Advice for New York's Bus System Overhaul

It's time for a fresh start, says a bus system redesign expert.

1 minute read

July 10, 2018, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


New York City Winter

Cemil Aksoy / Shutterstock

After the New York MTA announced in April that it would completely redesign its bus system as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the city's bus system, transit and bus advocates were understandably excited. To follow up on that initial excitement, Ben Fried shares some words of wisdom, and models of system redesign success, from Jarrett Walker.

Walker was in New York for a TransitCenter event, where he told the audience to start the system redesign by wiping the slate clean."'Only a blank canvas will yield 'design choices based on the whole network,' [Walker] said, which in turn produce benefits compelling enough to 'overcome little problems,'" reports Fried.

The very recent example of Dublin, in Ireland, also serves to exemplify some of the ideas in the article. As reported in an article by Olivia Kelly, Dublin unveiled a bus system redesign earlier this month.

Thursday, July 5, 2018 in StreetsBlog NYC

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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