On this episode of Transit Voices, we embark on a journey through time to envision the future of our cities under the leadership of the emerging “new urbanists.”

Our spotlight guest is Jerome Horne, a notable “new urbanist” from TransitCenter, a foundation devoted to enhancing public transit across US cities by introducing innovative design ideas for both urban spaces and their transit systems.

In the podcast, Jerome tells host Ben Whitaker how he’s always been interested in transit, so much so that at the age of ten he wrote to the CEO of the transit system in his home city of Baltimore asking how he could get his job when he grew up.

“When I was younger, I was just playing with model train sets, maybe watching Thomas the Tank Engine,” Jerome says.  “My dad gave me an early copy of the game Sim City, and so you know, there was a fascination there.”

Speaking on the “new urbanists” movement, Jerome delves into the importance of creating cities that prioritize liveability, emphasizing the pivotal role of efficient transport systems. “It is encouraging, we are seeing more focus on the rise of urbanism - just the concept of a walkable place become more mainstream,” he says.  “What we're talking about is people, regardless of demographic, socio ideology, even political positioning.  A lot of people just like to go to a place where they can walk. This is really key to the future and how do we figure out how to orientate cities around humans.”

Jerome discusses the need to reduce parking provision so that more people are encouraged to take public transit, but also to educate them about the options.  “Some people are just either unexperienced or they're just ignorant about taking public transit,” he says.  “And I don't mean ignorant in the sense that’s a bad thing, but because there hasn't been good public education campaign.  There are simple barriers sometimes that get in the way of deciding to make a different choice, so some of that is just a marketing and education campaign to show people they only live five minutes away from a bus route that runs every ten minutes, and takes you where you like to go on the weekends.”

The conversation extends to concepts like the 15-minute cities, carrot and stick, and targeting people ready and willing to change their travel habits.  You’ll also discover why the so-called Tesla Tunnels are Jerome’s boondoggle.