HOUSTON – (Feb. 6, 2020) – Poorly designed transit systems don't just congest a city. They also disproportionately impact the most vulnerable members of society. But transit in big cities doesn't have to be subpar, according to Steven Higashide, director of TransitCenter, a foundation dedicated to improving public transportation around the U.S.
Higashide will share real-world examples of citywide bus systems changed for the better at a Feb. 12 event hosted by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research. He will discuss how to gain public support for better bus systems and how new technologies can keep buses on time and make complex transit systems understandable.
WHAT: Urban Reads: Steven Higashide.
WHERE: Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston, Matchbox 4, 3400 Main Street, Houston.
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 12, 7-8:30 p.m.
"You know, buses sometimes don’t capture the imagination of decision-makers and there is sometimes a stigma against the bus," Higashide said. "But that stigma is grounded in the poor service that exists today. When you improve buses, as the experience in Houston and in so many other places shows, ridership can turn around quite quickly."
Higashide said that changing transit systems into more inclusive and better-functioning systems is not an easy task – it requires institutional culture shifts.
"Doing these things requires resilient organizations and transformational leadership," he said.
Higashide is one of America’s leading experts on public transportation and the people who use it. As director of research for TransitCenter, he has authored groundbreaking reports that have redefined how decision makers and journalists understand transit. He has taken the bus in 29 cities around the U.S. and the world. For more information on Higashide, visit https://transitcenter.org/team.
To RSVP for the free event, visit https://kinder.rice.edu/events/urban-reads-steven-higashide. Higashide will sign copies of his book, "Better Buses, Better Cities," following the program.
-30-
This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews
Related materials:
Photo link: https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/02/Steven-Higashide.jpg
Photo credit: Submitted photo.
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.