Everyone in their nerdy LA group chats this morning

Today marks one year since Don Shoup died. I put on a jacket I didn’t realize I wore last at our memorial lunch, pockets stuffed with Kleenex. In Don’s memory today, think about how you commit yourself to change and leave a legacy of passion and love behind.

A family completely wrecked by our politicians' lack of a backbone to stand up for real safety and protect human lives. Transportation improvements are often matters of life and death. When the City of LA reversed these improvements, they collectively decided it was OK for people to die.

Today is my third week back from maternity leave, so it seems totally rational to launch a huge data collection effort from 750 people, right?

Cried so many times seeing the images of my hometown showing up for their community members today in sub-zero temperatures. Please do one more action than just liking posts or scrolling today. Maybe make a call to congress or help support mutual and legal aid by making a donation (DM for org recs)

On the train with a new passenger so little life update and rant. Had a baby in late August and spent the last 3 months exhausted by first person experience how the public and private world completely fails parents and families. there’s so much beyond crappy sidewalks and lack of curb cuts

Big shout out to my fellow transit riders who kindly asked the bus to wait for the light to change so I could safely get to the bus and not sprint against the light! Saved me from waiting 15 more minutes to leave work

"During debate over what would become the 15th Amendment, that the right to vote was “the most necessary and the most sacred of all rights, because it underlies all, and without which we are secure in the enjoyment of none.” @jamellebouie.net Full article here: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/o...

Its understandable that transit can be slower than driving, but it was totally bonkers when my @metrolosangeles.bsky.social operator slowed the bus effectively going 9 mph even though there was light traffic because he was “running hot” the entire route. Why rob riders of their time in this way?

Always thrilled to see bus improvements & bus riders get attention! (More trips on bus than L here in Chi) Great new @chicagocta.bsky.social high frequency bus network but more infrastructure changes needed for speedier service. And if legislators don't act to fund transit, such devastating impacts.

Seeking shade waiting for the bus at the start of this heat wave

Kudos to LA Metro for implementing this improvement that enhances the way free transit fares are provided to individuals in the LIFE program Before, recipients had to go into the app and manually load their 20 free rides every month. Now, it's done automatically! thesource.metro.net/we-have-a-li...

Switching back from podcast host to podcast guest and sharing a great conversation about our mobility wallet work in LA and what we've learned so far

Our multi-campus research team shared preliminary results from our work about the evacuation experiences of transit riders with LA county transportation and emergency management professionals yesterday! Can’t wait to release these findings publicly later this summer

Final episode in our Road Scholars mini-series on ride-hailing use among people with disabilities now available! We covered a lot of ground in these four parts from how housing cost increases affect transit, how parking affects car ownership, equity and micromobility and this! Take a listen today!

Thoroughly unsurprised. Thoroughly unprepared.

I'm so glad that we have @awalkerinla.bsky.social's newsletter to contextualize local issues these days. Not only does she provide depth on things that matter to me, but it also provides good context on LA when we get picked up nationally

Congrats to all the UCLA Urban Planning graduate students who are walking across the stage today in Royce Hall! It'll be a pleasure to work with you all professionally and as one of the previous student speakers shared years ago, remember "there are no height limits on your dreams."

I was thinking how Friday's UCLA Luskin commencement will be the first in a very long time without Shoup on stage. Comforted to see that while his physical presence is no longer with us, the continued momentum from his work is helping elected officials push towards making our cities better

🚙 🚌Lewis Center research on the Mobility Wallet pilot is making headlines, with KTLA highlighting the promising early results. Read more here! 🔗 ktla.com/news/travel...

We found similar descriptive results when we looked at race and crash victims in Los Angeles for Black victims. Black victims are at higher risk in neighborhoods with higher Black population, but also just most places in the City of LA

In unsurprising news, the TRB committee that was previously "gender issues in transportation" is now "committee on women and families" and the equity committee (that was expanded from the prior environmental justice committee) no longer exists in any form.

Ryan's writing for Essential California was truly essential. So upsetting to see the dismantling of the paper continue apace.

Conducting qualitative research in transportation can be challenging because it is often not considered "valid" data. But the pure joy and learning I get out of interviewing people about their transportation experiences makes it worth the sometimes uphill climb to get it published!

But yet, one of the LA Metro Board members said at a public event recently that it's unclear if there's any support for this very effective policy to be implemented in Los Angeles.

Super encouraging to see so many cities at the Regional Bus Stop Summit event today. I stressed four points: - bus shelters increase safety and reduce perceived wait times - Start with simple design as a first step - Find ways to streamline and ease the approval process - Leverage partnerships!

