Transportation planner Dan Malouff shares eight insights into what makes the Paris Metro one of the world's great subways.
Dan Malouff gives us a list of characteristics that make the Paris Metro system efficient, non-frustrating, and even beautiful. American transit planners should certainly take some of these fixes into consideration. They include:
- Lockable door controls for passengers, reducing entry and exit times (versus requiring conductors to control all door operations)
- Full-platform seating (why not?)
- Flip-up seats, adding capacity during rush hours
- Open gangways allowing movement between cars
- Elevated tracks that actually look good
- Sign design that aspires beyond the merely utilitarian
- Location-specific maps (aiding travelers to stadiums, airports, etc.)
FULL STORY: 8 lessons about great transit I learned riding the Paris Métro
Paris Approves First Aerial Gondola
An aerial tramway project in the French capital cleared feasibility studies and could open in 2025.
Students Under 18 Ride for Free on Paris Buses and Trains
The city of Paris is taking another step to entice more people out of cars and onto transit.
Reimagining Paris’s Derelict Métro Stations
Parisian mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet's proposal for the city’s abandoned train stations can be safely described as awesome. The designs are still a dream, but the city of lights is a good place for creative activity.
Four ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ Zoning Reforms
An excerpt from the latest book on zoning argues for four approaches to reform that can immediately improve land use regulation in the United States.
San Francisco Just Ended Single-Family Zoning
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to Tuesday to eliminate single-family zoning, but pro-development advocates say additional changes are needed to unleash a wave of construction.
Land Banking to Prevent Transit-Oriented Displacement in Los Angeles
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) will implement a new land banking program to mitigate gentrification and displacement around future transit lines.
Long Beach Opens New Water Playground
The coastal city just celebrated the grand opening of its newest beach attraction, an inflatable aquatic playground called the “Wibit.”
Houston Apartments To Be Demolished for Freeway Widening
Despite a federal hold on the controversial freeway widening project, the Texas Department of Transportation is pushing ahead with the demolition of an apartment complex in downtown Houston.
Did Chicago’s Speed Cameras Improve Safety?
Advocates of automated enforcement argue it saves lives, but despite a dramatic rise in speeding tickets, pedestrian fatalities grew in 2021.
City of Bothell
Town of San Anselmo
Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (TPA)
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
City of Apache Junction
City of Helena
Gallatin County, Montana
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.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.
