Best Kapish Singla Podcasts (2024)

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Finale: Crisis and Opportunity: Transforming How We Fund Transit with Yonah Freemark 17:05

7M ago17:05

17:05

In this episode of "High Frequency," host Kapish Singla explores the state of transit funding with Yonah Freemark, senior research associate at the Urban Institute. Based on insights from the recent Urban Institute report, “Surmounting the Fiscal Cliff,” the interview delves into the reasons behind transit’s current fiscal cliff, and the policy cho…

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S3 Ep 4: Brian O’Malley - Winning New State Funds for Baltimore Transit 15:50

1+ y ago15:50

15:50

Central Maryland Transportation Alliance is an advocacy group working to improve and expand transportation options in the Baltimore region. Using data and storytelling, CMTA has forefronted how unreliability and breakdown issues on buses and trains have negatively impacted workers and students throughout the region. In this episode, I interview Bri…

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S3 Ep 3: Scarlett De Leon - Care-Based Safety on Transit in Los Angeles 15:37

1+ y ago15:37

15:37

ACT-LA is an advocacy organization that strives to create equitable transit systems and neighborhoods in Los Angeles. In recent years, ACT-LA has campaigned on securing safety alternatives to armed policing on LA Metro’s buses and trains, and helped to win an unarmed transit ambassador program that launched in October 2022. In this episode, I inter…

1
S3 Ep 2: Courtney Jackson - Rider-Centric Community Engagement in New Orleans 17:07

2y ago17:07

17:07

Ride New Orleans is an advocacy organization with a mission to win equitable public transportation for all residents across the New Orleans region. For over a decade, Ride New Orleans has advocated for better bus service, particularly service that would improve access to jobs. Years of advocacy by Ride will pay off in September 2022 when the New Or…

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S3 Ep 1: Laura Chu Wiens - Campaigning for Community-Led Solutions in Pittsburgh 11:17

2y ago11:17

11:17

In February 2022, Pittsburgh’s Mon-Oakland Connector Project—an autonomous shuttle proposal that would have spent $23 million of taxpayer dollars—finally died. Cause of death? Years of organizing by the advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit that called attention to the fact that the project did little to serve the actual mobility needs of…

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S2 Ep 7: Laurel Paget-Seekins - The Inside/Outside Approach to Win More Equitable Transit 12:42

2+ y ago12:42

12:42

How do policies that make transit more equitable get implemented? That’s a question that Laurel Paget-Seekins, Leadership in Government Fellow at Open Society Foundations, is looking into. Laurel draws from her experiences as a transit advocate in Atlanta and former Assistant General Manager of Policy at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authori…

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S2 Ep 6: Mary Buchanan & Ron Thompson - Measuring Transit Equity in 6 Cities 19:50

3y ago19:50

19:50

In June, TransitCenter released the Transit Equity Dashboard. The dashboard uses maps and graphs to show how transit access varies by race, class, and other demographic factors in 6 major urban regions. TransitCenter Senior Research Associate Mary Buchanan led the development of the dashboard. In this episode, Mary explains the importance of access…

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S2 Ep 5: Chris O’Claire - Planning With an Equity Lens at King County Metro 14:22

3y ago14:22

14:22

King County Metro, the largest transit agency in the Seattle region, is guided by the principle that “mobility is a human right.” For Metro, that means reducing barriers to frequent, reliable transit that connects people to jobs and other opportunities. Chris O’Claire is Mobility Division Director at King County Metro. In this episode, Chris detail…

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S2 Ep 4: Jessica Meaney & Scott Frazier - Restoring Bus Service in Los Angeles 16:36

3y ago16:36

16:36

At the onset of the pandemic, LA Metro made deep cuts to its bus service despite retaining the highest proportion of bus riders among large transit agencies in 2020. Over the past year, a coalition of transit advocates put pressure on LA Metro to reverse the cuts. The advocacy culminated in a commitment from the agency in January 2021 to restore se…

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S2 Ep 3: Az Chougle - Redesigning Miami’s Bus Network 15:43

3+ y ago15:43

15:43

Cities across the US, including Miami, have been redesigning their bus networks to better serve today’s riders. Many decades-old networks have simply not kept pace with changing residential and employment patterns. Az Chougle is the Executive Director of Transit Alliance Miami, a non-profit organization that advocates for walkable streets, bikeable…

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S2 Ep2: João Paulo Connolly - Transit Investment and Anti-Displacement in Austin 14:17

3+ y ago14:17

14:17

In November 2020, Austin residents voted in favor of Proposition A. The $7 billion plan will expand bus service and build new light rail. Prop A also broke ground by pairing transit investments with housing funds to prevent displacement. João Paulo Connolly is the Director of Housing and Community Development at the Austin Justice Coalition. AJC is…

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S2 Ep 1: Olatunji Oboi Reed - Mobility Justice in Chicago 15:31

3+ y ago15:31

15:31

In Chicago, racial disparities run deep. A history of redlining, disinvestment, and movement of jobs to the suburbs have resulted in disparate life outcomes for Black and white residents. In transportation, this has manifested in longer transit commutes for Black residents, and a disproportionate number of cycling tickets given out in Black and bro…

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Ep 8: Anthonine Pierre - Policing and Transit in New York 12:26

4y ago12:26

12:26

In 2019, New York’s MTA announced a plan to hire 500 additional police officers, citing the need to reduce fare evasion. Transit advocates, community organizers, and police reformers quickly pointed out the racially discriminatory patterns of fare enforcement, and that the additional police presence would lead to more discriminatory enforcement wit…

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Ep 7: Monica Tibbits-Nutt - Managing a Transit Agency Through a Crisis 13:29

4y ago13:29

13:29

How do transit agencies weather a crisis? In February 2015, the public transit system in Boston completely shut down due to heavy snowstorms. As a result, the general manager resigned and oversight of the MBTA was delegated to the newly formed Fiscal and Management Control Board. Under the board’s leadership the past five years, the agency has adva…

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Ep 6: Nathan Vass - Operating a Bus During a Pandemic 13:22

4y ago13:22

13:22

Nathan Vass is a bus operator at King County Metro in Seattle. For several years, Nathan has written about his interactions with riders on his route. His stories, compiled in a book called The Lines That Make Us, offer a compassionate glimpse into the lives of riders. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, bus operators have encountered a new set of ch…

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Ep 5: Alex Hudson - Building Campaigns for Transit at the Ballot Box 13:46

4+ y ago13:46

13:46

Alex Hudson is Executive Director at Transportation Choices Coalition, a policy and advocacy organization based in Seattle, Washington. Since the 1990s, TCC has worked to build broad coalitions on various campaigns and initiatives including Sound Transit 3, a $53.8 billion plan to expand transit approved by Seattle area voters in 2016. In this epis…