Transit planners are part economists, part futurists, part cartographers, part data analysts, part professional puzzle assemblers, and more.
And if you’re Metro Transit Planner Evan Schweitz, you’re also part educator.
For the last two summers, he’s taught at Aim for the Stars, a summer camp program for school-age children in the Omaha metro area, organized by the University of Nebraska Omaha. He teaches for one day out of the week-long sustainability camp, with the goal to give children a taste of what it takes to plan a complex bus system in a city like ours.
“Some of them come away from the experience saying, ‘this is the worst job ever!’ But others really get into it, and once it clicks, they’re interested and passionate about it,” Evan said.
The morning’s activities are devoted to experiencing first-hand what active transportation means. They rent a Heartland B-cycle bike and ride one direction for a little under two miles, and on the way back, they take a bus. The students use their phones to plan the trip using the Metro app and other transportation websites.
“Some of the students are used to taking the bus, but for others, it’s their first time,” he said.
The afternoon is all about planning. Evan adapted a transit planning game from transit consultant Jarrett Walker, and the students take on the role of transit planners in a hypothetical city. First, they’re split into five or six teams. Each team receives a map of the city which includes population and job concentrations, and they must decide together where the bus routes should go. Choosing between routes that run every 15, 30, or 60 minutes, teams must stay on budget and complete their bus system in about an hour.
“I’m always blown away by the level of discussion and debate,” Evan said.
The students learn that development patterns and geography can make it difficult to connect key areas of the city, and team members must reach agreement on how to best serve areas of high and low density. They also learn that compromises are critical with a finite budget.
“Inevitably, every system turns out to be different,” he said.
Once the teams are finished, they compete against each other using several rider examples, and the team with the fastest overall travel times wins bragging rights! Evan hopes with the experience the students will gain an appreciation for public transportation and feel comfortable riding the bus more in the future.
“I want them to come away saying, ‘That wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be.’ It can be exciting and empowering,” he said.
Metro offers the transit learning activity to adult and student groups by request, and hopes to increase awareness of how public transportation impacts our community and improves our quality of life.
Taking public transit more often is one of the “little steps” in the Little Steps Cleaner Air outreach campaign run by the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency. It is funded by grants from the Federal Highway Administration and the Nebraska Environmental Trust. The campaign encourages residents in the greater Omaha metro to take small steps, like using public transportation, to improve the air quality in our area.
“Lots of people who live here enjoy taking public transit in other cities when they travel, but never think to try it back at home,” Evan said. “I hope more people give riding the bus a shot here in Omaha. The buses are clean, the drivers are friendly, the routes are safe, and walking to and from a bus stop is good for you.”