California Academy of Science
Building Better Buses: Transportation Design Challenges
Scholars learn about a series of three challenges when they design a bus system for a small town. They determine the bus routes and then figure out the best type of fuel to use before considering the cost of going electric. Learners...
National Geographic
National Geographic: Geostories: Public Transportation
Use this interactive GeoStory to explore the major public transportation systems around the world.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Chicago, the Transit Metropolis
Explore the role of public transportation in Chicago, from the 1890s through the 1950s.
Read Works
Read Works: Predicting the Future
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a futurist named Garry Golden and his predictions about transportation in the future. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Read Works
Read Works: New Lives for Old Buses
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about an African country that uses old school buses for public transportation. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Read Works
Read Works: Young Couple Finds a Way to Make Commuting Fun
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about two students who took a picture of themselves at every subway stop in New York City. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Montgomery Bus Boycott
Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks along with other early protestors sparked a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery bus system that culminated in the desegregation of public transportation in Alabama and throughout the country.
Other
New York Subway History: Beach Pneumatic Transit
Not all inventions turn out to be good ideas! Read about Alfred Ely Beach's idea to build a pneumatic tube under the streets of New York City for subway trains to use.