LIVING TEXTBOOK
TRANSPORTATION
Transportation Planning 101
Slideshow: Shared Mobility Principles
How do people get around the city? Why is it important to plan for the long-term? What principles and strategies are implemented in transportation planning? This slideshow designed for transposition planners gives a high level overview of mobility principles for livable cities. Credit: Shared Mobility Principles at www.sharedmobilityprinciples.org.
What is a Barcelona "Superblock"?
Cars on the backburner: this article outlines the transportation problems in Barcelona and how reimagining its streets transformed the city. A superblock is a way to organize a city by prioritizing large spaces for pedestrians while still allowing car and bus traffic to flow around it. It has many benefits, such as quieter, greener spaces for pedestrians, air quality improvements, and more people using healthier methods of transportation such as biking and walking.
VIDEO: Moving People, Not Vehicles
A group from Boston took a learning tour to Mexico City to get a firsthand look at its world-class transportation network. A new video offers highlights from the trip and inspiration for Boston and other modern cities looking for better ways to get more people where they want to go more quickly, efficiently, and safely.
LIST: What Makes a Safe Street?
Landscape architects and designers can apply universal design principles to create more inclusive spaces for underserved communities. This resource provides a list of design principles that support equity in neighborhood design.
Urban Street Design Guide
Click through the table of contents! Streets comprise more than 80% of public space in cities, but they often fail to provide their surrounding communities with a space where people can safely walk, bicycle, drive, take transit, and socialize. Cities are leading the movement to redesign and reinvest in our streets as cherished public spaces for people, as well as critical arteries for traffic. The Urban Street Design Guide charts the principles and practices of the nation’s foremost engineers, planners, and designers working in cities today.
Public Transit Overview
Perteet's East-West Corridor Plan
Perteet designed better transit connectivity with the link light rail in Seattle! How did they do it? Read this short article to find out.
Livability, Sustainability, and Smart Cities
Read these 3 paragraphs to understand what smart cities are and how public transit is integral to their development.
A transit station or stop can serve much more than a transportation function; it can be a setting for community interaction, a place that fosters a diversity of activities. What is placemaking and how can it encourage public transit ridership?
Transit Oriented Development
What Is Transit Oriented Development
Read this article for a brief overview of what Transit-Oriented Development means and who it impacts. It provides a high-level overview of how TOD integrates multiple systems.
2 Pager: King County TOD Plans and Successes
Explore recent TOD projects in King County in a quick 2-pager.
Kign County Metro Takes Many Small Steps
Digging deeper, we find that buses are only the beginning. Read this article about King County Metro’s sustainability goals and achievements! How can transit-oriented communities support climate goals in a more sustainable way than car-oriented communities?
Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation Plan
Click through this website to explore the Puget Sound Regional Council’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). It is the long-range transportation plan for the central Puget Sound region. The RTP is adopted every four years, and is designed to implement the region’s growth plan, VISION 2050. It was last adopted in May, 2026.
The First/Last Mile
FACT SHEETS: First/Last Mile Solutions Connecting Neighborhoods to Transit These 2 page toolsets outline strategies to help people get around in ways that are most accessible to them. How can a city’s infrastructure, services, and programs support transit connections? The first and last miles of a journey are often the most difficult and produce tons of carbon emissions. By creating more sustainable connections to transit centers, people will rely on cars less and less to reach their destination.
Redmond RedLink - Free and On-Demand First/Last Mile Solution
What if there are no buses or bike paths to the nearest transit center? Redmond has a free solution to help residents with the first and last mile of their commutes!
Toole Design's Community Engagement Strategies
Toole Design Collaborated with people with disabilities to design circulating shuttles that fit their needs. Check out this story that serves as an example of how to design more equitable transportation solutions.
Microsoft Conenctor's Bus Sheet
Microsoft provides connector buses, transit passes, and EV charging stations to help employees get to work and back. While AI is, by nature, unsustainable in its carbon footprint and water usage, Microsoft is attempting to use it to better predict employee commutes and optimize transportation solutions to reduce carbon emissions.
10-Minute Neighborhoods
INTERACTIVE MAP: Walkable Neighborhoods in King County
This is a Seattle Times article and interactive map of King County. Click around to see where the most and least walkable areas are!
LIST: 10-Minute Neighborhood Destinations
What destinations are important for a 10-minute neighborhood? So, your city is finally walkable. But what are you walking to? Check out this short list of destinations that a 10-Minute neighborhood aims to support!
