Relevant to transit agencies, city and metro region governments

• Dramatically increase the amount of transit service, so many more people and jobs are within walking distance of bus or train routes that arrive frequently all day, every day. Quickly adding service on bus routes that remain heavily used during the COVID-19 pandemic will also help reduce crowding and improve public health.
• Enact new sources of transit funding that minimize revenue volatility and stabilize operating budgets.
• Redesign bus networks so more people can reach more places in less time, prioritizing travel needs of communities of color and low-income neighborhoods.
• Expand frequent service in response to changing residential and employment patterns.
• Enable riders to bypass traffic congestion by implementing comprehensive networks of bus-only lanes on major routes.
• Improve pedestrian and bicycle connections to transit stops and stations, and add shelters and other amenities at bus stops.
• Add station elevators, improve information access, and take further steps to make existing and new transit infrastructure universally accessible.
• Reform commuter rail operations and fares to make service useful and affordable to lower-income riders who’ve been excluded by the 9-to-5 suburban service model.
• Integrate fares, routes, and schedules between overlapping bus and rail services to create cohesive, easy-to-use regional transit networks that expand access for riders.
• Implement safety policies that look beyond policing so women, people of color, and other vulnerable communities feel free from the threat of violence and harassment.
• Structure fares to make transit affordable for everyone, people with low incomes, people with disabilities, seniors, students, and kids. Increase presence of transit riders, women, Black and brown people, people with disabilities, and other under-represented groups on agency governing boards.
• Avoid public spending on venture-backed initiatives like autonomous vehicles or Hyperloop-style gimmicks.
• Prioritize maintenance and utilitarian upgrades of existing transit infrastructure above aesthetically-driven projects or high-cost capital expansions.
• When major capacity expansion projects are built, implement them in places with high concentrations of people and jobs, where the most people will benefit, not where the smallest number will object.
• Control capital costs so maintenance, upgrades, and expansions can be carried out at prices that enable work at an ambitious scale, on a rapid timetable.