General

[Updated August 1, 2019]

This is the second most common question I receive, second only to “What do you think of ___ transit technology?” but a little ahead of “How do I become a transit planner?”

While it’s usually the client’s decision, my preferred answer is a compassionate no.

Not from her extraordinary National Book Award acceptance speech (text, video), in which she challenged both the commodification of literature and the marginalization of science fiction, but for this [item 90]: 

We do have our nice Subaru, but we can’t drive it. I never could. I learned to drive in 1947 but didn’t get a license, for which I and all who know me are grateful. I’m one of those pedestrians who start to cross the street, scuttle back to the curb for no reason, then suddenly leap out in front of your car just as you get into the intersection. I am the cause of several near accidents and a great deal of terrible swearing.

Imagine what might happen if everyone assessed their own driving skills so candidly.

A report from the TransitCenter has discovered something that's obvious to transit riders but not always to our urbanist elites:  Transit succeeds when it is fast (in terms of total trip time and reliable).  

While we know this from the actual human behavior we call ridership, it's also nice to see it confirmed in people's conscious thoughts, in the form of surveys.  Actual behavior is a better signal than surveys when the two contradict, but when behavior and surveys agree, the survey adds something useful: a sense that people are not only making certain choices, but are conscious of those choices and able to discuss them.  That, in turn, is good for intelligent policymaking.

They commissioned a study of 12,000 people across the country, representing large cities from each of the major regions, asking them a variety of questions on their attitudes towards and use of transit. While the document is full of interesting insights, this chart is really key:

Regardless of the age of the respondent, the two most important factors for choosing a travel mode: total travel time (walking/cycling/driving + waiting + riding), and reliability. 

The table below reports on a variation on the same question:

Look at the top 6 responses to the question of "I would ride transit more if…":

1. it took less time (travel time)
2. stations/stops were closer to my home/work (travel time)
3. it was clearly the less expensive transportation option
4. the travel times were more reliable (reliability)
5. there were different transit modes available
6. it ran more frequently (travel time and reliability)

Four of the top 6 responses to this question concern travel time and reliability. How quickly can I get to my destination? How sure am I that the trip is going to work consistently? And how much does it cost? These are the same questions we ask when choosing to drive, or picking a commuting route.

The low ranking of frequency is not too surprising, because it simply shows that people are reacting to total trip time and reliability, and are not all that fixated on specific elements of that total.  The problem with all surveys of this type is that they are divorced from the actual math of how optimal travel times are achieved for the most poeple.  When this is factored in, frequency is paramount in delivering the desired outcome.  On the other hand, shorter walking distances (item 2), if defined as a goal, is deterimental to total travel time because it implies lower frequencies and thus longer waits.  

Note what isn't important in the respondents' assessment of their own mode choice factors: "nicer" vehicles, "more comfortable" seats.  When it comes to how they make actual choices in their actual situation, these are far less critical than whether the service is useful.   Obviously, people have minimum quality standards for these things, but these data suggest that they are finding those minimum standards to be met by the transit they see around them in the US.    

Given the relative unimportance of even the most basic civility features like cleaniness and comfort, what importance can be ascribed to the even more optional features such as romantic vehicles or public art?  (Not questioning the larger value of these things, but only their relevance to people's mode choices.)   This data needs to be faced by anyone who argues that we should have quantitatively less transit so that shelters can be cuter, or so that our experience will be more like Disneyland, or simply because — in the interests of "place mobility" – people should want to travel more slowly.  

What matters in transit ridership?  These are the big ones:  Travel time. Reliability. Cost.  If you want to get people out of cars and into transit, start there.

We have ended up with one free seat in the Portland session of my Interactive Course in Transit Network Design, which is tomorrow and friday, 8:30 AM to 5 pm, downtown.  The price is $395.

If interested, contact me through email (button at right).  

This Friday 8/8 I'll be back in Spokane, Washington for two public events, among other things.

"Back" because once I've led a transit network design for a city, as I did in Spokane in 2000-01, it means I've been all over it in detail, so it feels like home in a way.  And once the design has been implemented, and has become the foundation for how the city gets around on transit, it's like having an offspring to visit there.  

I'll be doing two public events.  Here's the one at lunchtime, which is likely to touch on downtown issues:

 Here's the evening one:

 Neither seems to require an RSVP, so feel free to surprise us with the turnout!

On the personal blog, some reflections on Valparaíso, Chile from my 2003 visit there, in commemmoration of the terrible fires that have damaged its poor-and-poorly-planned-but-spectacular hillside districts.  

For the record, I did an interview with the local ABC (public radio) affiliate in Darwin last week, discussing the transit network planning we're doing for this fascinating high-rise tropical outpost.  Here's the audio link:

Jarrett walker

I also did one yesterday with the similar affiliate in Melbourne, but haven't received the audio yet.

Yesterday morning, the ABC (public radio) affiliate here in Darwin interviewed me on  the morning commute show.  Click my name on this link to download the mp3.

Jarrett walker

Thanks for the wonderful response to the New York offering of my  Interactive Course in Transit Network Design on February 6-7.   You still have time to register, but act very fast.  Early bird discounts end January 15, and we have only 8 spaces left.

We'll have an amazing group representing five countries, with a diverse range of professions and backgrounds.  

I'll also be giving a public talk and book signing at the New School for Design the evening of February 6.  RSVP for that here.

The course is designed to give you a felt understanding of the geometry of transit and the questions it requires us to think about.  It's ideal for anyone in the land use and development world, as well as people in transportation policy or advocacy — anyone who needs to understand how transit can help build the city they are seeking, and how to create urban structures in which transit can succeed. 

It's also, as one participant called it, "inexcusably fun."

Read all about the course here!  For a tabulaton of student feedback from a recent course, see here.  

Big news: Thanks to a sponsorship from the Transit Center, we're able to offer a significant discount for this session only.  The two-day course, which is a $500 value, will cost only $300 if you register before January 15, and $333 if you register later.  The tuition will likely never be this low again.

Still bigger news:  Starting in New York, we intend to offer American Planning Association (APA) Credit (15 credit hours for the two days). APA members can earn a big chunk of your 2014 AICP Certification Management credits early in the year.  We're excited about that, because the course is really for planners and city builders who need to understand how transit interacts with what they do, especially if they're not "transit geeks" themselves.

Hope to see you in New York!  And if you'd like the course offered in your city, see here! 

Richmond, Virginia's transit agency has done a beautiful set of portraits and testimonials about a number its bus drivers, designed to capture the diversity, humanity, and basic goodness of people who do some of the hardest jobs in the transit industry.  Browse it here.  

Below each beautiful portrait is a small narrative about how this person came to be there, and what their values are.

My favorite bit, by Sheronda Hill (pictured):

I’ve had people get on the bus and say, ‘you don’t look like a bus driver.’ I ask them, ‘What does a bus driver look like?’

More on the project from Eric Jaffe at Atlantic Cities.