Jarrett Walker looks at a recent "Top Cities for Transit" list that ranks Honolulu #1, and says the criteria that the Brookings Institution used are "especially perverse".
The Brookings report, presented in The Atlantic, ostensibly focused on how well a transit system connected people to their jobs. So they used "coverage", defined as how many residents are within 3/4 mile of a transit stop, as a major criteria.
Walker writes:
"But residential coverage, as a primary indicator of transit quality, is a very loaded way of thinking about "best," especially if you care about transit sustainability outcomes that depend on ridership. Many people are within walking distance of a bus stop but not within walking distance of service that's remotely attractive in terms of frequency, speed and reliability."
"Due to this definition, the Brookings Atlantic list comes to focus on rather low-density, car-dependent cities that happen to have good transit coverage."
FULL STORY: updated: another weird way to measure "best cities for transit"

What the US Intercity Rail System Could Look Like
An FRA study shows how new Amtrak lines could connect tens of millions more Americans to rail travel.

Good Planning Under Bad Leadership
Planners must sometimes work under bad leadership. Here are suggestions for responsive planning in challenging political environments.

Amtrak Cascades Line Breaks Ridership Record
The route linking Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC served nearly one million riders in 2024.

Half of Altadena’s Black Homes Lost or Damaged in Eaton Fire
The community has higher Black homeownership rates than most of Los Angeles, but now faces an uncertain future as residents struggle to rebuild.

Making Autonomous Vehicles Safer for Blind Pedestrians
A team of researchers is developing a dataset to fill a critical gap in self-driving cars’ learning models.

Federal EV Charging Program Suspended
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program planned to fund the construction of hundreds of EV charging stations across the country.
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.
City of Brookings
City of White Salmon
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
M-NCPPC Prince George's County Planning Department
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service