ENGAGING ARTICLE: Achieve a Pedestrian Transformation in YOUR City
To make walking and cycling attractive options, cities must focus on safety, convenience, culture and comfort for people on bike and foot. This is relatively straightforward in engineering terms, but can be politically challenging due to entrenched car-oriented planning and opposition from groups that expect to be negatively impacted. This article introduces the walking and cycling infrastructure that cities need; the policies, programmes and public messaging that encourage people to use them; and lessons from leading cities on how to drive transformative change.
What is Kirkland's 10-Minute Neighborhood Strategy?
Click the headings to see how Kirkland is trying to create more 10-minute neighborhoods. This strategy is broad enough to be applied elsewhere!
Too Far to Walk? Ride Light Rail!!
What is Light Rail?
Light-rail transit (LRT) is rapid transit that operates electric-powered single cars or short trains on fixed rails. Light refers to lighter passenger capacity, not the physical weight of the vehicles. Today’s LRT originates from traditional streetcar systems but is redesigned to run faster and carry more passengers over greater distances in a metropolitan area.
Why Light Rail?
Light rail transit (LRT) has been a hot topic in urban planning circles, but it's often misunderstood. With systems like Keolis’ ION in Waterloo, Ontario leading the charge, light rail is proving to be a game-changer for cities of all sizes. Let’s take a closer look at some benefits of light rail and see how it’s transforming cities across the globe.
Sound Transit Development Plan
Read page 12 of Sound Transit’s Regional Plan to see how the link light rail is being developed in the greater Seattle area.
Sound Transit's Environment and Sustainability Data
Scroll down to see how many tons of greenhouse gas emissions Sound Transit avoids.
More Buses Everywhere!
King County Metro's Timeline to All Electric
Check out King County Metro’s chronological timeline from the first public transit agency to support a hybrid fleet of buses to their future goal of reaching zero emissions before 2050.
American Buses are the Future, and the Future is Now
Battery-powered electric buses can reduce the environmental and health threats posed by diesel buses, while also providing a reliable and cost-effective option for cities and school districts. Advances in electric bus technology and a rapid decline in battery costs over recent years have made electric buses an increasingly viable option for many transit agencies and school districts. Read this short article to learn more!
The US is Quickly Adopting Electric School Buses
Electric school bus deployments have risen more than tenfold in the last five years. This article is keeping track with recent graphs of school bus sustainability and demographic data!
RapidRide
What is RapidRide and how is it different from other bus lines? RapidRide bus service is Metro’s highest level of investment in convenience, innovation and reliability. To ride, just tap and go on any of its 8 existing routes, soon to be 12!
The Extreme Impacts of Biking
Five Great Reasons to "Drive Less, Bike More"
There are so, so many reasons to park your car and jump on your bike for your next trip, and we’ve put together a list of five reasons to “Drive Less, Bike More.” Check it out here!
LIST: How Riding a Bike Helps the Environment
Riding a bike is not only a great way to improve your physical and mental health, but also the health of the planet! Here are some of the ways you'll be helping the environment just by replacing a few car trips with bike rides.
What if You Could Benefit Both Yourself AND the Planet?
Much research on the health benefits of bicycling focuses on “active commuting” which entails walking or cycling to work or other places that usually involve driving. These studies find that cycling reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and early deaths, and may prevent weight gain or obesity.
Bike Infrastructure Makes Biking Easier
Bike Racks & Parking
What do bike and scooter storage areas look like on the streets of Seattle? The answer may surprise you. See this short article with plenty of pictures to find out!
Bicycle Parking Types
Interested in bicycle parking design? This concise list is for you! Click on the images of each design feature to make it larger.
Perteet's 1st Street Bikeway Study
See this short case study by Perteet to see how a small change in the design of a bike lane can make a huge difference in the community!
Toronto Green Gutters and Bioswales
Double duty! Alta Planning + Design designed green gutters and bioswales to protect bike riders from cars on the road while also creating a stormwater solution.
Bellevue Vision Zero | SAFE - Streets Are For Everyone
Bellevue's Vision Zero initiative aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious-injury collisions on city streets by 2030. Wide streets encourage cars to go fast and make it dangerous for everyone – regardless whether they’re walking, biking, rolling, or driving – to get where they’re going. See these two resources to understand the issue in Bellevue and how they are trying to solve it.
Urban Bike Design Precedents
Bicycle Dutch
Inspiring videos from Bicycle Dutch about urban bike design solutions! In the Netherlands, biking is an essential part of culture and daily life. See these case studies and find your own:
PDF: Alta Planning + Design Bicycle Share Planning Studies
Hundreds of cities around the world are choosing bike share as a way to help them make their cities more livable. Bike share has transformed. Making decisions about how bike share will look in each city is critical to its success. What are the elements of a great bike share program?
