Urban rail and bus transit ridership are declining, says Randal O’Toole, one of the nation’s leading critics of transit subsidies. Between the growth of ride hailing and the impending introduction of driverless ride hailing, O’Toole predicts that transit ridership outside of New York City and a handful of other urban areas will disappear by 2030.

Not so, says Portland transit consultant Jarrett Walker, one of the most innovative thinkers in the transit community. Walker is helping transit agencies reinvent themselves so that they can remain a vital part of American cities for decades to come.