about me

My name is Fern K Hahn, pronouns they/them. Public transit is at the centre of most everything I do, from advocacy, to map design, to posting on Twitter. Having grown up in Oakland, I'm currently studying urban planning at Toronto Metropolitan University. A good Californian-Canadian, hablo español et un peu de français.

I've advocated for better transit in both the East Bay and Toronto over the past year. Last winter, fellow transit rider Darrell Owens and I spoke to AC Transit service planners about restoring crucial bus service to Berkeley's Ashby Avenue, an effort whose failure prompted us to co-author a piece for Berkeleyside. Since arriving in Toronto, I've become a volunteer with transit advocacy group TTCriders, helping out with public outreach efforts.

In my spare time, I design transit diagrams, usually (but not always!) of fantasy rail systems for American cities. I try to design with accessibility in mind by using colourblind-friendly palettes and legible humanist type. Sometimes I like to collaborate with my partner, Cedar Makhijani – so far, we've created an optimistic future rail map of the Bay Area and a YouTube channel to catalogue our transit adventures.

For pure content good and bad, catch me on Twitter, Mastodon, or TikTok.

I also really like seafood.