The Transit Metropolis: A Global Inquiry by Professor Robert Cervero of the University of California at Berkeley is must reading for public transportation practitioners who believe they can glean useful experience from colleagues around the world.
The ability to gain lessons from abroad in operating and improving transit systems is precisely the operating philosophy of the federally supported International Mass Transit Study Program. Over the past five years, this program has given more than a hundred managers a close look at many of the cities selected by Cervero for his masterful analysis. He homes in on what it takes to provide world-class urban transit that is cost-effective, conserves resources, and provides a reasonable alternative to the personal mobility of the private car.
Based on three years of research, the book explores the successful innovations of 12 metropolitan areas he calls the "transit metropolis": in effect, an urbanized region where a hand-to-glove fit exists between transit services and settlement patterns. These cities are set apart by their commitment to bucking the trend toward auto dependency and restructuring themselves to design and provide sustainable transit services.
Against the background of insights and policy lessons drawn from such profiled cities as Stockholm, Sweden; Singapore; Zurich, Switzerland; Adelaide and Melbourne, Australia; Curitiba, Brazil; Karlsruhe, Germany; and Vancouver, B.C., Cervero reviews the efforts and challenges facing North American cities such as Houston, San Diego, and St. Louis in mounting effective and responsive public transit programs.
The Transit Metropolis: A Global Inquiry, 468 pages, profusely illustrated with tables, figures, and photos, is published by the Island Press of Covelo, Calif., and sells for $45 per copy. APTA members will receive a special 20 percent courtesy discount if they e-mail their orders to <APTA@islandpress.org> using a major credit card. U.S. shipments cost $5.75 for the first book, $2 for each additional copy.
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