“Straphanger is a remarkable tour by bus, subway, and streetcar through some of the world’s most fascinating metropolises. Equal parts travel narrative, social history, and critique of urban planning, Grescoe’s writing unfolds with compelling subtlety. Straphanger takes the reader through clogged expressways and streamlined undergrounds, in sum a finely researched and nuanced argument in favour of high-quality public transit. In this book, the daily commute is not merely an unavoidable suburban phenomenon but a human experience in which transit is a key piece, utterly important to livable neighbourhoods in a post-automobile age.” – 2012 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury (James Bartleman, Charlotte Gill, and Marni Jackson)