Transit Tangents

Miami traffic isn’t just annoying; it’s expensive, unsafe, and deeply political. We’re joined by Cathy Dos Santos from Transit Alliance Miami, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocating for a Miami built for people, not cars. We talk about what it really costs to own a car in Miami, why that burden lands hardest on service workers and families, and how better public transportation can unlock both freedom of...

Miami’s transit network can feel like a highlight reel one minute and a facepalm the next. We start downtown at Government Center, hop the MetroMover, and then ride Metrorail south on the Green Line, where the elevated guideway, solid headways, and impressively clean cars immediately raise the bar. From there we test a local favorite, the Coral Gables Trolley, a free, frequent route that looks lik...

Austin’s Project Connect is getting dragged in the headlines as “off the rails” and “one of the most expensive light rail projects in the country,” so we slow down and fact-check the story with the full timeline. We walk through what Austin voters actually approved in 2020 under Proposition A, why that plan was always based on early design assumptions, and what the new Austin Light Rail Phase One...

Orlando isn’t short on pavement, but it is short on fast, reliable public transportation and the cost shows up everywhere: rent, commute times, missed opportunities, and that feeling that the city is always one traffic jam away from chaos. From downtown Orlando, we sit down with Giancarlo and Enmanuel from Sunrise Movement Orlando to talk about the Star Plan, their push to make rapid transit a rea...

A 140 mph bus on California freeways sounds like a joke you would see in your news feed, until you realize Caltrans is seriously studying it. We dig into the “bullet bus” concept and what it would actually require to run intercity service at "aircraft-level speeds" on rubber tires, including dedicated freeway lanes, banked curves, ultra-durable pavement, and technology that likely leans...

What happens when you try to live in the real Orlando without a car? We spend a full day riding Lynx buses from the airport to downtown, up to Winter Park, back through the Florida Mall Superstop, and finally to Disney Springs, testing what public transit in Orlando actually feels like on the ground. We talk honestly about the big constraint hanging over everything: half-hour bus frequencies on ma...

A beach trip shouldn’t require a car, so we put St. Petersburg’s Sunrunner Bus Rapid Transit to the test the only way that counts: we rode it, timed it, transferred on it, and paid attention to the small details that make people trust a transit line. Starting in downtown Tampa, we take the 100 bus to St. Pete and talk about how regional connections, routing, and frequency shape whether public tran...

Spirit Airlines didn’t just sell cheap tickets, it reshaped how Americans think about flying. Now it’s shut down, and we’re asking the uncomfortable question: if the biggest ultra-low-cost carrier disappears, do all of us end up paying more even if we never flew Spirit once? We unpack what Spirit’s May 2, 2026, closure signals for airfare prices, route competition, and the future of budget travel...

Atlanta just took a real swing at better bus service and it’s bigger than a single new route. We’re breaking down MARTA’s newly opened A-Line bus rapid transit and the agency’s full bus network redesign, a rare top-to-bottom reset aimed at making transit simpler, more frequent, and easier to use for everyday life. We start with the uncomfortable backdrop: Atlanta’s growth hasn’t translated into a...

Caltrain finally delivers the kind of service the Bay Area has asked for: faster trips, better frequency, and a smoother ride after electrification. Then we hit the uncomfortable question: why is a transit fiscal cliff still approaching even with ridership coming back? We’re joined by Jonathan Cole from Climate Action California to unpack the numbers behind the looming operating deficit facing Cal...

$150 to take the train to a World Cup match is the kind of headline that makes you do a double take. We dig into the growing fight over World Cup 2026 public transit pricing and why some US host regions seem ready to treat trains and buses like a luxury upsell instead of the simplest way to move tens of thousands of people safely and fast.  We start in Boston, where Gillette Stadium already has MB...

Colorado’s Front Range is one of the most obvious “should have a train” corridors in the United States, yet the Denver to Boulder to Fort Collins connection has stalled for decades. We dig into what’s changing and why a new Front Range passenger rail push is suddenly picking up real momentum, including the practical realities that have blocked progress before: freight railroad ownership, dispatchi...

