Have you read my book? If so I have a question …

I hope this doesn’t sound like fishing for praise, but a client has asked me to provide some pithy quotations from my book for use in advertising an event.  Rather than trying to remember or find them myself, it would be great if people who’ve read the book could share pithy quotations that they remember.  That way I don’t have to decide what was pithy, or for that matter memorable.

Leave them in the comments if you think of any!  Thanks!

13 Responses to Have you read my book? If so I have a question …

  1. Neil September 15, 2016 at 1:15 pm #

    I haven’t actually read the book, but I’m very fond of “frequency is freedom” and “technology never changes geometry”. Surely something like those are in your book somewhere 🙂

  2. Robert Wightman September 15, 2016 at 1:48 pm #

    I took many graduate course in Civil Engineering on transportation planning. Your book contained everything that I learned in those course for a lot less money. It is the best book that I have read on the topic. If you use it and Jane Jacob’s book you have 95% of what you need to know.

    Robert Wightman

  3. Julie September 15, 2016 at 2:30 pm #

    “Once you decide that your streets are designed for people movement rather than vehicle movement, turning car lanes into transit lanes not only is fair but is also the most effective way to maximize the total number of people who can move along the street. And if you want to grow your economy without growing congestion, that’s the output you need to focus on.” (Chapter 8)

  4. K September 15, 2016 at 3:23 pm #

    Not from the book but if you want pithy praise, my advice is that no two people should have a conversation about public transport without both of them having read this book first.

  5. Mike Christensen September 15, 2016 at 4:26 pm #

    I just reviewed my tweets from when I read the book and found the following…

    It’s the best book on transit that I’ve ever read!

    “A transit map that screams about speed and whispers about frequency may simply be sowing confusion.”

    “Once you decide that your streets are designed for people movement rather than vehicle movement, turning car lanes into transit lanes not only is fair but is also the most effective way to maximize the total number of people who can move along the street. And if you want to grow your economy without growing congestion, that’s the output you need to focus on.”

    “A 10-minute frequency approaches a level of service where people stop worrying about a timetable and think of the service as being there whenever they need it. This is the critical psychological shift, where transit starts to become useful for people who value freedom.”

    “But the fact is: the transit mobility that you’ll enjoy is almost entirely a result of where you are.”

    “Live where you want to live. Build whatever kind of community you want. Nobody is coercing you. But understand the costs and don’t expect transit to be both high quality and cost-effective if you live in a place where that’s geometrically impossible.”

    “Technology never changes geometry.”

    “If your transit agency proposes a service change that looks to you like an improvement, send them a positive comment, because regardless of the proposal’s benefits, they’ll probably be bombarded by negative ones from people objecting to any kind of change.”

  6. David Batley September 16, 2016 at 1:21 am #

    I love this book. It describes in everyday language why some transit projects succeed and some fail.

    Every time I lend this book to someone, they won’t give it back! My friends find it too useful!

  7. P September 16, 2016 at 10:30 am #

    BE ON THE WAY!

  8. P September 16, 2016 at 10:30 am #

    “Advocacy is not expertise”

    Hire my firm!! 😉

  9. Brian Mills September 17, 2016 at 1:32 am #

    Essential reading for elected officials, city leadership, planners, community activists and anyone else who wants to understand how to make transit systems, and their cities, work for them.

  10. Julie September 17, 2016 at 7:09 am #

    “But in situations where lots of citizens care, and choose to learn a bit about transit so that they can advocate more clearly and confidently, better decisions get made, decisions that lead to better mobility, a stronger economy, a more just society, or whatever goal the community is pursuing. Political leaders make good decisions when informed and caring citizens want them to. It’s only when they sense that citizens have given up or don’t care that they may let narrower interests carry the day. I see this pattern over and over. So if you’re willing to learn a bit about how transit works, what it does well, what it doesn’t do, and how it fits into the larger challenge of the city, your opinion will count.”
    Ad copy for a public event in the introduction. You could cut it down to just the first sentence if you need something short.

  11. Daniel Bowen September 17, 2016 at 6:28 pm #

    Apart from the many useful catch-phrases noted above, the bit about “plumber questions” grabbed me… I ended up using it in a blog post pondering how many seats the trains should have.

    http://www.danielbowen.com/2012/02/02/fewer-seats-comeng-trains/

  12. Renno September 21, 2016 at 4:31 am #

    “This is the book that every elected transport official should receive in a welcome pack. In perfect everyday language, Walker is able to present a technical matter as if it is as normal as parking your car. And that is precisely the message.”

    Is this something useful? Sounds a bit cheesy but that’s how these quotes are, isn’t?

  13. David September 27, 2016 at 9:56 pm #

    I’m enjoying all the folks leaving quotes of their own.