my comments to transportation students

This March in Auckland, New Zealand, MRCagney and T2 asked me to speak to a group of transportation students, both undergrads and grad students.  The question was: "what do you wish someone had told you when you were 20 years old?"  The event was at the University of Auckland.

The result is here.  (US viewers: Temperatures are Celsius, "patronage" means ridership etc. etc.)  

Sorry about my habit of dropping my voice on important words at the end of phrases.  In person, it sounds like emphasis, but those words didn't always make it through the sound system …

The whole thing was ad-libbed, so next time I do this I'll probably say something different … 

The full careers evening , sponsored by  MRCagney and T2, is here.  It was a very fun evening!

3 Responses to my comments to transportation students

  1. Everett May 23, 2013 at 9:47 am #

    Nice talk. Your thoughts apply to a much wider arena than just transportation.

  2. Ben Hackenberger June 9, 2013 at 1:11 am #

    As a 20 year old currently studying at Pomona, I just want to let you know first that the College has not discontinued its tradition of overwatering the campus, and us students have (and probably will never) stop complaining about it while hypocritically lounging in the grassy shade on Marston. Second, and more importantly, I want to thank you for posting this, as I think you’ve described to a T the discomfort my classmates and I felt upon entering Pomona. The notion that “this isn’t exactly everything” has come to embody, in a certain sense, what it means to be a Pomona student, and perhaps an undergrad at any school as we’re bombarded by an obsession with career development advice and anxiety.
    I’m sure every student feels this way at some point during college, but I’ve felt especially strange this year pursuing my interest in urban studies and planning from the perspective of the Claremont bubble. I realize you didn’t mean for your advice to be specific to Claremont students, but it definitely resonates with my experience at Pomona today and with life in Claremont. I find it an interesting contradiction to think about how Claremont would/will/does link into the LA public transit system when the city’s success and tranquility stem almost entirely from its ability to disconnect socioeconomically from that grid and the surrounding areas.

  3. Jarrett June 9, 2013 at 11:37 am #

    Ben. Thanks so much for the comment, and for your very accurate read on the cultural dynamics and self-image of so many university towns. …