This course covers a broad range of topics in urban transit operations and planning, with special emphasis on best-practice strategies of modern transit systems. The course will help students: Learn the history of transit and its relationship to urban development, emerging challenges, transit role in society, and new trends and issues; Understand and analyze the factors that affect transit performance and demand; Identify and analyze transit operational and planning problems; Identify possible solutions at the operational level (mostly short-term and line-based) and the strategic level (mostly long-term and network-based), and assess alternative solutions; Understand the relative performance of various transit modes (both conventional and new modes) and their domains of application; and gain knowledge of best-practice transit systems planning and emerging innovations.