Author

Sam Whitfield

Sam writes on urban transit policy, micromobility regulation, and city infrastructure. Previously reported on transportation for a regional newspaper.

What a Downtown Autonomous Shuttle Pilot Is Really For
urban-transit

What a Downtown Autonomous Shuttle Pilot Is Really For

The pod moves at jogging speed, stops for pigeons, and has a staffer on board. Judge it on what got instrumented, not on...

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How Transit Apps Actually Predict When Your Bus Will Arrive
urban-transit

How Transit Apps Actually Predict When Your Bus Will Arrive

Your countdown is a guess rebuilt every few seconds from sparse GPS pings. Here's which parts of it you can trust and wh...

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How On-Demand Microtransit Shuttles Actually Work
urban-transit

How On-Demand Microtransit Shuttles Actually Work

On-demand vans fill gaps well and replace busy bus routes badly. The whole argument comes down to boardings per vehicle ...

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How MaaS Apps Quietly Changed the Commute (and Where They Failed)
urban-transit

How MaaS Apps Quietly Changed the Commute (and Where They Failed)

The single-app mobility subscription mostly flopped. What won instead was realtime arrival data and tapping a bank card ...

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How E-Bike Incentive Programs Typically Work
urban-transit

How E-Bike Incentive Programs Typically Work

Voucher at the register or reimbursement months later - that fork decides whether you need the cash up front. Everything...

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How Contactless Payment Is Replacing the Transit Fare Card
urban-transit

How Contactless Payment Is Replacing the Transit Fare Card

Your phone and your plastic card count as two different tokens, which quietly breaks fare capping. What really happens b...

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How Cities Regulate Where You Can Leave a Dockless Scooter
urban-transit

How Cities Regulate Where You Can Leave a Dockless Scooter

Dockless never meant park anywhere. The real rules sit in the operator's permit, and geofencing can't tell which part of...

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How Cities Actually Measure Whether a New Bike Lane Worked
urban-transit

How Cities Actually Measure Whether a New Bike Lane Worked

Crash counts can rise on a lane that got safer. A field guide to the metrics cities track, the ones they quietly drop, a...

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How Cities Decide Where to Put Scooter Parking Corrals
urban-transit

How Cities Decide Where to Put Scooter Parking Corrals

Painted scooter boxes get sited from trip-endpoint data, not tidiness. Miss the desire line by half a block and the corr...

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How Bike-Share Rebalancing Trucks Decide Where to Move Bikes
urban-transit

How Bike-Share Rebalancing Trucks Decide Where to Move Bikes

Empty dock uphill, overflowing dock downhill. Operators aren't failing at this, they're optimising for something other t...

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