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Jarrett at HumanTransit.org
Portland, Oregon
Transit planning expert with humanities background. Author of HumanTransit.org
Interests: Cities, natural history, botany, gardening, literature, languages. What am I not interested in?
Recent Activity
Christchurch: A New Transit Hub
Posted Nov 30, 2015 at Human Transit
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Self-Driving Cars: A Coming Congestion Disaster?
We're starting to see professional reports echoing long-standing concerns about how driverless cars will affect our cities. This new one from KPMG, in particular, is getting a lot of press. It's actually a focus group study about the transport desires of different generations, but it confirms the thought experiments that many of us have already been laying out for a while. Much depends on whether these cars are owned or spontaneously hired like taxis, Uber, and Lyft. A taxi model is definitely better in its congestion impacts, but that doesn't mean it will happen. The ownership model is closer to... Continue reading
Posted Nov 25, 2015 at Human Transit
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How Important is "Downtown"?
In North America, the word downtown invites us to imagine the densest and most walkable part of any city, the place where transit and other non-car modes naturally thrive more than anywhere else. And where this is actually true, it's logical for all kinds of intercity and local transit services to focus there. But when we project this model of downtown onto every city, we encounter fatal confusions. Downtown implies a single place; there's just one per city or metro area. But some cities aren't like that. Los Angeles and Houston, two take two famous examples, have a place called... Continue reading
Posted Nov 20, 2015 at Human Transit
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Can Taxis and Uber/Lyft replace Paratransit Vans? There's Money in it ...
The Boston Globe has a story about the region's transit agency, the MBTA, launching a pilot program with local taxis to provide paratransit service. This is worth watching because of the potential to unlock resources for fixed route transit services. Paratransit, in the strictest sense, is door-to-door service for people with disabilities who cannot use fixed route transit. In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities mandates that transit agencies provide paratransit wherever and whenever they run fixed route service, and charge no more than double the fixed route fare. In the agency budget, this mandated service competes with the... Continue reading
Posted Nov 16, 2015 at Human Transit
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Guest Post: Autonomous Vehicles and the VMT Problem
This guest post is by Ron Kilcoyne, general manager of Lane Transit District in Eugene, Oregon and formerly the head of transit in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Santa Clarita, California. The flurry of speculation about the future of autonomous vehicles is mostly ignoring a signficant downside: the impact on vehicle miles travelled (VMT). Safety and congestion resonate with people while VMT doesn’t. Yet reducing per capita VMT is also essential for combating climate change. The potential increase in VMT when self-driving cars become prevalent could negate any congestion reduction benefit. Indeed it could be far worse than today. Reducing VMT or... Continue reading
Posted Nov 13, 2015 at Human Transit
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Reykjavík: The National Broadcasting Interview of Me
While I was in Reykjavík in March, I was interviewed on Iceland's national public broadcaster RUV, on a show called Kastljós ('Spotlight'). Host Thora Arnorsdóttir asked excellent questions, but with typical Nordic modesty she has edited herself out, leaving just 6 minutes of me talking with Icelandic subtitles. If you don't speak Icelandic, you'll want to start at 1:17. It's here. Continue reading
Posted Nov 3, 2015 at Human Transit
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Weekend Ramble: Empathizing with the Fear of Urbanism
Posted Oct 31, 2015 at Human Transit
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Houston: Great Ridership News on the New Network
Posted Oct 28, 2015 at Human Transit
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Seattle: Before the Live Debate, the Written One (and an Imptertinent Question)
Posted Oct 26, 2015 at Human Transit
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My book is on 50% off, until Oct 26!
Posted Oct 21, 2015 at Human Transit
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Reykjavík: Adventures in Sub-arctic Urbanism (Part 2: The Words)
Posted Oct 13, 2015 at Human Transit
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Reykjavík: Adventures in Subarctic Urbanism (Part 1: the Photos)
Posted Oct 13, 2015 at Human Transit
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San Francisco Bay Area: "Transportation Camp" coming to North Bay
From our good friends at Trillium Solutions, a cool company that does a range of IT solutions for transit agencies: Transportation Camp is coming to Rohnert Park on October 20. The format of Transportation Camp is an "unconference" focused around transit and technology. The event will serve the dual purpose of kicking off the Fall conference for CalACT, California's state transit association. Transit operators, activists, and technologists can come together to solve problems. What: TranspoCamp California. When: October 20, 2015. Coffee and muffins at 8:30. Event at 9:30. Sessions at 11. Happy hour afterwards. Where: DoubleTree hotel in Rohnert Park,... Continue reading
Posted Oct 8, 2015 at Human Transit
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Portland: New Transit Map Underscores Frequent Network
Posted Oct 1, 2015 at Human Transit
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Portland: Small City Club Event on October 6
Posted Sep 29, 2015 at Human Transit
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Seattle Times "Gridlock" Event Oct 29!
Posted Sep 10, 2015 at Human Transit
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Reykjavík: Speaking on 22 September
Posted Sep 7, 2015 at Human Transit
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Can Design Learn from the New Zealand Flag Debate?
Posted Sep 6, 2015 at Human Transit
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Major Think Tank Implies You Don't Exist
Posted Aug 31, 2015 at Human Transit
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Does the Ridership-Coverage Question Apply to Bikes?
For over a decade, I've been encouraging transit agencies to be clear about how they balance the contradictory goals of ridership (as many customers as possible for the fixed operating budget) or coverage (some transit service everywhere, responding to needs rather than to demand). I lay out the tradeoff in the opening part of this explainer. Michael Anderson, the editor of the excellent blog Bike Portland, has a very thoughtful article exploring how, and whether, this paradigm applies to cycling infrastructure. Disclosure: It would be fascinating even if they hadn't interviewed Michelle Poyourow, a bike-and-transit planner who's also a Senior... Continue reading
Posted Aug 21, 2015 at Human Transit
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City Building Exchange: a Training for Civic Professionals in New Orleans
Posted Aug 20, 2015 at Human Transit
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Houston: Welcome to Your New Network
Posted Aug 15, 2015 at Human Transit
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Jobs! Come work with us in Portland! (or Bay Area or NE Corridor)
Posted Aug 14, 2015 at Human Transit
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The Flexibility Industry Discovers the Virtues of Rigidity
An important belated update from the world of ridesharing - Uber is now testing a feature they are calling "Suggested Pickup Points", which directs customers to walk to nearby locations that are easier for their drivers to reach, saving time for both the driver and (in the case of UberPool) for other passengers on board. Lyft takes this even further, offering discounted rides on its Lyft Line service for people who come to meet it. You may be familiar with an identical concept in the public transit industry, called a "stop" or "station" -- a location near to destinations, but... Continue reading
Posted Aug 11, 2015 at Human Transit
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Rhetorical Annihilation in the Social Sciences
[This post is periodically updated as helpful comments roll in.] Have you ever picked up an academic paper and read, right there in the abstract, that you don't exist? We're used to reading rhetoric that defines us as the enemy, which is different. Rhetoric about the "war on cars" or "war on coal" posits an in-group of good people, including the author and presumed reader, and an out-group that is threatening to them. This is exclusionary language in its obvious form, and it's hard to justify in academia. But academics can slide unconsciously into a more subtle kind of exclusionary... Continue reading
Posted Aug 8, 2015 at Human Transit
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