Transit expert kicks off 2025 Urban Studies Speaker Series

Kicking off the 2025 Urban Studies Speaker Series on Monday, Jan. 27, will be author and bus transit expert Jarrett Walker. He will address the role transit plays as the city and county face the challenges of affordable housing, traffic, and the update of the downtown Sarasota master plan.

Walker’s presentation will begin at 6 p.m. at the Aloft Hotel, 1401 Ringling Blvd. in downtown Sarasota. He will focus on the county’s bus system, Breeze, and its significance in the continued growth of the city and county.

Walker is the president of Jarrett Walker + Associates of Portland, Oregon, a consultancy that contracts with public transit agencies to help evaluate and redesign their bus networks. The firm has completed transit redesign projects in dozens of cities around the world including Houston, Moscow; Auckland, New Zealand; and Dublin, Ireland.

In Houston, Walker proposed creating a grid of bus routes with frequent service rather than expanding coverage, resulting one year later in an 11% increase in ridership on weekdays and a 30% increase on weekends.

Walker asserts that “frequency is freedom,” meaning that frequent transit availability helps residents better access their communities. That access contributes to economic viability and the experience of freedom of movement.

The event is sponsored by Hoyt Architects of Sarasota. Admission is $20, For tickets, contact Britany at Hoyt Architects at 941-366-6066 or by email at [email protected].

Upcoming scheduled speakers in the 2025 Urban Studies Speaker Series include retail expert Robert Gibbs, author of “Principles of Urban Retail”; Chuck Marohn, founder and president of Strong Towns; and traffic engineer Wes Marshall, author of “Killed by a Traffic Engineer.”