Jarrett Walker
humantransit.bsky.social
Jarrett Walker
@humantransit.bsky.social
Public transit planning consultant and commentator. Author of the book “Human Transit” and the blog HumanTransit.org. The consulting firm is jarrettwalker.com. Also obsessed with literature and plants.
This cliffhanger should be national news.
Katie Wilson is up 91 votes in the Seattle Mayor's race as Wilson-mentum continues to pay dividends.
Wilson-mentum is real.

The gap in the Seattle Mayor's race has narrowed to just 4,300 votes, or 1.88%.
November 11, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
Gave this book away last Christmas looking forward to picking it back up :)
All print books are 50% off at Island Press, including my book Human Transit, the book that welcomes everyone into clear thinking about public transit! Stock up for the holidays! Print edition only (because giving ebooks is no fun)! islandpress.org/books/human-...
Human Transit, Revised Edition
islandpress.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:11 PM
In the 1990s in San Francisco, I remember when the familiar sound of foghorns on the bay ceased to be necessary for maritime navigation.

People immediately yelled at the city government demanding that it install a fake foghorn to preserve the ambience.
I don't doubt this for a second and once you understand this, you will understand a lot about people
November 10, 2025 at 9:36 PM
All print books are 50% off at Island Press, including my book Human Transit, the book that welcomes everyone into clear thinking about public transit! Stock up for the holidays! Print edition only (because giving ebooks is no fun)! islandpress.org/books/human-...
Human Transit, Revised Edition
islandpress.org
November 10, 2025 at 6:23 PM
If New Hampshire has two senators, Los Angeles County should have two senators.
Shaheen: "We've heard from a number of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle that they're willing to come to the table, they're willing to work with us once the govt is open to get this done. We've heard the same thing from the White House. So now we'll see if they're really gonna work w/us"
November 10, 2025 at 4:54 PM
A great reason to be a transit service planner instead of a transit infrastructure planner is that we service planners deal mostly in cost numbers that are easy to explain.

Unfortunately, they tend to be tiny numbers. The big money goes into rounding errors and contingencies for infrastructure.
It's impressive how contemporary projects' budgeting practices in Canada are made of very thin actual analytical estimates based on quantities and unit prices on top of which there is an entire enormous castle of random percentages of percentages of percentages which are suspiciously multiples of 5.
November 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Least surprising headline of the week.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/n...
Hochul Raises Doubts About Mamdani’s Free Bus Proposal
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
absolute 🔥🔥🔥🔥
November 9, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The key move in transport historian Peter Norton's remarkable essay, defending against charges of "anti-conservative bias". The whole thing is worth your time.
November 9, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Transportation historian Peter Norton was accused of "anti-conservative bias." His reply is remarkable.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-am-c...
I am conservative.
“We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful me...
www.linkedin.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
Thanks to the Illinois’ massive investment in transit, Chicago has a bright transit future, with the dawn coming next year:
—50% increase in every-10-min bus routes to 30 citywide
—8-minute midday headways on rail lines
—24-hour Orange Line service (Red & Blue already have it)
November 7, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points
November 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
England has bus routes whose names sound like outlines of a novel.
November 7, 2025 at 5:59 PM
"so-called"?
November 7, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Make this make sense.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit just built a transit line extension into Plano that opened just a couple weeks ago. Yesterday, Plano City Council voted 8-0 to allow voters to choose whether or not to leave DART www.keranews.org/news/2025-11...
Plano leaders vote to hold DART withdrawal election next spring
City council members heard hours of public comment Wednesday, most of it in support of DART, before voting to call the election.
www.keranews.org
November 6, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
Investing smartly in public transit checks ALL the boxes right now, @mark-carney.bsky.social. It’s a credible example of both real nation-building & climate action. It’s a proven cost SAVER with a great ROI that makes Canadian cities more successful & competitive. It supports equity & affordability.
November 5, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
A significant % of my walls of books on better cities were published by @islandpress.bsky.social! I think VERY HIGHLY of @hboyer.bsky.social & IP, who are doing a HUGE service to the understanding of better cities with books by @humantransit.bsky.social, @modacitylife.com and so many more friends!
November 6, 2025 at 1:16 AM
In some far future America, our descendants are amazed that we allowed private freight train companies to just block major city streets for unlimited amounts of time, with trains that weren't even moving. (SE 11th Ave. in Portland).
November 5, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
Folks, if you’re into public transit, and you’re not following public transit consultant Dr. Jarrett Walker (PhD, Stanford, humanities), then you‘re not doing TransitSky right.
November 5, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Timeline cleanse: Amazingly satisfying 5.5 minutes of early Baroque music by the Bellot Ensemble. Beautifully photographed too. Love watching musicians communicate in performance. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eihb...
Tarquinio Merula - Canzoni a quattro voci - Canzon Seconda 'La Lusignola'
YouTube video by Bellot Ensemble
www.youtube.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
This keeps on happening

Every time I think I come up with a new way to think about transit, it turns out @humantransit.bsky.social had already beat me to basically the same idea/conclusions 10-15 years ago 😭
November 2, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Reposted by Jarrett Walker
There’s a sort of Dunning-Kruger effect happening where people who read widely, consider various perspectives, and put in effort to understand views they disagree with worry that they don’t do that enough, while people who don’t do any of that accuse others of being in a bubble and call it a day.
November 1, 2025 at 4:29 PM
We see our job as transit planners as being at least half storytelling. The great Todd Litman explains why.

www.planetizen.com/blogs/136153...
For Better Public Transit, We Need Better Stories
Public transportation provides many often-overlooked benefits. We can do better at communicating the value of transit investments. We have good stories to tell.
www.planetizen.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:16 PM