Jarrett Walker

Drove from San Francisco to Monterey (120 mi) today, and have no energy left. Driving is dangerous, stressful, and exhausting. Some people love it and are good at it, but it's appalling that we force so many people to do it just so they can have lives.

"Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva" is a really fun name to say. A pleasing combination of sounds, like a little poem.

"Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva" is a really fun name to say. A pleasing combination of sounds, like a little poem.

This guy who leads the opposition to the SF Bay Area's transit rescue measure RTM naturally talks about how badly some projects have been managed. Transit advocates are far more angry about this than he is. But that doesn't mean we'll vote to destroy transit as he proposes.

This historical anecdote makes me absurdly happy. *Of course* a mathematician would have invented bus service!

Blaise Pascal invented public transit in the 1660s. As the greatest mathematician of his age, he saw the math problem that only transit would solve. I wrote about this amazing story here. humantransit.org/2024/12/one-...

Blaise Pascal invented public transit in the 1660s. As the greatest mathematician of his age, he saw the math problem that only transit would solve. I wrote about this amazing story here. humantransit.org/2024/12/one-...

An email I send over and over these days.

If you are unfortunate enough to be driving into San Francisco on I-80, please watch the road rather than judging the architecture. It's very dangerous right here. www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

I conceptually understood but still did not realize exactly how good interlining was until I was at the @humantransit.bsky.social workshop looking around at everybody's maps and seeing how much you could push core service while still getting service "out there" by branching/interlining

An email I send over and over these days.

Can someone in the SF Bay Area explain to me why the campaign for Measure RTM is about TRAFFIC but not HOUSING? How many people really have to travel at rush hour anymore? Housing is the #1 issue in the Bay Area, and housing depends on transit. Yet there is virtually no mention of it.

My advice to voters, especially in the SF Bay Area, on how to think about your vote on a transit funding measure. humantransit.org/basics-shoul...

"Should I Vote for a Transit Tax?" 10 points to consider when navigating these noisy debates at election time. www.strongtowns.org/journal/2026... via @strongtowns.org and @humantransit.bsky.social

Lots of people drive cars in the US but that doesn't mean they want to. Car fanatics want us to believe that car-dominance is because customers love cars. But choices reveal desires only when there are real options. usa.streetsblog.org/2026/10/14/s...

Portland politics: does anyone want to suggest how I should vote in city council district 3? I value honesty, intelligence, and proven experience in government. I don't much care about the left vs moderate wars, but I would like to vote for a lower level of drama on the council.

The US election season has reached the point where there is nothing new for analysts to say. This is a good time to remember that human behavior is not predictable. If it were, that would make you no better than a machine. Celebrate how great it is that nobody knows the future.

If you're in a US city that is facing a transit funding referendum in November, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, here's my quick guide on how to think about transit measures in general, and the forces behind them. humantransit.org/basics-shoul... Comments welcome.

Nine books that stay with me. Fiction only. myninebooks.com/g/220e00c83862

The US has elections for transit funding measures coming up in several cities. So I just updated my general advice about how to vote in these elections. It's more complicated than "just vote yes". Even I as a transit advocate have voted no sometimes. humantransit.org/basics-shoul...

Seoul is aiming for 500 autonomous buses in their public transit network by 2030. They will be 11m long (longer than the one in this image looks to me). Not surprised that fast-aging South Korea is leading on this. www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/o...

Chicago's Jewelers Row. 8:30 AM on a sunny Saturday. People gather underneath the soft rumble of the elevated trains, attracted by a prosperous coffeehouse. We don't always need to fear elevated transit.

Geometry: "The most important concept in transport planning. Everything else is footnotes." ~Jarrett Walker (@humantransit.bsky.social).

This week NITA is the proud host of @humantransit.bsky.social’s Intensive Transit Network Design Course in which local Chicago planners, advocates, developers and more have come together to dive deep into transit planning and how to use it to create better cities and towns. 🧑‍🏫

Hey, #Milwaukee people, Jarrett Walker is talking about redesigning our #bus network to address our #publictransit financial challenges. Check it out and take the survey. 🚌

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Our firm has developed some alternative concepts for the near-future of your transit network! Read all about it here: humantransit.org/2026/09/milw...

Now and then, just to mess with everyone's expectations of me, I like to post my 1992 Shakespeare Quarterly paper on Shakespeare's play Coriolanus. www.enotes.com/topics/corio...

One of the best podcasts I've ever done on the public transit challenge in the US. A great conversation with @clmarohn, the founder of @strongtowns. Please share. podcast.strongtowns.org/e/the-transi...

One of the best podcasts I've ever done on the public transit challenge in the US. A great conversation with @clmarohn, the founder of @strongtowns. Please share. podcast.strongtowns.org/e/the-transi...

Know anyone in Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Please forward them this. We need their feedback on difficult choices facing the transit system. www.ridemcts.com/programs/mct...

"It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others." Ben Franklin I like this quotation because it suggests possibilities for both the young and the old.

Learn to be offended by surveys like this one from Wells Fargo bank. It's gaslighting. It wants to you recommend giant corporations based on the behavior of one front-line employee (rather than the behavior of the management). Would anyone really do that?

“Lower-income people will generate traffic congestion if you force them to [by not providing alternatives, such as public transport]” 🎯

That feeling when you’re reading an 1817 William Hazlitt essay about Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and it’s suddenly all about 2026. www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5...

> In whatever room you are in, ask: ‘Who is not in the room?’

Monterey, California is gorgeous in late October! I'll be speaking then at the California Transit Association conference! lnkd.in/p/gY4p4wBC

Replacing public transit autonomous vehicles would be neither fair nor effective even if they were widely available and safe. I would have thought this obvious but it's good to have the arguments spelled out clearly.

This post may be the most effective argument right now for letting public transit wither. It may not make sense to you, but it feels right to many, many people. So in a short new post, I talk through what's going on here, and how to engage with it. humantransit.org/2026/09/the-...

induced demand illustrated

La versión en español de mi libro *Human Transit* ha dado otro gran paso adelante. El trabajo de traducción ha concluido y ahora estamos revisándolo. ¡Espero que se publique antes de la primavera de 2027!

On this anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the US government is unlikely to express the appropriate gratitude to the Canadian people for all their efforts to help on that day and the days after. So I suggest retweeting Canadians congratulating themselves.

Coming to Chicago for the APTA Transform conference? Already there? We have just FOUR places left in my "inexcusably fun" two-day course in transit network design on Oct 1-2. Read all about it here, and please share! humantransit.org/2026/08/our-...

Is your city stuck on rail vs. bus debates? Here's the explainer you need! humantransit.org/basics-sorti...

Do you know people who want to learn about public transit but who learn better orally than by reading? All my recent podcast interviews and conference keynotes are now in one place: humantransit.org/jarretts-key.... Please share!