Once a straightforward service provided without any real coordination between transportation operators and local authorities, public transit is now planned and organized in partnership with as many local stakeholders as possible.
The meaning and nature of the profession must therefore be revised, adding essential design services to actual transportation. Indeed, the job has grown beyond simply transporting people from point A to point B and now involves offering passengers a much more complete array of services.
However, the different transportation modes make up a complex system, whose performance is highly dependent on how well they complement one another and are coordinated. Fixing a transit system's weaknesses therefore requires understanding and solving the various types of problems involved, for example; systems that do not serve as many riders as they should, hard-to-remember schedules, underserved districts and special planning for future hospitals, schools or low-income housing.
