We are not alone when it comes to our attempts at resolving congestion and making our transit systems safer. Some countries and some communities are a little more adventurous when it comes to trying new ideas. With your permission, I’d like to share these ideas from time to time with the underlying question being, would that work here? For example …

If it’s true that “music has charms to soothe the savage breast,” might it then be of use to discourage gangs and drug dealers from hanging out at bus stops? In Tacoma, Wash., city officials are installing speakers at a local transit center that will pipe in Bach, Beethoven and a little Mozart from a local classical music station in an effort to chase away the bad guys. They feel that this music will be so abhorrent to these young toughs that they will simply go elsewhere, although it’s unclear where.