Kirkland has communal resources for bike infrastructure maintenance and safety!
Traffic Reduction: Cars Are Cool!
Street Space for 60 People
Hundreds of cities around the world are choosing bike share as a way to help them make their cities more livable. Bike share has transformed. Making decisions about how bike share will look in each city is critical to its success. What are the elements of a great bike share program?
Op-Ed: Students Advocate for Carpooling Incentives at High School Parking Lots
A familiar story showing how YOU can successfully advocate for carpool incentives! Sustainability Ambassadors lead the charge at their school to make an important change.
Commute Trip Reduction
Scroll down to “Program Strategies” and click “subsidies,” “incentives,” and “smarter parking” to see how King County is handling carpool incentives.
Why Congestion Prices?
See page 10 for US examples (20 pages, skim interesting headings!) Plus, more in-depth Case Studies:
-
Stockholm congestion pricing (Scroll to “Results” section for helpful graphs!)
-
Effects on Social Equity (Skip to “Conclusions” on pg. 16 and look at graphs, too)
-
SDOT Congestion Pricing Summary (Long article, cool graphics!)
INTERVIEW: Why Should People Pay to Park?
City Journal contributing editor Aaron Renn and UCLA "parking guru" Professor Donald Shoup discuss how cities can make better use of dynamic, demand-sensitive pricing in order to ensure fair accessibility to parking.
What is an Autonomous AV?
PDF: How Autonomous Cars Will Change the Way We View Transportation
City Journal contributing editor Aaron Renn and UCLA "parking guru" Professor Donald Shoup discuss how cities can make better use of dynamic, demand-sensitive pricing in order to ensure fair accessibility to parking.
PDF: A Self- Driving Future
Cars that drive themselves seemed like science fiction just a few years ago, but recent demonstration projects have shown that the technology is already here. Boosters say that mass-market autonomous cars are only 3 to 5 years away; others estimate at least 10 years. Read this short article and comment section to understand the early excitement about autonomous vehicles.
PDF: The Last Auto Mechanic
America’s transportation economy and landscape is about to be utterly transformed into a world beyond driving. Or drivers. Or even car mechanics. Enjoy the ride.
PDF: What Happens When Self-Driving Happens
This opinion article shares a practical vision of what the world will look like with self-driving vehicles. What are its limits? How far will it go?
Self-Driving Taxis Are Catching On. Are You Ready?
Jump into this New York Times article to see what it’s like inside an autonomous EV in San Francisco!
TIMELINE: The Road to Automation
What needs to happen before full automation and self-driving vehicles? Click through this website to learn more about how cars might be evolving.
Self-Driving Cars Can’t See Without Their Eyes
What’s happening behind the scenes of self-driving cars? What are the ethical and humanitarian implications of autonomous EVs?
Are Autonomous EVs Safe?
When Self-Driving Cars Don’t Actually Drive Themselves
Maybe self-driving cars aren’t really “self-driving…” and that’s a good thing. This New York Times article shows what behind-the-scenes implications there are.
The Robot Cars Have Come for the Kids
This short article explains how autonomous vehicles now pick kids up for school. Some people find it to be a service that expands equity and is a safe option to get kids home from school, others are more skeptical.
Don’t Fear Self-Driving Cars. The Data Shows They Save Lives
Early reports show that Waymo vehicles are safer than human driven vehicles. However, full adoption might be tricky!
Waymo Was Thriving in San Francisco. Then One of Its Driverless Cars Killed a Cat.
This article describes how Waymo hit a cat in San Francisco alongside the limitations of autonomous vehicles and community responses to their mistakes.
A matched case-control analysis of autonomous vs human-driven vehicle accidents
Read the abstract of this scholarly article about autonomous vs human-driven vehicle accidents!
US Debating Cautious Roll-Out of Waymo
How is legislation being handled for Waymo at the DC Council? What are the ethical considerations to a full adoption of autonomous EVs?
Electric Vehicle Adoption and Charging
Challenges of EV adoption
Harvard research shows chargers 78% reliable and pricing are like the ‘Wild West.’ Why is that? Check out EV driver perspectives in this longer article.
Are EVs Better for the Environment than Gas Cars?
Short answer: Yes: although electric cars' batteries make them more carbon-intensive to manufacture than gas cars, they more than make up for it by driving much cleaner under nearly any conditions.
Impacts of EVs Beyond the Environment
How sustainable is electric vehicle adoption? Read these insights from a PRISMA review, specifically the “Abstract” & “Analysis and Results” headings.
King County and EV charging
The easiest way to charge an EV is overnight at home. But for owners without a garage or driveway, workplace and public charging is critical. How does King County handle public EV charging?
