vancouver area readers! short course being planned ...

NOTE: The post discussed here is now open for registration!  See here.

Simon Fraser University's City Program has approached me about teaching a short, intense, fun course on the concepts of transit planning, tying in with the book I'm working on.   On completing the course, you'd have a mastery of the geometry and economics of transit sufficient to understand the real-world choices that transit requires communities to make, and some techniques for how planners and policymakers can get to consensus on those choices.  As you'd expect from me, the course would be "mode-neutral," focused on the 90% of transit planning knowledge that is identical for buses, rail services, and ferries.

At least half of the course time would consist of a series of hands-on, small-group exercises where students design a network for a fictional city, experiencing the tradeoffs that arise when working with a limited budget.  Vancouver's transit agency Translink already uses this method as a stakeholder outreach tool, so we already have some good facilitators around whom I would hope to engage as teaching assistants for this effort.

The course would run all-day on a Thursday and Friday, sometime in late April or May, probably at SFU's downtown Harbour Centre campus.  The cost would be $250.  Enrollment would be limited to around 30. 

So now here's a test on reading directions carefully!  Based just on the information I've given, what are the chances that you'd attend such a course, which means either you'd pay for it yourself or convince your employer/grandmother/etc to pay to send you?   Again the commitment is $250 and two days. 

If these chances are much above zero, please click the "Email me" button under my photo, and send me a quick email.  In the subject line itself, please just write a percentage that is your estimate of how likely you'd be to enroll based on the information I've provided.  So

• "5%" might mean: "I feel a vague impulse to offer moral support but probably not much more unless all my friends start telling me to do it."

• "20%" might mean: "Well, if all the stars line up perfectly, and I don't have to go shopping those days, and it doesn't look like a good day for the beach, I might give it a try."


• "75%" might mean: "Sounds great!  I'd definitely enroll if I'm free but it will depend on the dates."  
  
  
• "100%" means "I would skip my own wedding to attend this."

I figure if I add up all the percentage estimates I get, that will be a decent low-end estimate of potential enrollment, at least for the purposes of deciding if the course is worthwhile.

Please forward a link to anyone else you know who might be interested, and invite them to respond likewise.  Thanks!

Comments

[Eldan Goldenberg]

Would you be interested in doing a similar course in Seattle later in the year? It would be a very good fit for the training program I run through Sustainable Seattle....

[Sasha]

I would be interested, but I don't live in Vancouver.

Any chance you can do the same as a webinar of some sort?

[Tom West]

Could you publish what percenatge of the people who give a possibility of x% show up? It would be interesting to see how good people are at estimating these things.

[Ben Allen]

I would be interested, but I don't live in Vancouver, but I might be able to convince my school to pay for at least part of a trip up there. Which makes me a 30% or so.

[Graydon Armstrong]

The only time I'd be in town for this, I'd pretty much have to miss my own wedding, or at least the rehearsal. If you ever do a similar course in the Bay Area, though, you could put me down as a 20% during the week or 50% on a weekend.

[Jarrett at HumanTransit.org]

@all comments from other cities.  If it plays well in Vancouver, perhaps it will become a road show.  Thanks, Jarrett

[Alexis]

This sounds super awesome. I would be a 90% if you could ever do something like it in Portland.

[Leigh Holcombe]

I would be 100% if I was in Seattle or Portland or Vancouver. But unfortunately, I'm in Honolulu.

[Bob Marker]

I'm 90% into it if I don't need a Visa (I live in Seattle)

[mattwigway]

I would be 90% if you ever come to the Bay Area!

[Aaron Antrim]

I would be 90% in Portland.

[Brad]

You should do this in June so if we are interested we can buy a plane ticket at a reasonable price :)

[Alon Levy]

I would be 95% in New York, and 50% elsewhere on the Northeast Corridor.

[David in Vancouver]

I live in Vancouver and I'm 75% interested if it's before May 5th - meaning it would be very difficult for me to attend before then as I have certain work deadlines that make getting both Thursday and Friday off difficult. If it's more like May 12th-13th or later, then I'm 100% able/interested in attending.