Dr. Ian Trivers

Dr. Ian Trivers
Dr. Ian Trivers
Postdoctoral Scholar
2022-2023 Cohort
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Department of Architecture and Town Planning
  • Fair Transport Lab
  • Karel Martens
  • Lab website

As a postdoc in the newly-established Joint North American-Israeli Track of the Zuckerman program, Ian Trivers maintains his involvement with the Architecture Department at the Sam Fox School of Design in St. Louis, where he held academic positions, while building new connections with The Fair Transport Lab at Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. Both sides are interested in creating a long-term collaboration.

Dr. Trivers’ postdoctoral research examines ways to improve the quality of bus stops in urban transit. While stops on rail and BRT (Bus Rapid Transit, systems with dedicated road lanes that cannot be used by vehicles other than large buses) tend to attract the most attention, most riders connect to local transit at a bus stop, often the most neglected element of the system.

Dr. Trivers believes the quality of bus stops’ physical design, including the aesthetics of shelters, signs, benches, bicycle racks, lights, and arrival displays influence transit ridership, satisfaction, and equity. The typically stark difference between bus and rail/BRT stops produces unequal experiences in transit quality along race and class lines, increasing perceptions of inequality.

By investigating bus stop design and implementation in an international sample of transit systems, Dr. Trivers focuses on how improved bus stops can contribute to more transit-oriented urban development.

Dr. Trivers completed his PhD in Urban and Regional Planning at University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. His dissertation on the High Line in New York City not only explored the urban design of a walkable corridor, but also looked at the changes this linear path brought to the use of urban space.