Trains, Buses, People

The popular Trains, Buses, People has been updated to include Canada and new US cities, with an added analysis of the
impact of poverty on transit systems.

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In some US and Canadian cities, transit has quietly been expanding and improving over the last few years, despite
funding and ridership challenges. How do we assess the advances and failures of our current systems to move forward
strategically and wisely?
The first edition of Trains, Buses, People was dubbed “a transit wonk’s bible” and guided “a smarter conversation about
urban transit” in the US. This second edition is fully updated and expanded to include eight Canadian cities and two new
US cities (Indianapolis and San Juan, Puerto Rico).

In Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition: An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit, transit expert and “transportation
hero” Christof Spieler provides a new section on inclusivity to help agencies understand how to welcome riders regardless of race, gender, income, or disability. Select cities include new maps overlaying transit and poverty data, and
systems that have started construction since the first edition in 2018 have been added. Other new sections address
network typologies, guideway types, station types, and fares.
Spieler has spent over a decade advocating for transit as a writer, community leader, urban planner, transit board
member, and enthusiast. He strongly believes that just about anyone—regardless of training or experience—can identify
what makes good transit with the right information. In the fun, accessible, and visually appealing Trains, Buses, People,
Second Edition: An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit, Spieler shows how cities can build successful transit. He
profiles the 49 metropolitan areas in the US and eight metropolitan areas in Canada that have rail transit or BRT, using
data, photos, and maps for easy comparison. Spieler ranks the best and worst systems and he offers analysis of how
geography, politics, and history complicate transit planning. He shows how the unique circumstances of every city have
resulted in very different transit systems.
Trains, Buses, People, Second Edition is intended for non-experts—it will help any citizen, professional, or policymaker with
a vested interest evaluate a transit proposal and understand what makes transit effective. It shows that it is possible, with
the right tools, to build good transit.