Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives

Communities across the country are paying renewed attention to public transit. It is clear that there is not room for everyone who owns a car to be driving on the road at the same time. This book, written by a transit planner, addresses pertinent questions regarding public transit services, including: their uses by communities; how to recognize a public transit system of good quality; what goals do we wish to accomplish through public transit; and how do we make choices regarding our transit systems? Urban form and geometric concepts are also examined. The chapter headings include the following: 1. What Transit is, and Does; 2. What Makes Transit Useful? Seven Demands and How Transit Serves Them; 3. Five Paths to Confusion; 4. Lines, Loops, and Longing; 5. Touching the City: Stops and Stations; 6. Peak or All Day? 7. Frequency is Freedom; 8. The Obstacle Course: Speed, Delay, and Reliability; 9. Density Distractions; 10. Ridership or Coverage: The Challenge of Service Allocation; 11. Can Fares be Fair? 12. Connections or Complexity? 13. From Connections to Networks, to Places; 14. Be on the Way! Transit Implications of Location Choice; 15. On the Boulevard; 16. Take the Long View; and Epilogue: Geometry, Choices, Freedom.