How Do We Keep Transit Front and Center in Our Communities?
If public transit doesn’t have a seat at the community development table, we need to bring our own chairs.
This week we have one of the more unique interviews we’ve ever had on Transit Unplugged. As you’re reading this, our guest Faye DiMassimo is wrapping up her tenure as CEO of the Chatham Area Transit Authority (CAT) and about to be the Chief of Planning and Economic Development for the City of Savannah.
What’s particularly important here is how the City of Savannah is taking a broad and holistic approach to improving the lives of everyone in the city. And with Faye at the helm of her new department, transit is going to be front and center.
Transit Oriented Development (TOD) isn’t a new concept, but recently it has surged as we battle the housing crisis in North America. We’ve heard from Marco D’Angelo, head of CUTA (Canadian Urban Transit Association) talk about how transit needs to be involved in planning discussions early. Frank White, III says time and again that transit needs to force itself into planning discussions and with his success at TOD, he has a track record to stand by. From rural America to our largest cities like Philadelphia, transit is often the difference between having a job, having food, or getting to the doctor.
When you look at places like Kansas City, where the street car is creating new economic development or Oklahoma City’s ambitious, but practical, plan to connect the suburbs to the city, what you see is transit having a seat at the planning table. You see transit as integral to the discussions, and not an afterthought.
And this is crucial. This is something we need to make noise about. Frank White, III might be more outspoken than others at demanding a seat at the table, but he’s not wrong.
Practically, we can’t all just decide to show up at planning meetings uninvited. We need to be smart about talking to the right people, showing examples from other cities where things have worked and places where they haven’t. But we also need to celebrate someone like Faye DiMassimo, who after a storied career in transit and transit planning, will now start tying transit to economic development, dealing with housing insecurity, economic development, and social issues in the city of Savannah.
????️Coming up next week on Transit Unplugged: Dave Reage
Paul was recently in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the CUTA conference and took the opportunity to record a future episode of Transit Unplugged TV and do a few interviews. Next week is the first of these interviews with repeat guest and Executive Director of Halifax Transit Dave Reage, about his city’s transit development plans from bus rapid transit (BRT) to electrification to ferries.
Halifax is a fast-growing city full of history and culture, that also has a vibrant transit system that gets people where they’re going by land and sea. Halifax (like Vancouver) has a ferry system that connects people across the harbor without needing more cars and bridges. Dave took Paul to check out the site of the new Mill Cove Ferry Terminal and then took him across to Dartmouth on the ferry to enjoy some local cuisine.
Dave also talks about Halifax Transit’s plans for both electric buses and ferries. Which, should be pretty amazing.
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????Great Transit Is About Great Connections????
If there is one thing TOD relies on to work, it’s good connections. Connections between transit agencies –both personally and scheduling–makes using transit across boundaries smoother and easier. In Broward County, Florida, their head of transit Coree Cuff Lonergan works closely with Tri Rail’s Dave Dech to make sure they coordinate their services so there are buses when trains arrive and buses get to the train station in time for people to make that rail connection.
Paul talks with Coree and Dave as they tour of the Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood about how they work together and see themselves as partners in South Florida’s public transportation network.
This kind of working relationship is what fosters–and is crucial to–success in public transit. When riders want to get from A to B they don’t really think about which transit network they are riding, they are only focused on the destination. In places like South Florida, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Greater Toronto Region, agencies work together on schedules and ticketing so all riders have to think about is how convenient it is to take transit.
Tune in to this month’s episode to see how Tri Rail connects with transit in Fort Lauderdale (Broward County), Miami-Dade, and Brightline to help form a single, seamless system.
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