Excited to be part of this conference! register!

This is going to be a fun event where—unlike at the @nationalacademies.org Transportation Research Board—we're going to actually talk about issues of equity, justice, and mobility. Register if you can make it to DC in January!

Free public registration is now open for the Crossroads Convening on Transportation Equity and Justice, 1/15/26 at the MLK Library in DC. Registration is free. We've got three sessions across four tracks. Confirmed speakers include Robert Bullard, Anna Zivarts, Naomi Doerner, and Gretchen Goldman.

I posted some thoughts on Deborah Archer's book Dividing Lines. She recommends creating something called a "racial equity impact study" for transportation projects and I don't think that's a good idea. We need actions that planners and engineers can undertake now, given the laws/regs we have.

We appreciate University Baptist Church!

I was really proud to write an endorsement for @carterlavin.bsky.social's book, which is essential reading for anyone who wants to turn their theoretical love of stuff like biking, walking, buses, and mobility justice into political campaigns that actually change our world. Get a preview here. 👇

trying out some longer-form writing on substack. first post is about transit rider unions and their untapped potential to win better service across the country. please like and subscribe :)

this statesman piece is complete drivel--the only source cited is the author of the report. no competing perspectives are offered, despite the substantial criticism that the urban mobility report has generated over the years.

instead of banning discussion of race and gender, Texas A&M should ban the urban mobility report.

“In some cases, we’re seeing fees that we don’t think should be charged at all, like pest control fees,” says Kuehnhoff. ​“Landlords have a duty to provide a pest-free environment already, so they shouldn’t be adding that to the rent.”

Bored with TRB's censorship and cancellations? Submit your work to the Crossroads Convening on Transportation Equity and Justice instead -- proposals due October 25. www.crossroadsconvening.org

Crossroads: A Transportation Equity and Justice Convening will take place on January 15, 2026 at the MLK Library in Washington, DC. Consider submitting your work, assisting as a volunteer, or sponsoring the event. More details at www.crossroadsconvening.org Registration will be free.

Hearing reports that TRB is censoring annual meeting content. Authors are receiving a "Notice of Non-Selection" when notified that their papers were not sent out for review. Esp shitty for students who submitted work on Aug 1 only to wait two months for no reviews. Shameful behavior by TRB.

Transportation research is under threat. The Transportation Research Board is canceling contracts, restructuring committees, and signaling that it will censor work presented at its annual meeting. Read out new commentary in Transport Policy for more: 🔗 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lluT,L-HR...

Unionized labor is often seen as a barrier to better transit, but in this new piece I argue that finding common ground between grassroots rider unions and formal labor unions could be a powerful approach for advancing mobility justice goals and winning more reliable, frequent, and safer service.

The Transportation Research Board has abandoned its founding principles--scientific integrity, objectivity, & freedom of inquiry. We wrote a short piece about TRB censoring work, canceling projects, and eliminating certain committees--with an eye towards the future. osf.io/53dsk_v1 🧵

tilting at windmills just leaves you exhausted and usually super bitter. make the things that you want to see in the world. you'll be exhausted but not bitter.

Has a transportation advocacy nonprofit near you lost a federal grant since the start of the Trump administration (and are you fundraising to offset that loss)? HMU if so for an article.

TRB's FAQ about the committee dissolution contains this bit, where they claim "independence" regardless of funding sources. This claim is contradicted by the facts--the org immediately canceled over a dozen projects and then dramatically restructured, all in response to perceived sponsor desires.

Finally got official communication about this, as a friend (not member) of several committees, after hearing about it on here days ago. The old committees have been summarily dissolved without warning and fewer new ones are being formed. A predictable set of topics is omitted entirely.

Reflecting on TRB's "back to basics" narrative--we went beyond basics to address transportation's myriad impacts as we learned about them during the 20th century. Seen in that light, "back to basics" means little consideration of modal alternatives or travel needs for disabled/BIPOC travelers, etc.

