Public transit planning consultant and commentator. Author of the book “Human Transit” and the blog HumanTransit.org. The consulting firm is jarrettwalker.com. Also obsessed with literature and plants.
@humantransit.bsky.social is one of the most rational thinkers/practitioners working in transit. I've learned from him to follow the math. EPISODE 178: Human Transit with Jarrett Walker – The War on Cars share.google/0qF6l9ZA8sfE...
EPISODE 178: Human Transit with Jarrett Walker – The War on Carsshare.google
Keynote by @humantransit.bsky.social at Transportation Camp DC this year was fantastic. Give this a listen.
The War on CarsNew episode up! We talk with transit planner Jarrett Walker, author of the recently reissued classic Human Transit, about why buses are so great, how we can make them better, & how advocates should fight for public transit in a hostile federal funding environment. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Most transport technology hype inadvertently advertises what a tiny number of passengers will be served. It wants you to imagine that you will get this convenience, but if everyone uses it, it won’t be like this at all. Nothing is more old-fashioned than transport tech hype.
remarkable how it's consensus within all realms of transportation academic/professional/political pundit spaces that transit projects cost too much and how rarely it's coupled with "we spend orders of magnitude more on highways which also suffer from exorbitant cost overruns and consultant grift"
Benjamin SchneiderThere's some truth here: Transit projects cost too much and the urban transportation market is getting more competitive. Withholding transit grant money, as the Trump admin is doing, addresses neither of those things, of course. But what would help? t.co/cZmiMFc6yf
Having worked through fiscal cliffs at three different agencies in my career (thankfully all where the agencies averted catastrophe), just going through the act of creating service cut plans is incredibly demoralizing for staff Even if you don’t ultimately cut service, it sticks with you
Jarrett WalkerThis year our firm is working on several transit plans that involve cutting service. So I know we’ll again get framed as service cut advocates. That’s not how it works. We work with the client’s financial situation. Advocate transit funding, so we don’t have to do this. We want more transit too
Wake up Portland!
Jarrett WalkerPortland: everyone who is seriously thinking of using our CLEAN ENERGY FUND to bribe our basketball team to not leave town needs to know that our transit agency is on track to cut nearly 1/3 of its service from what it was in 2025. Which is the greater crisis?
Hang out with me drawing colored lines on maps! Our "inexcusably fun" two-day course in public transit network design is coming up in Portland (7/30-31) and Chicago (10/1-2). Please share! humantransit.org/2026/05/new-...
New Sessions of our Intensive Transit Network Design Course: Portland and Chicago — Human TransitWe’re delighted to announce two 2026 sessions of our “inexcusably fun” two-day intensive course in public transit network design. This course, which we at Jarrett Walker + Associates have been teachi...humantransit.org
a literal car dealer trying to sanction another country for wildfire smoke really gets at the essence of climate politics
Jen BenderyNEW: Trump is now threatening to punish Canada for wildfire smoke blowing into the U.S., as a GOP senator intros a bill to sanction Canadian officials “responsible” for the fires driven by climate change. “Insane," says one leading Canadian enviro group. www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie...
As @humantransit.bsky.social suggests, we should call congestion pricing programs that reduce urban core congestion "decongestion pricing." This would allow Chicago to claim its title of having a roadway pricing system that is truly congestion (creating) pricing. humantransit.org/2011/03/watc...
watching our words: congestion charge or price or (shudder) tax — Human TransitThere seems to be a flurry of new interest in congestion pricing, partly under the pressure of tight budgets almost everywhere. But journalists can muddy the waters by describing congestion pricing a...humantransit.org
Great description of the Seattle Transit Plan here. Oakland Berkeley and Emeryville can do this. They just have to want do it together with AC Transit.
Jarrett WalkerYet another fun hour chatting about the public transit planning challenge with the great @clmarohn.bsky.social of @strongtowns.org. Hope you enjoy and share! podcast.strongtowns.org/e/the-transi...
Yet another fun hour chatting about the public transit planning challenge with the great @clmarohn.bsky.social of @strongtowns.org. Hope you enjoy and share! podcast.strongtowns.org/e/the-transi...
The Transit Tradeoff No City Can Escape | The Strong Towns PodcastPutting a route near every community sounds fair until the buses only arrive once an hour. Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit and principal of the firm helping Des Moines rethink its bus network,...podcast.strongtowns.org