Cities are my passion. I've been studying, wandering in, exploring and dreaming about cities since I was a kid growing up in Denver. We had 'busing' in Denver and in first grade I'd start my day in a 1960's functional school building (McMeen - we were the 'Meanies') in a white middle class neighborhood, and mid-day be bused to an almost identical building near Montbello (Smith) in a black middle class neighborhood. The long trip up and down Monaco Blvd going from one to the other was like traveling through a cross section of the earth, complete with jewels and bones and curiosities of all types. These two neighborhoods didn't look so different, but all the voices around me said they were. I've since traveled all across this great country, in South America, Europe and Africa; for the longest time I studied the buildings - the great ones and the plain ones: or thought I did. Only much later did I realize that the important stuff is everything else. The people, the spaces between buildings, the roads, sidewalks, and connective tissues of our cities and towns. Those details that appear accidental but happen in every town, and those products of engineers and committees that could be anywhere or nowhere, and that too often don't really work. It's a funny thing - we used to think a lot less intensely about how our cities should be, but those cities were much richer places to live. About 6 years ago I left Architecture – making props for our towns isn't scalable, and it isn't satisfying. Architecture today has very little to do with delight, and way too much to do with compliance. Transportation isn't sexy, but it has much more impact on people's lives, and for most of us, in a very real way, access to transportation is the key to opportunity and self-determination. It’s also our best hope for strengthening communities and supporting our local businesses and shops. RubyRide is excited to play a part in the next chapter of the Great American Cities and Towns.