In @nytopinion.nytimes.com Gift link: Tax cuts are a Band-Aid, not a solution. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/o...

Honest question: if AI is inside of everything now, why are autocomplete and dictation on my Apple devices still so stupid?

"In some cities, your car is an encumbrance. If you've ever been stuck in traffic on a busy street while pedestrians + cyclists flow past you + subway trains zoom beneath you, you know that your car can become your prison." —Jarrett Walker @humantransit.bsky.social 🖌️ by @bikeyface.bsky.social

High gas prices are not ALL it took to see public transit ridership come back in the US. It also took huge efforts by transit agencies to improve their service or at least not cut it. Transit service cuts in many cites could throttle this growth.

The @nytimes.com is whitewashing mass murder again. "An SUV drove into the crowd." No, the SUV didn't drive. Someone drove it. And don't get me started about the journalistic abuse of the word "tragedy." That word had a meaning once. @nateschweber.bsky.social

My term "decongestion pricing" is now the house style at Fast Company! www.fastcompany.com/91544739/one...

My idea of a pleasant Saturday afternoon: reading three translations of Homer, from three different generations, side-by-side. (Fitzgerald, Fagles, and Mendelsohn)

Is your congress representative on the Transportation Committee? transportation.house.gov/about/member... Please write to oppose this bill as written.

Horrific. Automated enforcement is the only way to require civilized behavior from motorists. Cops are too expensive to scale.

Really think we could stand to drop the utterly credulous headline style of "Billionaire says doorway to Narnia will be open by 2027"

"Australia is wasting more than $1 billion each year building off-street car parks that end up unused and unwanted, a Grattan Institute report has found."

Getting reports of standing loads on the transit line between Willows and Chico, California. There seems to be more and more demand for rural intertown service.

Sooner or later, climate change will be the end of temperature metaphors.

Switching from almond milk to coconut milk was our family's big virtue signal of 2022. Except I forgot to actually signal until now.

The City of Burbank wants this new rapid transit line to be stuck in traffic as it crosses their city. This reduces the line’s usefulness, undermining an investment being made by the region and the nation. Imagine if we had planned the Interstate Highway System this way.

Switching from almond milk to coconut milk was our family's big virtue signal of 2022. Except I forgot to actually signal until now.

From the last Gilded Age to the present one, elite disinterest remains one of the greatest barriers to great and inclusive public transit. This 1929 ad makes the same argument we must make today. 1/

Can confirm

The one history book every car technology fetishist should read ... and that the rest of us should read to better defend ourselves. My review of Peter Norton's excellent "Autonorama". humantransit.org/2023/06/the-...

I get angry at the @nytimes.com often enough, but then there's @polgreen.bsky.social on Arendt's critical distinction between violence and power.

That feeling when people trying to get things done in US local government, and who have to make horrible trade-offs to save a million here or there, encounter a number like this. From @polgreen.bsky.social in @nytimes.com today. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/o...

So many ridiculous airport trains in the US. Here we wait to go to the building visible at the right a few hundred feet away, which we are not allowed to walk to. Sacramento airport (SMF) but there are many others.

US cities take note: Austin is prospering despite not letting Big Sports team owners extort billions from taxpayers by constantly threatening to leave town. You can have just as much fun and civic pride rooting for minor leagues, and the tickets are cheaper!

“acoustic cars”

Atlanta: The bus network redesign for MARTA that we worked on for many years is finally running, and is expanding access to opportunity. My overview: humantransit.org/2026/05/atla...

Jarrett Walker wrote a really good article on Bogota transit. "Bogota: The Price of Service Complexity". The triple-articulated buses I saw were full day and evening. @humantransit.bsky.social humantransit.org/2026/03/bogo... #transit #bogota #Colombia

I wish every transit authority understood the importance of making clear and beautiful PDF maps available to the public. Interactive maps can be fun but can also be a pain. Bravo to @metrolosangeles for not just making the maps but making them easy to find.

Portland: There's now a proposal to rename Cesar Chavez Blvd (a. k. a 39th Avenue) as Campesinos Boulevard. This would be a fine name for a street, but not for a numbered avenue. My defense of numbered streets and avenues is here: humantransit.org/2026/03/the-...

Remember: Just because a product has its uses doesn't mean the marketing isn't a scam.

It doesn't matter how virtuous the content is. Don't cover the windows!

Jarrett Walker (@humantransit.bsky.social): “If you want transit to be useful, … you need to watch the practicalities.” But the practicalities of transit are not always what they seem – or what engineering programs teach, or what innovators envision. ...

Portland: I'm thinking of going to this today.

Los Angeles: Wilshire subway extension opens today -- the first phase to La Cienega. Important: Ridership on this segment will probably be disappointing, at least until more stuff gets built nearby. The big payoffs will be reaching Century City and Westwood/UCLA in Phase 2.

Come hang out with us drawing lines on maps! Our team and I will be offering our "inexcusably fun" 2-day intensive course in public transit network design again this year: Portland July 30-31 and Chicago October 1-2. Please share! humantransit.org/2026/05/new-...

Highly recommended book - get it now!

I now regret being a Life Member of @sierraclub.org ... All I can say is that they promised they'd save trees, not parking.

New York: looks like the city council will help the mayor back off of his "free buses" pledge, focusing instead on low income discounts, which are much more reasonable and effective. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/n... via @NYTimes

Oregon: Yesterday I had a pleasant 20 minutes on OPB's "Think Out Loud" program with Dave Miller, talking about public transit issues especially in the Portland area. Please share! www.opb.org/article/2026...

Palm Springs - Indio, CA: You have urgent choices to make about the future of public transit! Learn about them and express your view here: www.sunline.org/rides-reimag...

My book HUMAN TRANSIT, your guide to the common public transit controversies that happen in every city, will make you a more effective public transit advocate or professional. Now, it's half price through June 6! Details and links here: humantransit.org/2026/05/my-b...

I will be the guest on @OPB's "Think Out Loud" today at 12 Pacific! Or you can listen anytime after that. www.opb.org/show/thinkou...

I think we should still talk about captive drivers, though.

Currently on Caltrain heading from the South Bay toward SF, and the train is packed. That would’ve been unthinkable a couple years ago pre-electrification, especially on a Saturday night when headways were once per hour or longer. Frequency matters!

People are digging up my fun 2016 article on public transit in Barcelona: “The Drunken Metro and the Sober Bus”. Good lessons for many cities here. humantransit.org/2016/09/barc...

Mi artículo divertido sobre Barcelona, “el metro borracho y el autobús sobrio” acaba de traducirse en español. Disfrútalo y compártelo! humantransit.org/2026/05/barc...

Does anyone you know talk about public transit using the terms "choice rider" and "captive rider"? If so, point them here: humantransit.org/2026/05/word...

Dig into the history of almost any US or Canadian city and you’ll find a map like this. The freeway building boom locked in the car dependence that reduces our freedom today. But leaders at the time wanted it to be so much worse.

Bogotá: Una imagen de la verdadera complejidad de TransMilenio ... humantransit.org/2026/04/bogo...