"The much-anticipated update to Jarrett Walkers seminal guide to public transportation.
Transportation expert Jarrett Walker believes that transit can be simple, if we focus on the underlying geometry that all transit systems share. In Human Transit, Revised Edition, he provides the basic tools and critical questions needed to make smarter decisions about designing and implementing services, refreshed with updated information and examples.
The first edition of Human Transit, published in 2011, has become a classic for professionals, advocates, and interested citizens. No other book explains the basic principles of public transit in such lively and accessible prose, all based on a respect for your right to form your own opinion. Walker’s goal is not to make you share his values, but to give you the tools to clarify and advocate for yours.
Walker has updated and expanded the book to deepen its explanations. His ongoing work as a network planning consultant has provided a wealth of new examples, images, and tools. New topics include the problem with specialization; the role of flexible or “demand response” services; how to know when to redesign your network; and responding to tech-industry claims that transit will soon be obsolete. Finally, he has also added a major new section exploring the idea of access to opportunity as a core measure of transit’s success.
Whether you are a professional or a concerned citizen, the revised edition of this accessible guide can help you to achieve successful public transit that will enrich any community.
Jarrett Walker, PhD, is an international consultant in public transit network design and policy. He has been a full-time consultant since 1991 and has led numerous major planning projects in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. He is President at Jarrett Walker + Associates, based in Portland, Oregon, and Principal Consultant with MRCagney in Australia. He writes a blog by the same name (Human Transit).
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: What Transit Is and Does
Chapter 2: What Makes Transit Useful? Seven Demands and
How Transit Serves Them
Chapter 3: The Wall around Your Life: Access to Opportunity
Chapter 4: A Bunch of Random Strangers: Planning for Diversity
Chapter 5: Lines, Loops, and Longing
Chapter 6: Touching the City: Stops and Stations
Chapter 7: Peak or All Day?
Chapter 8: Frequency Is Freedom
Chapter 9: The Obstacle Course: Speed, Delay, and Reliability
Chapter 10: Ridership or Coverage? The Challenge of Allocating
Service
Chapter 11: Can Fares Be Fair?
Chapter 12: Connections or Complexity?
Chapter 13: From Connections to Networks to Places
Chapter 14: Network Design and Redesign
Chapter 15: Be on the Way! Moral Implications of Location Choice
Chapter 16: On the Boulevard
Chapter 17: Take the Long View
Epilogue: Geometry, Choices, Freedom
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
About the Author
"I read Jarrett’s book in my early days as the Minister for Public Transport, Roads and Road Safety. It has informed my perspective on how transit systems can shape cities and transform the lives of communities and the importance of keeping people front and centre in our decision making. Thank you Jarrett for sharing your expertise and passion for transport planning in your captivating narrative."
-Ben Carroll, Deputy Premier, State of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia)
"To read Human Transit, Revised Edition is to grasp not just what makes an effective bus route or rail line, but to also understand the geometry, economics, and human values that shape cities—and that enhance or diminish them. How we respond to the vital questions in this book will help us address the urgent climate, safety, health, economic, equity, and mobility challenges that cities face."
-Janette Sadik-Khan, Principal, Bloomberg Associates, Former Commissioner, NYC Dept. of Transportation
