Miami’s transit network can feel like a highlight reel one minute and a facepalm the next. We start downtown at Government Center, hop the MetroMover, and then ride Metrorail south on the Green Line, where the elevated guideway, solid headways, and impressively clean cars immediately raise the bar. From there we test a local favorite, the Coral Gables Trolley, a free, frequent route that looks like a throwback but functions like serious everyday transit, with real riders and easy transfers.

The big swing is the new dedicated bus rapid transit corridor: train-like stations, crossing arms, clear signage, and air conditioning, all wrapped around a busway that should be one of the best BRT systems in the United States. Then the reality hits and the whole promise of “rapid” starts to feel like a marketing ploy. We break down how we believe service could be improved and how close this line is to being genuinely world-class.

Subscribe for more city-by-city transit field trips, share this with a friend who loves Miami, and leave a review with your take: what’s the single fix you’d make first to improve the rider experience?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Austin’s Project Connect is getting dragged in the headlines as “off the rails” and “one of the most expensive light rail projects in the country,” so we slow down and fact-check the story with the full timeline. We walk through what Austin voters actually approved in 2020 under Proposition A, why that plan was always based on early design assumptions, and what the new Austin Light Rail Phase One does and does not include. If you’ve been wondering how a 27-mile vision became a roughly 9.8-mile starter line, we lay out the tradeoffs.

If you care about Austin public transit, light rail, CapMetro, and the future of mobility in a growing city, this one is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend in Austin, and leave a review with your take: is Project Connect a derailment or a necessary foundation?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Orlando isn’t short on pavement, but it is short on fast, reliable public transportation and the cost shows up everywhere: rent, commute times, missed opportunities, and that feeling that the city is always one traffic jam away from chaos. From downtown Orlando, we sit down with Giancarlo and Enmanuel from Sunrise Movement Orlando to talk about the Star Plan, their push to make rapid transit a real priority in Orange County rather than a distant “someday” promise.

If you care about Orlando public transportation, bus rapid transit, light rail, SunRail expansion, or reducing I-4 traffic, hit play, share this with someone local, and subscribe so you don’t miss what comes next. What corridor would change your life the most?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

A 140 mph bus on California freeways sounds like a joke you would see in your news feed, until you realize Caltrans is seriously studying it. We dig into the “bullet bus” concept and what it would actually require to run intercity service at "aircraft-level speeds" on rubber tires, including dedicated freeway lanes, banked curves, ultra-durable pavement, and technology that likely leans on advanced driver assistance or autonomous systems. The promise is seductive: a San Francisco to Los Angeles trip in about 3 hours and 50 minutes, cutting a long drive nearly in half.

Then we put that headline next to the elephant in the room: California high-speed rail. We recap the project’s history, ballooning cost estimates, and the ongoing funding fight that has turned rail into a political target. A big question hangs over the bullet bus idea: even if it is pitched as a supplement, does it create a “why not just do buses” argument that could undermine rail before the state finishes what it started?

Subscribe for more transit deep dives, share this with a friend who loves (or hates) California megaprojects, and leave a review with your take: would you ride a 140 mph bullet bus?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

What happens when you try to live in the real Orlando without a car? We spend a full day riding Lynx buses from the airport to downtown, up to Winter Park, back through the Florida Mall Superstop, and finally to Disney Springs, testing what public transit in Orlando actually feels like on the ground.

We talk honestly about the big constraint hanging over everything: half-hour bus frequencies on many routes, plus SunRail not running on weekends. When the schedule is that thin, every transfer becomes high-stakes, and a single missed connection can flip your whole plan. We also run into a classic reliability gut-punch, the “ghost bus,” and compare what different apps and printed signs claim versus what shows up at the curb.

If you enjoy detailed transit travel and real-world city rankings, subscribe, share this with an Orlando friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

A beach trip shouldn’t require a car, so we put St. Petersburg’s Sunrunner Bus Rapid Transit to the test the only way that counts: we rode it, timed it, transferred on it, and paid attention to the small details that make people trust a transit line. Starting in downtown Tampa, we take the 100 bus to St. Pete and talk about how regional connections, routing, and frequency shape whether public transportation feels viable in daily life. We also dig into the Cross Bay Ferry’s comeback and why more options across Tampa Bay can change the whole equation.

Once we’re on the Sunrunner BRT, the experience gets surprisingly solid fast. We look at station design, level boarding, real-time arrival signs, and simplified maps that make the system feel intuitive. We talk transit signal priority, dedicated bus lanes, and why corridor choice matters, including key stops like PSTA’s Grand Central Station and access to everyday destinations. For a 10-mile line built for roughly $43 to $45 million, Sunrunner raises a big question for cities across Florida and the United States: how much better could bus networks be if we focused on speed, frequency, and clarity instead of overbuilding or under-delivering?

Subscribe for more from our Florida series, share this with a friend who debates bus lanes, and leave a review if you want more on-the-ground transit breakdowns. What should cities do to keep BRT fast once it’s built?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Spirit Airlines didn’t just sell cheap tickets, it reshaped how Americans think about flying. Now it’s shut down, and we’re asking the uncomfortable question: if the biggest ultra-low-cost carrier disappears, do all of us end up paying more even if we never flew Spirit once? We unpack what Spirit’s May 2, 2026, closure signals for airfare prices, route competition, and the future of budget travel in the United States.

We walk through Spirit’s surprisingly weird origin story, from a trucking company to charter vacation flights to a scheduled airline that grew up in Florida. Then we get into the real turning point: the post 9/11 era, when airline “service” started getting stripped away and the industry learned to survive on efficiency. Spirit’s CEO Ben Baldanza bet big on unbundling, asking why a passenger with a backpack should subsidize someone with two suitcases. That logic led to the fee-heavy, bare-bones fare structure that later showed up everywhere as “basic economy.”

Subscribe for more deep dives on transportation and cities, share this with an aviation-enthused friend, and leave a review with your hottest take: are cheap flights going to come back, or is this the new normal?

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Atlanta just took a real swing at better bus service and it’s bigger than a single new route. We’re breaking down MARTA’s newly opened A-Line bus rapid transit and the agency’s full bus network redesign, a rare top-to-bottom reset aimed at making transit simpler, more frequent, and easier to use for everyday life.

We start with the uncomfortable backdrop: Atlanta’s growth hasn’t translated into a strong ridership comeback, and MARTA is still well below pre-2020 passenger trips. That makes every decision feel high stakes. We talk through what the MARTA rail network provides today, why train and station modernization helps, and why the bus system is the fastest way to improve real mobility across a sprawling Sunbelt metro where land use often fights transit.

If you found this useful, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more people can find Transit Tangents.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show