[Themaintainers] Hello from an M3 Transportation Track Co-Chair

[Tabitha Decker]

Hi Maintainers,

I'm Tabitha Decker, one of the M3 transportation track planners
<http://bit.ly/2Wl9BDl>. I'm also the Deputy Executive Director at
TransitCenter <http://www.transitcenter.org> where we're focused on
improving the often insufficient, ill-maintained, and inequitable public
transit in US cities. We do direct advocacy, like our Bus Turnaround
Campaign <http://www.busturnaround.nyc> in NYC, fund and advise advocacy
groups around the country, and provide strategic and technical support to
reform-minded staff and leaders at transit agencies and departments of
transportation.

2019 has been a good year for one of my favorite urban innovations, the
bus. Mayors in a couple of major cities have made impressive commitments to
speed up bus trips and make them more reliable. In NYC, Mayor de Blasio
pledged to improve bus speeds by 25% by the end of 2020
<https://ny.curbed.com/2019/1/11/18178551/nyc-bus-mta-bill-de-blasio-state-of-the-city>
by
growing the dedicated bus lane network & ensuring bus lanes are enforced. In
Chicago, incoming mayor Lori Lightfoot has committed to creating 50 new
miles of bus lanes
<https://chi.streetsblog.org/2019/04/03/lightfoot-made-big-plans-for-transportation-lets-make-sure-she-follows-through/>
. How's your mayor on transit? Hopefully not fixated on low-capacity modes
<https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/06/for-1-billion-elon-musks-tunnel-to-ohare-would-be-a-miracle/562841/>
or
convinced robot cars are the answer
<http://transitcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RobotCars.pdf> (regardless
of what the question may be).

I'm hoping to see M3 submissions that center the perspectives of users and
practitioners (e.g. bus and train operators, planners who design and
maintain transit networks and/or streets, etc), examine the consequences of
uneven and inaccessible transportation systems, and/or that feature methods
for measuring transportation equity. It'd also be great to connect with
academics whose work can inform policies to make cities fairer.

Looking forward to meeting many of you in DC!

Tabitha
Twitter: @metrophile
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