Transit is dying. In the face of decades of underinvestment and a devotion to building cities for cars, public transit is deteriorating in cities around the world. You don’t have to look hard to see evidence of transit’s decline: last year, public transit ridership dropped in 31 of 35 major U.S. cities.

With transit becoming so unreliable, frustrated city residents are turning to cars and new, unregulated car services, often by simply clicking on an app—with major repercussions for our cities and our world. A landmark report issued by the United Nations in October painted a dire portrait of humanity’s future should we fail to massively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially from transport, which accounts for nearly a quarter of the world’s energy-related carbon emissions.

For too long, underinvestment and outsized attention to impractical and car-based technological “solutions” has detracted from, rather than built on, our cities’ transit systems. Now public transit is on life support and it needs your help!

As cities continue to rapidly grow, it’s more critical than ever that they commit to the best antidote to these harmful trends: fast, frequent, and well-funded public transit. Often, the steadfast options are still the best, and public transit remains the only way to move huge amounts of people quickly and sustainably.

Although ITDP is helping cities around the world embrace an inclusive approach to public transit, there is still so much to be done. Here are a just a couple of the places where your support can make a difference right now:

More Access, More Transit
To revive transit, it is not enough to just put new buses on the road; cities must provide new ways and reasons for people to leave their cars and hop on board. ITDP is helping Yichang, China rethink what a transit corridor should be by including improvements like protected bike lanes, beautiful greenways, and regulated dockless bikeshare that provides easy and safe ways to reach the bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Now your help is needed so that more cities can create greater accessibility and better transit.

Making BRT a Reality
Bus rapid transit offers cities a fast, affordable, and flexible public transit option. ITDP is helping cities from Semarang, Indonesia to Cairo, Egypt to São Paulo, Brazil plan high quality BRT systems that cut commuting times, slash emissions, and provide mobility to hundreds of thousands of city residents. But cities and our environment won’t reap the benefits of BRT without your help turning these plans into reality.

With cities facing swift growth and our climate rapidly changing, robust public transit is a necessity. Nothing can replace the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of public transit, and ITDP needs your support to revive this timeless solution.

Give a $40 year-end gift to ITDP today to help create thriving transit and thriving cities. >>