Friday Transportation Seminar: Winning the Fight for Better Bus Service

THE TOPIC

The "right to the city" depends on the right to access the city, and U.S. regions are marked by profoundly unequal access. One of the clearest manifestations of this is the state of U.S. bus transit. Bus service is simple to improve and has vast potential to better people's lives, but has been constrained by the racist planning and politics that shape every American city.

How can we fulfill the promise of better buses and create abundant transit networks that expand access to opportunity? In this seminar, Higashide unpacks the elements of effective bus service – and cites examples from across the United States to show elected leaders, heroic bureaucrats, and civic advocates can overcome the political challenges to achieving them.

KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES

• The role improved bus service can play in furthering access to opportunity
• How changes in the structure of public agencies and public process can reduce the marginalization of disadvantaged groups
• The importance of community organizing and alliances between the public and civic sectors in winning more equitable transit