastrophe), just going through the act of creating service cut plans is incredibly demoralizing for staff Even if you don’t ultimately cut service, it sticks with you
Jarrett Walker@humantransit.bsky.social · last wk.This year our firm is working on several transit plans that involve cutting service. So I know we’ll again get framed as service cut advocates. That’s not how it works. We work with the client’s financial situation. Advocate transit funding, so we don’t have to do this. We want more transit too
All over the transit industry, zero-emission bus mandates, like those of California, are colliding with Buy America requirements that deny US transit agencies access to a competitive bus market. The result is a wave of lousy buses that are impacting service. 1/ nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/07/27/b...
Battery Drain: MTA Trims New Flyer Electric Bus Order Amid Tech Growing Pains - Streetsblog New York City
The MTA will buy 85 fewer electric buses as its manufacturer tries to sort out a way to keep them in service without breaking down.
nyc.streetsblog.org
The Vancouver skyline will soon look a lot shorter. dailyhive.com/vancouver/ho...
Western Canada's tallest tower approved by Vancouver City Council | Daily Hive | Urbanized
Vancouver City Council has approved Holborn Group's project to redevelop the Hudson's Bay parkade into Western Canada's tallest tower.
dailyhive.com
Many cities, including Atlanta, still don't understand that if you want great public transit, you can't shut it down just to have a party.
Portland! We have just a few spaces left in our "inexcusably fun" two-day intensive course in public transit network design, this Thursday and Friday 7/30-31 at PSU. (Also coming to Chicago 10/1-2!) Details here: humantransit.org/2026/05/new-... Please share!
New Sessions of our Intensive Transit Network Design Course: Portland and Chicago — Human Transit
We’re delighted to announce two 2026 sessions of our “inexcusably fun” two-day intensive course in public transit network design. This course, which we at Jarrett Walker + Associates have been teachi...
humantransit.org
This year our firm is working on several transit plans that involve cutting service. So I know we’ll again get framed as service cut advocates. That’s not how it works. We work with the client’s financial situation. Advocate transit funding, so we don’t have to do this. We want more transit too
Peter Norton@norton.bsky.social · last wk.Car dependency was not a choice. It was and is the deprivation of choice. Facing the loss of her bus service, Mildred Cooper looked for others in Long Beach whose mobility was also at risk. She collected 7,231 signatures.
That feeling when a reply saying that technology will free us from having to think has a profile image of people being thrown out of a helicopter.
Yes, I’ve ridden Elon Musk’s Las Vegas Loop. Here’s why you shouldn’t bother, and shouldn’t build this in your city. humantransit.org/2025/01/las-...
Las Vegas: A Ride on Elon's "Vegas Loop" Did Not Change My Mind — Human Transit
Eight years ago, I experienced 10 seconds of Elon Musk’s attention. The occasion was my criticism of his idea, now being implemented by his Boring Company, that the future of urban transportation was...
humantransit.org
You can drive from Troy to Ithaca in just over three hours, and a detour via Sicily is only 7 minutes longer.
Spokane's transit agency is going to the voters on Aug 4 to renew (not increase) their tax funding. Here's a good article explaining who's on which side of the debate. www.rangemedia.co/the-regions-...
The region’s transit authority is asking voters to renew 2/10ths of 1% sales tax
Meanwhile, some of Spokane’s biggest conservative political donors are pouring funds into a PAC to oppose the transit tax renewal.
rangemedia.co
Portland area: Are there any defenders of the WES commuter rail line out there? Anyone who thinks it should keep running forever despite catastrophic ridership? If so I'd like to meet you.
Recorded two podcasts (as a guest) recently and am thinking of seeking more. If you know my work on public transit, what podcasters do you think I should be pitching to?
Hang out with me drawing colored lines on maps! Our "inexcusably fun" two-day course in public transit network design is coming up in Portland (7/30-31) and Chicago (10/1-2). Please share! humantransit.org/2026/05/new-...
New Sessions of our Intensive Transit Network Design Course: Portland and Chicago — Human Transit
We’re delighted to announce two 2026 sessions of our “inexcusably fun” two-day intensive course in public transit network design. This course, which we at Jarrett Walker + Associates have been teachi...
humantransit.org
Portland: everyone who is seriously thinking of using our CLEAN ENERGY FUND to bribe our basketball team to not leave town needs to know that our transit agency is on track to cut nearly 1/3 of its service from what it was in 2025. Which is the greater crisis?
Requiring developments to have offstreet parking is suicidal in large cities, but it can be pretty harmful in small towns too. Quit using policy to dictate how people live their lives. Instead, watch what they actually do.
Patrick Siegman@siegman.biz · 2w agoPort Townsend, Washington, was the first city in the state to remove minimum parking mandates. The sky did not fall. Port Townsend’s success should reassure leaders in timid places, like Boston and New York, that they can follow suit.
Hang out with me drawing colored lines on maps! Our "inexcusably fun" two-day course in public transit network design is coming up in Portland (7/30-31) and Chicago (10/1-2). Please share! humantransit.org/2026/05/new-...
New Sessions of our Intensive Transit Network Design Course: Portland and Chicago — Human Transit
We’re delighted to announce two 2026 sessions of our “inexcusably fun” two-day intensive course in public transit network design. This course, which we at Jarrett Walker + Associates have been teachi...
humantransit.org