Mass Transit

Straphangers

Ads Matter: What Uber's Marketing Says About High-Capacity Public Transit

Transit consultant Jarrett Walker argues that Uber's ads betray dark aspirations for the future of transit.

October 7, 2016 - Human Transit

Seattle Transit

Light Rail Ridership Takes Off in Seattle After Expansion

Besting all expectations, ridership numbers have increased 83 percent since Seattle's Sound Transit light rail system added two new stations, connecting downtown to the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood and the University of Washington.

August 14, 2016 - Next City

Monorail. Sydney

All the Many Solutions to Atlanta's Traffic Gridlock

Atlanta Magazine has gathered together five of the often discussed, but never implemented, plans to move people effortlessly around Atlanta. And they've thrown in one canard to see if you've been paying attention.

August 3, 2016 - Atlanta Magazine

D.C. Streetcar

D.C.'s New Streetcar Not As Slow As Rumored

Washington D.C.'s new streetcar line opened to a chorus of media naysayers who mocked the slow moving transit, but reality shows it's not quite as slow as some would have you believe.

April 27, 2016 - Greater Greater Washington

Columbus Political Leadership Wants a New Transit Plan

Columbus, Ohio is expected to grow to 500,000 residents by 2050, but all recent efforts to raise the funds for a large investment in transit have stalled. The new City Council president wants to try again.

February 1, 2016 - Columbus Business First

Rescue Bus

Fighting the Urge to Diverge: Straightening Transit Routes

A transit rider and writer has a simple and succinct request for transit planners in Minneapolis: straighten out your transit routes.

February 1, 2016 - Streets.MN

Mt. Hood and Traffic

Carrots and Sticks: Making Driving Alone the Worst Option

The build out of mass transit and bicycle infrastructure hasn’t been the cure-all for shifting commuters from single-person autos to alternate modes of transit, as many had hoped. Maybe it's time we start looking at how to disincentivize driving.

January 19, 2016 - The New Republic

SEPTA Token

Philly Transit Riders Need To Keep Those Tokens Handy, For Now

While most big city transit systems have moved on to electronic passes or paper tickets, Philadelphia's riders are left to deal with tokens and transfer slips until SEPTA's plans for a system upgrade come to fruition.

January 11, 2016 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

fisheye photo of DC subway in station

How Do We Solve the High Cost of Building Transit?

Compared to other countries, building mass transit in the United States has proven significantly more expensive. But why? And how do we fix this?

January 10, 2016 - Greater Greater Washington

Atlanta streetcar

Atlanta's Nascent Streetcar Systems Begins Charging, Critics Pounce

After a stumbling start getting off the ground, proponents of Atlanta's new streetcar see hope in its future while others question further investment.

January 10, 2016 - New York Times

Bus Stop Winter

The Quest for Accuracy in Predicting Bus Arrivals Has a New Friend

With better predictions, an app may help alleviate the urban annoyance of waiting for the bus that was supposed to arrive 10 minutes ago.

December 14, 2015 - Medium

Tukwila Intl Blvd Station Park and Ride

King County Metro Looks to the App to Solve the First Mile Problem

An app is helping to bring transit riders from their home to the nearest park-and-ride in King County, Washington.

December 7, 2015 - Crosscut

LA Metro, Wilshire and Western

Los Angeles' Metro Launches New Phase in Effort to Curb Sexual Harassment

After first launching its program in the Spring, law enforcement and Metro are reminding riders to report instances of sexual harassment on trains and buses

October 26, 2015 - The Source (Metro's blog)

Dallas

Dallas' CityMAP Project Looks to Reimagine Downtown Connectivity

Local officials, planners, and other civic leaders have joined together to look at how the city can bring neighborhoods split by freeways back together again.

October 13, 2015 - The Dallas Morning News

City of Montreal

Greater Montreal Seeks a United Front to Transit Growth and Sustainability

The 82 municipalities that make up Greater Montreal are finally working together to forge a more sustainable, economically robust future.

October 12, 2015 - Citiscope

Bus Bunching

New Tracking System Tackles Bus Bunching

Washington, D.C.'s DOT has adopted TransitIQ, a straightforward tracking technology, to help dispatchers keep buses on schedule.

October 4, 2015 - Mobility Lab

Bus Rapid Transit Hits Global Milestone

There are now 402 bus rapid transit (BRT) lines operating around the world, according to data from BRTData.org.

September 1, 2015 - The City Fix

Uber Driver

Uber Looking More and More Like Transit: Is that Good or Bad for Transit?

A spate of media coverage responded to the news that Uber had released a new feature called "Smart Routes."

August 31, 2015 - TechCrunch

Seattle Bogue Plan

What If Seattle Had a Century-Old Subway?

Virgil Bogue's 1911 Plan of Seattle called for a centrally-planned metropolis with efficient transit, parks, and a cap on building height. It was voted down, but remains an interesting study on planning for the long term.

August 29, 2015 - SeattlePI

Los Angeles Freeway

Next Steps for the City of Freeways

It is difficult to imagine a time when Los Angeles' freeways symbolized access, efficiency, and modernity. Now that the city's love affair with freeways is nearly spent, what future do we envision for them?

August 19, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.