Do you want me involved in your city’s transit planning?

People often email or tweet to me asking me to "come help" their city.  I really appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not an action hero.  I'm a consultant, and consultants respond to some kind of invitation.

If your city or transit agency is undertaking a transit-related planning project and you'd like me to be involved, please:

  • Tell me about it.  It is extremely difficult for three-person firms like mine to find out about planning projects that could be coming up, because they are advertised in more places than we can possibly keep track of.  Don't assume I know what's coming down the line in your city.  Tell me, using the email button at right.
  • Consider inviting me to speak or run some kind of workshop.  Any organization can do this.  The cost is anywhere from $3000 to $9000 in North America, more overseas, depending mostly on your distance from Portland (Oregon) and what you want me to do.   (Our excellent Senior Associate, Michelle Poyourow, does them for somewhat less.)  This is especially helpful if a project is coming along later that you'd like us to have a shot at.  Many of our major projects, including those Auckland, Houston and Raleigh, were preceded by one or more events I did in that city.  

Our little firm is not networked through the usual industry channels.  We don't belong to the American Public Transit Association, for example, because its dues are simply prohibitive for firms our size.  So we rely on informal networks, social media, and word of mouth to connect us with people and places that could use our help.  So thank you, dear reader, for what you do!

7 Responses to Do you want me involved in your city’s transit planning?

  1. Neil June 10, 2015 at 10:50 am #

    I think you already are. I saw your name on a report to Edmonton City Council in the fall. I think it’s still waiting for public consultation before any final decisions are made, but rumor has it our transit manager was fired last week for opposing a shift towards ridership goals.

  2. Jarrett June 10, 2015 at 7:12 pm #

    No longer working in Edmonton, Neil, but hope to be useful there in the future!

  3. P June 10, 2015 at 11:37 pm #

    “…but I’m not an action hero.”
    had this vision pop into my mind:
    “Earth”
    “Fire”
    “Wind”
    “Water”
    “Heart”
    TRANSIT!!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planeteers

  4. Conor June 11, 2015 at 7:00 am #

    Dublin City Council is currently undertaking a City Centre Transport Study. http://www.dublincity.ie/transportstudy
    There is so much wrong with Dublin’s transportation system (it actually breaks my heart to call it a ‘system’) that any advice they take from you would make the whole thing a thousand times better.

  5. Leo June 11, 2015 at 2:18 pm #

    Sacramento needs a revamp. We have a good skeleton (38 miles of light rail and growing, low floor buses and a whole lot of potential) but atrophied muscles (infrequent routes, abysmal base service, laughable span of service, not very well timed transfers). A Houston-style route restructuring might be in order to make the system an actual alternative to the SOV to more people.

  6. calwatch June 15, 2015 at 10:36 am #

    The other thing is that folks like Jarrett expect to, and should, get paid for all the work that they do. So swooping into a city without compensation for time and travel is not going to happen.

  7. Jarrett June 20, 2015 at 10:07 pm #

    Thanks, calwatch! I hoped that didn’t need to be said, but it probably didn’t hurt ..