Did you know that HHS spends $1B a year on transportation that is planned and funded COMPLETELY outside of the traditional transportation sector? It took me 10 years as a professional to learn this and I've been obsessed ever since. This pod is a great starting place to learn more

For reference, this show is taped 4 blocks from a train station in Hollywood, one of the places in LA with excellent transit connectivity! I bet at rush hour, @awalkerinla.bsky.social could easily get to the show faster than other guests driving there!

It's been super fun to take over the audio reins on the UCLA Housing Voice for our transportation mini-series. Here's part two that is dedicated to the one-and-only Don Shoup featuring @uclaits.bsky.social Director, Adam Millard-Ball and his parking research on affordable housing in SF.

“When I hear people say they’re ADA compliant, that tells me they’re just checking a box because it’s the lowest bar [...]. We want to go higher and higher.” – Nine-time Paralympian and Consultant Candace Cable on advancing #UniversalAccess for LA28 #LATransportationForum

To be fair, I was calling out all of transportation sector. LA is not unique in ignoring sidewalks as a part of our transportation network. Most cities don't have a pedestrian master plan, most states don't have a direct way to pay for sidewalk improvements and the feds leave it to the locals

Since Supervisor Hahn is mentioning that fear of crime is keeping people off transit at the #UCLAForum25, I'll just go ahead and tap my sign. More people on transit is the best way to keep it safer! More service frequency means more ridership! www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Pleased to share some preliminary results from the LA Mobility Wallet Phase 1 pilot program based on interviews with participants. Our first publications focus on what life outcomes participants gained and how the program compares with a traditional transit subsidy program THREAD below!

Very often we pile a huge amount of goals onto transportation projects that they struggle to achieve. The exception to the rule is congestion pricing - she is that girl! It hits all the goals proven through real data and generates a huge amount of revenue to improve transit in the meantime

from our research with BlueLA members, this service gave people independence and an essential tool of affordable electric car access to add to their transportation tool belt. Bike share, “mobility hubs” or on demand shuttles are not going to provide the same level of access and this is a huge loss

Bloomberg News has won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for a collection of essays by contributor @langealexandra.bsky.social. The series published in Bloomberg CityLab explores how urban design and architecture impact parents and kids 🧵

Federal agency embracing new technology where the environment and workers benefit. You love to see it.

A good portion of these federal funds in the USC led center (with partners at UCLA and other region 9 partners) go to funding graduate students to study transportation. The cruelty towards the future generation of professionals is the point.

It is bonkers to me that CA isn’t taking a better approach to this program. My quick idea for a simpler, fairer, with a better user experience. 1. Have an application window 2. Randomly select people 3. Allow more people to sign up if in the next window 4. Make next round random selection.

Do you love parking policy? Have you been looking for a way to get into transportation research? If the answer to both of those questions is YES, goodness, do I have the job opening for you!

1) Bus operators are huge community heroes and I wish they got as much public praise as other frontline public servants 2) Huge shout out to these kids who took the time to see, acknowledge, and be inspired by the kindness of their daily operator Click through the thread for the full sweet story!

is there a term for when you are listening to your colleague on the Housing Voice podcast at the same time you are on the bus with them? Maybe it’s just the perfect reminder that 2 weeks from today is the transportation takeover on the @uclalewiscenter.bsky.social podcast!

A good snapshot of how you get varied outcomes from projects because you layer on needing to solve every single transportation problem into a project rather than trying to focus on the most important outcome. Happy to share the full paper - send me a DM if interested

As this story and the City of LA audit reveals, the city is failing on Vision Zero goals and progress. And my research with @tamikabutler.bsky.social demonstrates that as our streets are less and less safe, the victims are increasingly Black and Latino. laist.com/news/transpo...

Breaking news! @juanmatute.bsky.social and I are taking over the Housing Voice podcast for 4 special transportation episodes starting on May 7th!

If yesterdays' @calmatters.org piece about the lax punishment of repeat reckless drivers is still sitting with you, take a look at this idea from Washington State

harrowing reporting from @calmatters.org who put together court records and licensing across California Counties: "We found nearly 40% of the drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter since 2019 have a valid license" calmatters.org/investigatio...

Cooking up something new in @uclalewiscenter.bsky.social communications land… more details to come soon!

Thanks to @uclalawemmett.bsky.social for the platform on how to advance transportation for all. Did you know that revenue service hours for the bus in Los Angeles is stagnant since 2006!? It's far past time to put our voter-approved sales taxes towards increased bus operations

Find out our lessons learned from hosting a transportation and social service fair with our healthcare partners at the Saban Community Clinic below! It was an eye-opening experience to realize that no agency is tasked with bringing together the ecosystem of public and private providers!