about the author

Jarrett Walker 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 currently serves as a Principal Consultant with MRCagney based in Australia.  He provides expert advice to clients worldwide

Born in 1962, he grew up in Portland, Oregon during the revolutionary 1970s, the era when Portland first made its decisive commitment to be a city for people rather than cars.  He went on to complete a BA at Pomona College (Claremont, California) and a Ph.D. in theatre arts and humanities at Stanford University.  Passionately interested in an impractical number of fields, he is probably the only person with peer-reviewed publications in both the Journal of Transport Geography and Shakespeare Quarterly.  In addition to Human Transit, he also writes on botany, creative writing, performing arts, and a range of other interests on his personal blog, Creature of the Shade.

For more on Jarrett Walker, and this blog, see the Welcome and Manifesto post.  For more on his professional services, see here.

Comments

[eric britton]

Thanks for that good note Jarrett. Now what about our signing you up as a World Eyes on the Street. You can see the whole story at Http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/2009/03/world-streets-correspondents.html Eric Britton

[Jarrett at HumanTransit.org]

My last email to eric.britton@worldstreets.org was returned as
undeliverable. Trying this way. Let me know if you receive.

[emlyn hatch]

Hi Jarrett. Just got July figures for new Tauranga service. 101,400. Thats compares to 81,609 the previous month in June and 96,200 one year ago in July 2008.
Just over 29,000 on the new Mount - Greerton direct routes.
Emlyn

[Steve Rogers]

Hi Jarrett,
Still following the transit master plan you wrote and slowly increasing service hours. The City Council will consider a new funding source, increased service hours and a fareless system in the spring.

Steve Rogers, City of Corvallis

[Jeff Welch]

Hi,

Love this blog, and have added it to the "Links We Like" on my own, the Puget Sound Transit Operators blog. Please consider visiting and adding PSTO to your Agency and Operator Blogs links. Regardless - will be reading HT's great articles and updates.
-JW

[Dan Goldfischer]

Your blog is excellent...what do you think about the plan to build a "straddling bus" in Beijing? See http://www.chinahush.com/2010/07/31/straddling-bus-a-cheaper-greener-and-faster-alternative-to-commute/

[Jarrett at HumanTransit.org]

Dan.  See here.  http://www.humantransit.org/2010/09/the-chinese-tunnel-bus-or-train-or-whatever.html

[Alice]

Hi Jarrett,
You got any interesting info/views on late-night transport?

[Jarrett at HumanTransit.org]

Alice. I'm all for it! Jarrett

[Adrienne Heim]

I thought this was a wonderful thought piece to share because as planners we want to engage with the community in order reduce negative externalities such as congestion, GHG's, over consumption of vital/scarce resources but the way that we display our actions should be taken delicately. We do not want to appear to strip the rights away from U.S. citizens or appear to become less democratic. However, we must stress equality for all lifestyles and living conditions for all and that means funding for highway maintenance and bicycle lanes but and a strong but we must also stress the true costs of using one or the other. Especially when automobile ownership and automobile storage i.e. parking is concerned! That's my 2 cents for 2011~

[Deborah Webb]

Has Sydney ever thought of improving peak hour traffic congestion by extending the peak hour thereby thinning the congestion? The way to do this is to introduce different start and finish times for workers. A good example of this is the public sector in the ACT. Here employees are required to be at their desk between certain set hours, but outside of these they can select their own start and finish time each day between 7.30am and 6.30pm so long as they put in 80 hours a fortnight.

Another way of thinning traffic may be for schools to start either earlier or later than the traditional peak hour.

I also wonder how many people are aware of the car pool websites in Sydney. I know car pooling is tricky as many drivers do things before and after work, maybe only once a week, thereby upsetting the routine for others in their pool. However I suspect that car pooling could be increased if individuals really put their minds to it.

[BoardisTransAlt]

Hi Jarret,

The skateboard is an unassuming little vehicle with extraordinary powers of both transport and health. Have you given any thought to it? I'll begin to read through your blog in the meantime.

Thanks,

cubi

[Sylvester Black]

Finding your website was refreshing after a recent vacation in Branson Mo. I have determined that having access to public transportation, sidewalks, close clusters of shops, and activity are a lot more fun that spending time in the car. I live close enough to public transportation in Chicago's suburbs to go downtown twice a week. I am having a hard time figuring out which southern/southeastern USA cities have good transportation, good outdoor city spaces, and extensive sidewalks other than some Texas cities. Please help me or all of my southern vacations will have to be in Austin, Houston or Dallas.