Missing the bus

Steve Higashide, author of a new book called Better Buses Better Cities, speaking with Roman Mars on episode 388 of 99% Invisible:

We talk so much about technological innovation in transportation when the real innovation that is needed is innovation in governance or innovation in the public process so that we can build transit projects much more quickly.

In the U.S. you see a lot of business boosters and economic development advocacy people call for world-class transit, and what they mean is that they want a street car or something. When you actually go and look at world-class transit networks, it’s robust bus service that does feed into rail—but buses are sort of like the capillaries of the transit system reaching out to every place.