A historic train station sits near the heart of Salt Lake City, but many riders still get dropped on the edge of downtown and told to transfer and walk through empty industrial blocks. That disconnect is at the center of our conversation with civil engineer Christian Linhart, one of the voices behind the Rio Grande Plan, a citizen-led proposal to rework how trains move through downtown and how the...

Caltrain’s Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project is the kind of US transit upgrade we desperately need more of: a 51-mile modernization between San Francisco and San Jose that turns a solid but peak-focused commuter rail line into something closer to all-day regional rail. We walk through what changed, what it cost, and why the results matter for anyone who cares about public transportation,...

License plates for e-bikes sound...ridiculous.  Imagine: DMV trips, new fees, insurance quotes, and a bigger wall between people and the cheapest form of electric transportation in the US. With gas prices climbing and more riders looking for alternatives to driving, we dig into why some states are moving in the opposite direction and what that could mean for e-bike adoption, affordability, and cli...

“Passenger rail is dead” gets thrown around like it’s a fact, but the ridership numbers keep refusing to cooperate. We zoom out to Amtrak’s systemwide performance first, including record highs of 32.8 million rides in FY24 and 34.5 million trips in FY25, then we go route-by-route to see what happens when new service meets real demand. We break down five recent Amtrak projects and compare early rid...

Pittsburgh doesn’t usually come to mind as a “big transit city,” but once you look closely, it has some of the most practical and inventive transit infrastructure in the U.S. We dig into how Pittsburgh’s hills, rivers, and industrial rail legacy shaped a network that still punches above its weight, and why a brand new Bus Rapid Transit line to Oakland and the universities could be a major quality-...

A strange transit showdown is brewing in Berlin: build a practical tram that stitches together everyday trips, or elevate a sleek maglev that sprints between a handful of stations. Louis spent the day on the ground from Spandau to the former Tegel Airport, walking the corridors, riding the buses, and mapping where people actually live, work, and wait. What he found is a city on the cusp of major g...

What happens when you hand teams a stack of clues, the Transit App, a free bus pass, and then issue one non-negotiable rule—no rideshare? Urban Quest turns Austin into a living classroom where kids and adults learn to navigate Cap Metro, discover hidden gems, and build confidence through exploration. We tag along with two teams racing between the Texas Capitol, the UT campus, and Amy’s Ice Cream,...

We break down Miami’s fast-evolving transit network and spotlight the new Northeast Corridor commuter rail that links Miami Central to Aventura. From BRT with crossing arms to Tri-Rail’s downtown link and funding twists, we weigh benefits, risks, and what success looks like. • Metrorail’s elevated spine and airport spur • Metromover’s fare-free downtown coverage • Tri-Rail’s 72-mile reach and down...

Starting at Notre Dame and ending at the Eiffel Tower sounds like a classic Paris day. In between, we set a challenge: cross the city using only public transit and discover what makes a system feel truly effortless. The result is a rapid tour through metros, trams, the RER, buses, bike share, and even the Montmartre funicular—from Châtelet’s maze to La Défense and Saint-Lazare—highlighting lessons...

We weigh the $150 million St. Louis MetroLink extension to MidAmerica Airport against projected ridership and explain how Illinois state funding, decades of pre-planning, and significant optimism have made this project a reality.  • cost, scope and context of the MidAmerica Airport extension • ridership at Lambert versus MidAmerica and what it implies • lack of anchors near the new terminus and fi...

We travel to the edge of Paris to ride a new five-station urban gondola that extends Metro Line 8, showing how aerial transit can beat ground constraints, cut commute times, and invite better station design. Along the way, we talk with David Rambert, Project Manager for Architecture and BIM Manager at Atelier Schall, the agency responsible for the C1 station designs. He gives us more insight about...

What does a city feel like after it cuts car traffic in half and gives the streets back to people? We take you onto Paris’ bike lanes, into its buses and metros, and through the policies that turned a car-choked capital into a place where movement feels easy, human, and fast. We break down how temporary “COVID paths” grew into a citywide Plan Vélo, backed by a major budget and an audacious goal: m...

Choosing your World Cup city could be the difference between a breezy, car-free celebration and a stressful shuttle hunt. We break down all 16 host cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico with one goal in mind: how easily can a traveler get from the airport to the stadium and still enjoy the city’s best neighborhoods, food, and culture without relying on a car. Our criteria are simple...