I’ve spent the last 10+ years trying to get on the Pedestrian Committee (ACH10) by reviewing papers and helping organize workshops. Guess I don’t have to worry about it now

Big changes underway at @trb.org, which has canceled numerous research projects exploring how race, gender, and poverty affect transportation. Hopefully "back to basics" doesn't mean "pavement and asphalt."

this is giving me the feels

Also cutting research funding across the board is a sure fire way to reduce available slots.

TRB is dissolving all committees. This wasn't unexpected, but they're couching it in a technocratic need to "get back to basics" and ease administrative burden when in fact it's a great big shit sandwich that we're all expected to eat and not make a fuss about.

Hello world! 👋 We're excited to launch social channels for #r5py, the Python package for super-fast multimodal #travelTime and #accessibility calculations using #OSM & #GTFS data. Follow us for tips, updates, and examples! #r5py #GeoSpatial #Python #UrbanPlanning #GIS

Users of the tigris / tidycensus #rstats packages: The Census website has been blocking requests from tigris (and curl) since yesterday. (Don’t worry, the datasets are still there!) I’ve patched tigris, install with `pak::pak("walkerke/tigris@ftp-patch")` and everything should work.

checks out 😞

This is a great pure numbers analytics, but seeing the demographic differentiation map, wherein the West Coast, southern Mountain states, and most of the South outside metro Atlanta just don't get any prioritization, is striking.

My staff at @innovativedot.bsky.social was just discussing this study earlier in the week. One noteworthy detail: the typical community that benefited under the previous Justice40 initiative was around 52% Trump supporter. Under the proposed new policy, that moves to 73%.

Trump DOT's new funding policy will shift resources towards wealthier, whiter areas in the heartland and away from Black and brown populations in the southwest and south. Appalachia also loses. Our new paper in Findings summarizes the demographic implications: findingspress.org/article/1324...

My latest blog for UCS. Transportation professionals saw Elon Musk's lying and disdain for the public years ago. It was important to speak up then and it's absolutely essential now.

Can someone make sure Douthat sees this headline?

Our new piece showing that wealthier and whiter counties stand to benefit substantially under the new USDOT marriage/birthrate/immigration prioritization policy.

Very excited to finally share my article on reparative-advocacy planning in Philadelphia public schools! This article would not have been possible without all the support of organizers, parents, teachers, and staff in Philadelphia including OCOS, WPCNS, and @parentsunitedphl.bsky.social

A deeply reported piece on the state of transportation research. My tl;dr - it's quite bad and it's not clear how we come out the other side without building up alternative means of support and dissemination.

USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy went on CBS News earlier this week to explain why he's trying to cancel congestion pricing in New York City. So we had beloved congestion pricing expert @davecolon.bsky.social explain why Sec. Duffy has no idea what he's talking about. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax_o...

Hey students: if you are angry at how your higher ed institution is handling things, let me tell you: You have far more power than you know. (1/x)

FUNDED BY NIH if that isn't front and center, people won't understand the cost of science infrastructure and funding being demolished in the US

If you believe they're going to support more direct costs, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you

It seems...odd that Trump is celebrating Black History Month as we're being asked to shut down our Black student organizations. Wtf is going on here??

Professors please pull up a chair. I’ve been talking to my classes about what has been going on. I explained indirect costs to them. I talked to them about what a probationary employee is in the government. At the end of class they asked if we could talk about it more. (1/)

The likelihood that the April report gets released seems very low.

The notion that you can put single-occupancy vehicles in "tunnels under cities to solve traffic" is completely asinine. May we all have the confidence of an unqualified white man.

Here's the piece

Really proud of this piece!! And it was actually enjoyable to engage in the back-and-forth commentary with reviewers. Hopefully a model for future UAR articles. Not sure what it means in the current moment, but the takeaway is hopeful--ideas about mobility justice can influence real-world projects.