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Creating Beauty with Transit

For me, fare cards represent more than just a way to pay for transit. My MetroCard for riding the NICE bus growing up in New York, then CharlieCard when I rode the MBTA during college stayed among the boring, everyday items needed every time I walked out the door, like my keys, ID, and wallet.

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Three Days on the C&O Canal Towpath

June 10, 2025 by Laura Duke, Ehab Ebeid, Charlie Echard, and Cinnamon Swenson

The Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Towpath is a 184.5-mile dirt and gravel trail that runs along the C&O Canal between Cumberland, Maryland, and Washington, DC. It was originally built for mules to walk on while they towed boats moving cargo ...

Visiting Family in the Hills of Rural Central Mexico

April 28, 2025 by Brian Siegel

I recently took a ten-day trip to central Mexico, where my wife’s parents live in a peaceful rural community nestled in the hills near Moroleón, a city in the southern part of the state of Guanajuato. The views were stunning: ...

12 Trains, 13 Hours

March 31, 2025 by Laura Duke

I recently took a trip to Europe where I traveled on 12 trains between seven cities, so I decided to invoke a favorite US planner pastime and compare US transit to that of international countries and see how we can ...

500 Points and Counting: My Bike Angels Experience

February 27, 2025 by Reinaldo Germano

I’ve been a regular bikeshare user for years—even before moving to Washington, DC. During my first week here, I signed up for a Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) annual membership. I loved knowing that with every ride, I was “saving” money by ...

A Midnight (3:00 a.m., Actually) Train to Georgia (Ohio, Actually)

January 22, 2025 by Jarred Toups

When our leadership asked if I was interested in going to last year’s American Public Transit Association’s (APTA) Rail Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, I couldn’t say “yes!” fast enough. I’ve long desired to expand Foursquare ITP’s position in the rail ...

A Picture Can Be Worth MORE Than a Thousand Words!
Using Visualizations to Translate Complex Transit Projects

November 18, 2024 by James Gibbons

The “Aha!” Moment Like most infrastructure, transit projects get complicated. LRT or BRT? Fixed route or microtransit? Above or below grade? Nearside or farside? If these words confuse you, you’re not alone—they trip up transit planners too! As projects become ...

Not All Who Wander Are Lost: Exploring the Mid-Atlantic on Two-Wheels

October 4, 2024 by David Miller

Sometimes the path you’re on feels like it will never end. Your seat feels like a column of marble. Your legs feel like they’re gelatinous. Your skin, your legs, and your lungs, all burn for different reasons. If you’ve ever ...

Metro Myths Busted: What No One Tells You About Your First Time Riding Public Transit

September 19, 2024 by Brenden Thompson

Facing My Fears I’ll admit it—I had my doubts about public transit. In my head, it was confusing, dirty, unreliable, and filled with questionable people. These ideas kept me alone in my car, maneuvering through traffic during rush hour, determined ...

Our Love of a GTFS Feed

September 10, 2024 by Vickram Peter and Yuewen Dai

When trying to find your way around a city and its transit system, most people will refer to a one-dimensional map, which, yes, charts out the station locations, basic geography, and bus routes or transit lines. You’re able to see ...

Creating Beauty with Transit

May 15, 2024 by Drefnie Limprivel

For me, fare cards represent more than just a way to pay for transit. My MetroCard for riding the NICE bus growing up in New York, then CharlieCard when I rode the MBTA during college stayed among the boring, everyday items needed every time I walked out the door, like my keys, ID, and wallet.

Active Transportation Gets People Moving

April 18, 2024 by Andrew Zalewski, AICP

All of us are active transportation users at some point along our journeys. That means we use either walking, biking, a wheelchair, or any other self-powered mode to move from place to place. What I love about active transportation planning is that these projects truly serve everyone in the community.

When Bicycling Gets Women in Gear

March 20, 2024 by Sophia Nelson

This women’s history month, the importance of bicycle infrastructure is cycling through my head. Why? Well, as Susan B. Anthony famously stated, bicycling “has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.”

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