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Transit Tangents
The Podcast where we discuss all things transit. Join us as we dive into transit systems across the US, bring you interviews with experts and advocates, and engage in some fun and exciting challenges along the way.
Episodes
138 episodes
Self-Driving Cars Cannot Replace Good Transit
People keep telling us self-driving cars are going to make public transit irrelevant. So we pressure-test that claim using the stuff that actually decides whether a city works: speed between cities, traffic and reliability, passenger capacity, ...
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New York Is More Than Just NYC: The Empire Corridor Plan
New York dominates rail conversations in the country, yet the most realistic statewide upgrade might be hiding in plain sight. We’re talking about the Empire Corridor and a plan that could make intercity passenger rail in upstate New York faste...
The Southern Rail Commission is Fighting for More Passenger Service in the South
Passenger rail in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama doesn’t get the spotlight often, but the story behind Amtrak’s new Mardi Gras service proves how much demand has been waiting on the sidelines. We sit down with Knox Ross, chairman of the So...
Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service - A chat with NYC's DOT Commissioner, Mike Flynn
New York City has the most famous subway in the United States, yet the bus is the workhorse that moves millions of people every single day. That’s why we sat down with Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn to unpack NYC’s newly announced Bus A...
Brightline: Is it a Success?
Brightline has been held up as proof that private passenger rail can work in the United States and right now it’s also a warning sign. We went to Florida to ride the Miami to Orlando train for ourselves, then pulled the thread on the business m...
A Miami Built For People: Transit Alliance Miami
Miami traffic isn’t just annoying; it’s expensive, unsafe, and deeply political. We’re joined by Cathy Dos Santos from Transit Alliance Miami, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocating for a Miami built for people, not cars. We talk about what it really...
Transit Tour - Miami
Miami’s transit network can feel like a highlight reel one minute and a facepalm the next. We start downtown at Government Center, hop the MetroMover, and then ride Metrorail south on the Green Line, where the elevated guideway, solid headways,...
Is Austin's Project Connect Off the Rails?
Austin’s Project Connect is getting dragged in the headlines as “off the rails” and “one of the most expensive light rail projects in the country,” so we slow down and fact-check the story with the full timeline. We walk through what Austin vot...
Orlando’s Star Plan: A Discussion with Sunrise Movement Orlando
Orlando isn’t short on pavement, but it is short on fast, reliable public transportation and the cost shows up everywhere: rent, commute times, missed opportunities, and that feeling that the city is always one traffic jam away from chaos. From...
California Bullet Buses
A 140 mph bus on California freeways sounds like a joke you would see in your news feed, until you realize Caltrans is seriously studying it. We dig into the “bullet bus” concept and what it would actually require to run intercity service at "a...
Transit Tour - Orlando
What happens when you try to live in the real Orlando without a car? We spend a full day riding Lynx buses from the airport to downtown, up to Winter Park, back through the Florida Mall Superstop, and finally to Disney Springs, testing what pub...
The St. Pete SunRunner
A beach trip shouldn’t require a car, so we put St. Petersburg’s Sunrunner Bus Rapid Transit to the test the only way that counts: we rode it, timed it, transferred on it, and paid attention to the small details that make people trust a transit...
RIP, Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines didn’t just sell cheap tickets, it reshaped how Americans think about flying. Now it’s shut down, and we’re asking the uncomfortable question: if the biggest ultra-low-cost carrier disappears, do all of us end up paying more eve...
Atlanta Introduces the A-Line
Atlanta just took a real swing at better bus service and it’s bigger than a single new route. We’re breaking down MARTA’s newly opened A-Line bus rapid transit and the agency’s full bus network redesign, a rare top-to-bottom reset aimed at maki...
California Transit's Fiscal Cliff
Caltrain finally delivers the kind of service the Bay Area has asked for: faster trips, better frequency, and a smoother ride after electrification. Then we hit the uncomfortable question: why is a transit fiscal cliff still approaching even wi...
World Cup Transit Price Gouging
$150 to take the train to a World Cup match is the kind of headline that makes you do a double take. We dig into the growing fight over World Cup 2026 public transit pricing and why some US host regions seem ready to treat trains and buses like...
Colorado Front Range Regional Rail
Colorado’s Front Range is one of the most obvious “should have a train” corridors in the United States, yet the Denver to Boulder to Fort Collins connection has stalled for decades. We dig into what’s changing and why a new Front Range passenge...
The Rio Grande Plan: Salt Lake City
A historic train station sits near the heart of Salt Lake City, but many riders still get dropped on the edge of downtown and told to transfer and walk through empty industrial blocks. That disconnect is at the center of our conversation with c...
CalTrain Electrification - How's It Doing?
Caltrain’s Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project is the kind of US transit upgrade we desperately need more of: a 51-mile modernization between San Francisco and San Jose that turns a solid but peak-focused commuter rail line into somethin...
The E-Bike Crackdown
License plates for e-bikes sound...ridiculous. Imagine: DMV trips, new fees, insurance quotes, and a bigger wall between people and the cheapest form of electric transportation in the US. With gas prices climbing and more riders looking f...
Amtrak Ridership Is Rising
“Passenger rail is dead” gets thrown around like it’s a fact, but the ridership numbers keep refusing to cooperate. We zoom out to Amtrak’s systemwide performance first, including record highs of 32.8 million rides in FY24 and 34.5 million trip...
Pittsburgh: A Transit City?
Pittsburgh doesn’t usually come to mind as a “big transit city,” but once you look closely, it has some of the most practical and inventive transit infrastructure in the U.S. We dig into how Pittsburgh’s hills, rivers, and industrial rail legac...
Berlin: Tram Or Maglev? A Real Debate
A strange transit showdown is brewing in Berlin: build a practical tram that stitches together everyday trips, or elevate a sleek maglev that sprints between a handful of stations. Louis spent the day on the ground from Spandau to the former Te...
Urban Quest - A Transit-Powered Scavenger Hunt
What happens when you hand teams a stack of clues, the Transit App, a free bus pass, and then issue one non-negotiable rule—no rideshare? Urban Quest turns Austin into a living classroom where kids and adults learn to navigate Cap Metro, discov...
Is Florida Building Real Transit?
We break down Miami’s fast-evolving transit network and spotlight the new Northeast Corridor commuter rail that links Miami Central to Aventura. From BRT with crossing arms to Tri-Rail’s downtown link and funding twists, we weigh benefits, risk...