Episode 1 of the Transit Planning 4 All Podcast Series features guest speaker Adam Thielker, a public transportation activist. Mr. Thielker has been working for transportation justice in Worcester, Massachusetts for nearly three years with the Transportation Advocacy Coalition and Ridership Advisory Committee, both organized with the help of Worcester Community Connections. As a daily rider and advocate for public transport, Adam shares his experiences, challenges, successes, and lessons learned in navigating the maze of effective transportation advocacy and planning. Listen as he discusses the importance of understanding local and regional transportation systems, the role of networking and coalition building with other groups, connecting transit goals such as improving convenience of public transit with other issues such as the environment, health, and road congestion, lobbying for transit funding with elected officials, and effectively advocating for and including the voices of riders in transportation planning efforts.

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The Transit Planning 4 All Podcast Series examines what we know about today’s most urgent inclusive transit planning challenges and how we can make progress in addressing them. In a series of conversations, transportation planners and advocates share lessons learned in their journey towards inclusive transportation planning. Transit Planning 4 All is an inclusive and coordinated transportation-planning project that has funded a series of pilot projects across the nation, each seeking to increase inclusion in transportation planning and services for people with disabilities and older adults. The project is a partnership of the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA), the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston, and DJB Evaluation Consulting Group. The project is sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Community Living.