My vision for transit is not a reinterpretation of the automobile highway – corridors for commuters – but a return to traditional transit systems: investments in financially productive places. A successful transit trip begins in a financially-productive place and ends in a financially-productive place, connecting the two in a way that is scaled to

The proper response to congestion between cities is to build capacity. The proper response to congestion within a city is to intensify land use.

Our economy is incredibly fragile. Our approach to transportation funding is incredibly fragile. The coalition proposals being put forth around the country will make the system more fragile, not less. Fragile systems eventually break.

after the U.S. Civil War, foreign money poured into the country and fueled rampant speculation in railroad-led development.

Transportation coalitions and their patrons – a long list of professional whiners dedicated to perpetuating and exploiting the centralized, paternalistic relationship between state and local governments – will not have much to do in a depoliticized transportation system, one dedicated primarily to maintaining what we have already built.

Someone emailed me and said, “Chuck, I just want a train.” I get that. We live in a country where, through a complex set of financial circumstances, we created an illusion of wealth that has conditioned us to think big. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. America needs big thinkers with big ideas. And if your big idea is a train, you’ve been in the

Most transit advocates I know – “Chuck, I just want a train” is one lament I’ve heard

With auto-based infrastructure needing dramatically more money than is currently available just to maintain what we’ve already built, urban transportation advocates are forced to support lots of additional revenue for roads to get tepid support for walking, biking and transit funding. Going back to the war analogy, this is like deciding to engage

We need the private sector to take the bulk of the risks in today’s economy.