Our Top Ten Posts in 2016

Normally, one does a list of the most-read posts of the last year.

But I’ve always tried to write things that would be useful for years, so I’d rather show you the posts that were viewed most often in 2016.  I’m delighted that only four of these were written in 2016:

  1. Does Elon Musk Understand Urban Geometry?  (2016) Why tech visionaries miss the obvious when they talk about urban transportation.
  2. Basics: Walking Distance to Transit (2010).  An explainer.
  3. Sounding the Alarm about Uber’s Impacts on Transit, and on Cities. (2016) The danger of planning cities around unsustainable business models.
  4. Let’s Quit Pretending About Uber. (2016) A quick flare-up that’s long since resolved.  Its the closest I’ve come to clickbait, so of course it got clicks.
  5. Explainer: The Transit Ridership Recipe (2015).  Perhaps our single most essential explainer.
  6. That Photo That Explains Almost Everything (2011).  You’ve seen the photo.  I notice a few things in it beyond its first impression.
  7. Learning from “Mini Metro”.  (2014) Geeking out on the best public transit planning game I’ve seen.
  8. Basics: The Spacing of Stops and Stations.  (2010).  This turned into Chapter 4 of my book.
  9. Core vs Edge Debates in Public Transit. (2016) An eternal issue.
  10. Streetcars: An Inconvenient Truth. (2009) My first controversial post, still starting arguments seven years later.

Remember, this blog is full of old stuff that’s still relevant, notably the “basics” or “explainer” pieces.  For links to all of those, see here!  This year should remind us all that just because it’s hot off the presses today doesn’t mean it’s either useful or true!

6 Responses to Our Top Ten Posts in 2016

  1. Justin December 30, 2016 at 10:46 am #

    I believe the link to number 9 is wrong. Same link as number 4.

  2. baselle December 30, 2016 at 2:36 pm #

    In reading #2 and looking at the graph, I have a weird idea. I was a plant biochemist in a former career, and that graph looks for all the world like a non-linear Scatchard plot. If that is the case, the graph shows the interplay of at least 2 populations – sharp drop is population #1 that will not walk for long distances, while the long tail indicates a population #2 which are long distance walkers.

  3. Carl December 31, 2016 at 8:58 am #

    Jarrett, I would love to read a post about what you think has happened in Houston. I’m reading that after their substantial redesign that ridership has plummeted and it is not coming back.

    • Dexter Wong January 7, 2017 at 1:57 am #

      According to Houston Metro’s own figures for Nov. 2016, we have the following:
      Entire Network Summary
      Monthly Total

      There were 6,935K boardings on the entire fixed-route network in November 2016 compared to 6,928K boardings in November 2015, an increase of +7K boardings (or less than 1 percent increase).

      Average Daily Ridership: Weekday / Saturday / Sunday

      Average daily ridership for the entire fixed-route network decreased on Weekday and increased on Saturday and Sunday. Weekday daily ridership decreased by -14K boardings (or 5 percent decrease), Saturday daily ridership increased by +11K boardings (or +8 percent increase), and Sunday daily ridership increased by +2K (or 2 percent increase).

  4. el_slapper January 2, 2017 at 6:20 am #

    Just a side note : your “basics” link misses your excellent and recent entry about ferries.

  5. Benjamin Smith January 17, 2017 at 12:30 pm #

    I do kinda wish you talked more about transit stop spacing more often like you did back in the day. Perhaps it is because there isn’t much more to add to the topic, but I feel it is a critical part to not only the transit riding experience (who here hasn’t gotten irritated on a slow moving bus stopping and starting every other block?), but also best connects transit to urban planning and form.