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Dissent of the Week

Posted on August 17, 2010 in Dissents, Language, Philosophy

This one is really for everyone who saw my presentation “A Field Guide to Transit Quarrels,” rather than just looking at the slides here.  Frequent commenter Alon Levy accuses me of “devious” rhetoric.

Reading the notes, I think you’re using a devious rhetorical technique. You say you’re not going to prejudice in favor of any view, but then you associate your own views on transit with reason, and views that emphasize technology or direct service with emotion. The reality is much more complicated …

There’s some interesting back and forth between Alon, myself, and some others below Alon’ comment in the thread.

I’d like to hear in comments below if anyone got the same impression from my live presentation.  If you were there, please comment or email, and don’t forget to mention which city you saw me speak in.

My Talk at VIA Architecture, Vancouver

Posted on August 16, 2010 in Branding, Vancouver

I never know who’s taking notes anymore.  Turns out the pleasant lunchtime chat I had with the staff at VIA Architecture in Vancouver last month is now an article on their blog.  This talk was more or less the same talk on service branding that I did with Translink staff, which their blog the Buzzer documented here.  I’ll pull it together into something more formal soon, or at least as soon as someone wants to pay me to do it.

Follow Me on Twitter

Posted on August 15, 2010 in Meta

As you know, I tend to write fairly long posts, partly because they’re faster to write than short ones.  If I were writing for print, I’d obviously edit them down a bit.

So it’s with mixed emotions that I announce that you can find me on Twitter as “humantransit.”  I’m not sure I can say anything much in under 140 characters, but we’ll see how it goes.  Quips, at least, should be possible.

Suppose You Are on a Cruise…

Posted on August 15, 2010 in General

… where your job is to give two inspiring presentations to a large group of bus operations and scheduling managers.  You want to help them feel that the fairly mundane work that many of them do is important for the future of the world.  What do you tell them?

A Field Guide to Transit Quarrels

Posted on August 14, 2010 in Advocacy, Philosophy, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Technophilia

UDPATE:  New, easier links!

My presentation “A Field Guide to Transit Quarrels,” which I did last month in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, is here as a PowerPoint with notes on each slide describing its essence.

Powerpoint 2007 file   

High-quality PDF(10.2 mb))

Low-quality PDF (1.2 mb)

If you want a taste of what I sounded like talking about this stuff, the backlit but audible video of the Seattle presentation is here.  UPDATE:  The Portland video, which is much clear, is here!

As always with free stuff on the web, there has to be some advertising.  So:  If you’d like me to do a presentation to your group or organisation. The recent North American tour was the last time I’ll do this for free, but costs can often be figured out.

Look forward to comments, as always.  Thanks to Scott for the PDF links!

Quip of the Week

Posted on August 14, 2010 in General

Re the argument “I need cheap parking in the city because I have to have my car for my job.”

If my job required me to have a personal elephant, I wouldn’t think it
reasonable to keep it in the city and park it on the street at night.

— Commenter Anonymouse.

Amsterdam: The Flying Wheel

Posted on August 11, 2010 in Amsterdam, Architecture, Art

IMG_0717

From the pinnacle of Amsterdam Central station, as seen from my hotel room last month.  I’m guessing it’s from the Deco era, early 20th century.  There’s an exuberant optimism about European rail architecture of that era that needs to find new expressions.

Note:  I’m back in Sydney, but detritus of the just-completed round the world will probably continue showing up here for a while.

Congestion Pricing: The View From Canada

Posted on August 10, 2010 in Advocacy, Parking

Canada’s Frontier Centre for Public Policy just published a paper by my colleague Stuart Donovan on the case for road pricing.  The gist:

Accurate transport pricing not only reduces congestion, it also generates additional revenue to fund investment in additional capacity when and where it is justified by demand. Most importantly, accurate transport pricing is mode-neutral in that it neither discriminates against nor favours any transport mode, although it does favour high-value vehicles, such as buses and emergency vehicles. Accurate transport pricing also allows people the freedom to manage their travel needs in the way that best suits them. Some workplaces, for example, may allow their employees to work flexible hours in order to reduce their transport costs.

PDF here.

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