High Frequency

Dec 15 2023 20 ep. 13 mins 172
High Frequency Podcast artwork

In American cities, good transit is scarce — but it shouldn't be. We can dramatically expand access to fast, frequent, reliable transit, making cities greener, safer, and more just. In each episode of High Frequency, an interview series hosted by TransitCenter’s Kapish Singla, you’ll hear from the advocates, experts, and public officials working to improve American transit.

  Society & Culture
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Finale: Crisis and Opportunity: Transforming How We Fund Transit with Yonah Freemark

Dec 15 2023 17 mins  
In this episode of "High Frequency," host Kapish Singla explores the state of transit funding with Yonah Freemark, senior research associate at the Urban Institute. Based on insights from the recent Urban Institute report, “Surmounting the Fiscal Cliff,” the interview delves into the reasons behind transit’s current fiscal cliff, and the policy choices that have perpetually p

S3 Ep 4: Brian O’Malley - Winning New State Funds for Baltimore Transit

Mar 08 2023 15 mins  
Central Maryland Transportation Alliance is an advocacy group working to improve and expand transportation options in the Baltimore region. Using data and storytelling, CMTA has forefronted how unreliability and breakdown issues on buses and trains have negatively impacted workers and students throughout the region. In this episode, I interview Brian O’Malley, President & CEO a

S3 Ep 3: Scarlett De Leon - Care-Based Safety on Transit in Los Angeles

Nov 11 2022 15 mins  
ACT-LA is an advocacy organization that strives to create equitable transit systems and neighborhoods in Los Angeles. In recent years, ACT-LA has campaigned on securing safety alternatives to armed policing on LA Metro’s buses and trains, and helped to win an unarmed transit ambassador program that launched in October 2022. In this episode, I interview Scarlett De Leon, Campaig

S3 Ep 2: Courtney Jackson - Rider-Centric Community Engagement in New Orleans

Aug 15 2022 17 mins  
Ride New Orleans is an advocacy organization with a mission to win equitable public transportation for all residents across the New Orleans region. For over a decade, Ride New Orleans has advocated for better bus service, particularly service that would improve access to jobs. Years of advocacy by Ride will pay off in September 2022 when the New Orleans RTA launches a bus network r

S3 Ep 1: Laura Chu Wiens - Campaigning for Community-Led Solutions in Pittsburgh

Jun 07 2022 11 mins  
In February 2022, Pittsburgh’s Mon-Oakland Connector Project—an autonomous shuttle proposal that would have spent $23 million of taxpayer dollars—finally died. Cause of death? Years of organizing by the advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit that called attention to the fact that the project did little to serve the actual mobility needs of Pittsburgh residents. PPT

S2 Ep 7: Laurel Paget-Seekins - The Inside/Outside Approach to Win More Equitable Transit

Nov 12 2021 12 mins  
How do policies that make transit more equitable get implemented? That’s a question that Laurel Paget-Seekins, Leadership in Government Fellow at Open Society Foundations, is looking into. Laurel draws from her experiences as a transit advocate in Atlanta and former Assistant General Manager of Policy at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. In this episode, Laurel re

S2 Ep 6: Mary Buchanan & Ron Thompson - Measuring Transit Equity in 6 Cities

Aug 12 2021 19 mins  
In June, TransitCenter released the Transit Equity Dashboard. The dashboard uses maps and graphs to show how transit access varies by race, class, and other demographic factors in 6 major urban regions. TransitCenter Senior Research Associate Mary Buchanan led the development of the dashboard. In this episode, Mary explains the importance of access to opportunity metrics, and how

S2 Ep 5: Chris O’Claire - Planning With an Equity Lens at King County Metro

Jun 08 2021 14 mins  
King County Metro, the largest transit agency in the Seattle region, is guided by the principle that “mobility is a human right.” For Metro, that means reducing barriers to frequent, reliable transit that connects people to jobs and other opportunities. Chris O’Claire is Mobility Division Director at King County Metro. In this episode, Chris details how the agency applies an

S2 Ep 4: Jessica Meaney & Scott Frazier - Restoring Bus Service in Los Angeles

Apr 12 2021 16 mins  
At the onset of the pandemic, LA Metro made deep cuts to its bus service despite retaining the highest proportion of bus riders among large transit agencies in 2020. Over the past year, a coalition of transit advocates put pressure on LA Metro to reverse the cuts. The advocacy culminated in a commitment from the agency in January 2021 to restore service to pre-pandemic levels later

S2 Ep 3: Az Chougle - Redesigning Miami’s Bus Network

Mar 05 2021 15 mins  
Cities across the US, including Miami, have been redesigning their bus networks to better serve today’s riders. Many decades-old networks have simply not kept pace with changing residential and employment patterns. Az Chougle is the Executive Director of Transit Alliance Miami, a non-profit organization that advocates for walkable streets, bikeable neighborhoods, and better pub