King County and Vehicle Climate Goals
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in King County, accounting for nearly half of all local emissions. In response, the County is transitioning its fleets to zero-emission vehicles powered by electricity, while also adopting cleaner fuels and more efficient operating practices.
Designing Streets for the Community
PDF: "Road Diets"
Road Diets are all about removing vehicle lanes from a roadway and reallocating the extra space for other uses or travelling modes, such as parking, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, transit use, turn lanes, medians or pedestrian refuge islands. Check out 25 Great Case Studies!
Daylighting: Increasing Visibility and Safety at Intersections
This short article outlines how intentional and informed design choices can help make the streets safer for everyone at intersections.
How a Humble Bus Stop can Anchor a Whole Neighborhood
How a bus stop looks can change how many people ride! How can bus stops be improved to build community by creating a safe and comfortable space to wait for the bus?
PARK(ing) Day!
PARK(ing) day is a worldwide event in which residents reimagine how parking spaces can be used! See this article with photos to understand how our street space can be transformed into community spaces.
Accessibility Audits Are Essential
Accessibility audits are more than checking ADA compliance boxes. They reveal whether infrastructure is actually usable for real people. Can someone cross a street in the time allowed by the signal? Can a wheelchair user reach a bus stop? Are curb ramps placed where people actually need them? The community steps up to figure out what works and what doesn’t in terms of their accessible transportation infrastructure.
What is Placemaking?
What makes a community feel like home to you? Placemaking can help enhance community vibrancy while respecting historical spaces and adapting them for current use.
Big Tech Accessibility Solutions
Fehr & Peers: Data Driven Transportation Design
How do we use the data we already have? Which sources can we trust? How do we explain what it all means? These aren’t just technical questions. They’re questions of leadership and decision making. See this case study by Fehr & Peers that addresses these questions.
FACT SHEET: Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps by State and Local Governments
This fact sheet outlines the importance of accessibility of web content and mobile apps for public groups! This relates directly to equity outcomes for disabled folks using public transportation.
GSI MAP: Station Access Map
Interactive GIS maps increase accessibility to transit, like this cool interactive map from Redmond! Click and scroll to try and figure out what the colors and symbols mean.
Smart Scooter Company Gogoro Launches an End-to-End Vehicle-Sharing Platform
Micromobility requires big tech, too! Electric scooters in Taiwan and their modular battery-swapping concept serve as a precedent for reducing waste while promoting first and last mile solutions.
AI-Use Cases in Transportation
AI in the Transportation Industry
This high-level overview of AI in transportation provides a baseline of issues and successes of AI in the transportation industry.
Approaches to using AI in Transportation Planning
Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant future for public transportation. It’s here, shaping how agencies and operators plan, optimize, and deliver mobility every day. From predictive scheduling and safety monitoring to passenger information systems, AI and generative AI are redefining how the industry tackles efficiency, reliability, and the customer experience.
Mobility In 2026: The Year Cities Catch Up With AI And AVs
What’s going to happen this year in transportation AI? This short article outlines the importance of trust and collaboration when defining solutions.
3D Spatial AI & Proactive Road Safety
This technical article for engineering minds outlines how transportation AI works.
Case study: AI used for transportation research
AI is used in this case study to find weaknesses in transit networks before they disrupt daily riders.
Is AI in Transportation Sustainable?
Is AI Worth the Environmental Cost?
While AI can be used effectively in support of resource conservation and sustainability efforts, the use of this technology comes at a large environmental cost. The cost of using it may outweigh its benefits.
Explained: Generative AI’s Environmental Impact
In a two-part series, MIT News explores the environmental implications of generative AI. In this article, we look at why this technology is so resource-intensive. A second piece will investigate what experts are doing to reduce genAI’s carbon footprint and other impacts.
AI Has an Environmental Problem. Here’s What the World Can Do About That.
There is a negative side to the explosion of AI and its associated infrastructure, according to a growing body of research. The proliferating data centres that house AI servers produce electronic waste. They are large consumers of water, which is becoming scarce in many places. They rely on critical minerals and rare elements, which are often mined unsustainably. And they use massive amounts of electricity, spurring the emission of planet-warming greenhouse gases.
AI-Limiting Laws are Difficult to Implement
If you’re not subscribed to Forbes, read the first few paragraphs anyway about the dangers of allowing AI to write legislation without a professional fact-checker. Imagine if this were to affect transportation regulations!
Trump Admin Plans To Let AI Write Transportation Regulations - Above the Law
This short and lively article outlines how AI might be used to write transportation regulations, and why that’s probably a bad idea.