Christmas is nearly upon us, and you know what that means: frantic last-minute shopping for the transport planner in your life who has everything except a functional bus network in their local area.
This year has been… eventful. The transport planner you're shopping for has weathered yet another round of funding cuts, sat through approximately 847 stakeholder meetings that could have been emails, and watched with quiet despair as yet another “revolutionary” transport scheme was quietly shelved. They've earned something special this year. Or at least something that acknowledges their very specific brand of professional suffering.
Since our previous festive gift guides (2024, 2023, 2022) proved surprisingly popular - apparently we're not the only ones struggling to buy for transport professionals - we're back with another carefully curated selection of transport-themed treasures.
So without further ado, here are Podaris’ top Christmas gift choices for 2025…
RATP La Ligne Christmas Sweater
If you're going to wear a transport-themed Christmas jumper, you might as well go full commitment. Enter RATP's 2025 Christmas sweater, featuring a festive Paris metro train motif that screams “I have opinions about headway frequencies” at family gatherings.
This is officially sanctioned merchandise from one of Europe's major transit operators. The same operator, incidentally, that just opened Europe's longest cable car this week - a 2.8-mile aerial gondola system that took only 17 years from proposal to delivery. Which is actually quite impressive by European transport project standards.
The C1 cable car connects previously isolated southeastern suburbs to Metro Line 9, carrying 11,000 passengers daily at €2 a trip. It's the sort of pragmatic, cost-effective solution (€138m versus €1bn+ for a metro extension) that makes you wonder why we don't build more cable cars. The answer, of course, is that they're sensible, which makes them deeply suspicious to politicians.
The navy blue base with green and red seasonal motifs strikes that perfect balance between “festive” and “I still want to be taken seriously at work.” Whether you're attending industry Christmas drinks or simply want to alienate distant relatives who don't understand why you care so much about bus priority lanes (or aerial gondolas), this sweater has you covered.
S-Bahn Berlin Backpack
For the transport planner who needs to carry approximately seventeen reports, two laptops, and their broken dreams of integrated ticketing systems, we present the S-Bahn Berlin TF Rucksack Model 1.
This isn't merely merchandise - it's the actual working bag designed for train drivers and S-Bahn staff. Which means it's built to withstand the rigours of German public transport operations, and if there's one thing we can rely on the Germans for, it's building things to an unnecessarily high standard.
Black, professional-looking, and subtly branded, this backpack lets you signal your transport credentials without looking like you've wandered out of a rail enthusiast convention. Perfect for carrying that increasingly dog-eared copy of the new NPPF that you keep meaning to finish reading.
Mini Metro Game
Mini Metro is the game that perfectly captures the experience of transport planning: watching your carefully designed network gradually descend into chaos as passenger demand exceeds capacity, then scrambling to add more services while trying not to bankrupt your system.
It's minimalist, it's elegant, and it's genuinely addictive in that “just one more line” way that will see you still playing at 2am, convinced you can finally solve the Piccadilly line bottleneck if you just adjust the frequency one more time.
The game strips transport planning down to its purest essence: connecting stations, managing growing demand, and making difficult resource allocation decisions. It's essentially your day job, but with better graphics and the ability to restart when it all goes wrong. Available on Steam, iOS, and Android, so they can optimise transit systems during their actual commute - the ultimate meta-experience.
This is the perfect gift for your loved one who is sad that they have to stop using Podaris to improve real networks while on leave!
Manchester Christmas Ornament
Nothing says “I understand your niche interests” quite like this Christmas ornament featuring Manchester's tram system in a winter street scene.
It's a tree decoration that depicts public transport. Let that sink in. Someone looked at traditional Christmas ornaments - your baubles, your angels, your tasteful glass figurines - and thought: “You know what's missing? Trams.”
For the transport planner with everything except a normal relationship with their Christmas tree, this ornament sits at that perfect intersection of festive and deeply nerdy. It's a conversation piece in the truest sense: it will start conversations, most of them along the lines of “Is that… is that a tram on your Christmas tree?”
Handmade on Etsy, which means you're supporting small businesses and independent artisans who have also decided that transport infrastructure makes for excellent seasonal décor. One of us. One of us.
Bike Honk Horn
For the transport planner who cycles everywhere (and let's be honest, most of them do), a proper bike horn is both practical and deeply satisfying. Available in a variety of styles from the classic “honk” to the wonderfully aggressive air horn, it's the gift that keeps on giving - specifically, giving motorists a fright.
Consider it a tool for assertive cycling, a mobile education device, or simply a way to express the frustrations of navigating infrastructure that was clearly designed by someone who's never actually ridden a bike. Either way, it's considerably cheaper than therapy and arguably more effective.
Just maybe test the volume before gifting - some of these are loud enough to feature in traffic management strategies.
LEGO Holiday Express Train
The LEGO Holiday Express Train combines the magic of Christmas with a love of transport in 1,304 pieces of festive engineering.
This motorised steam locomotive, complete with tender, passenger carriage, and station platform with decorated Christmas tree, is the perfect project for those quiet days between Christmas and New Year when you're supposed to be relaxing but actually cannot stop thinking about rail capacity planning.
Watch it chug around the track whilst contemplating the operational challenges of running historic rolling stock on modern networks. It's educational, it's decorative, and it will absolutely take over your dining table for the entirety of the Christmas period.
At least it's more socially acceptable than spending Boxing Day optimising bus timetables in Podaris. Marginally.
Train Ticket Tea Towel
For those who believe that even the mundane task of drying dishes should involve transport nostalgia, we present the National Rail train ticket tea towel.
Featuring authentic vintage British Rail ticket designs, it's both practical and evocative of a time when you could actually understand your train ticket without requiring a PhD in fare structures. Remember when tickets had a straightforward price and route? Neither does this tea towel, but it looks nice thinking about it.
Perfect for the transport historian in your life who wants their kitchen to reflect their professional obsessions. Pairs excellently with lengthy monologues about railway privatisation whilst doing the washing up.
School Bus Earrings
For those who prefer their transport enthusiasm to be subtle yet unmistakable, these 24k gold-filled school bus stud earrings are delightfully refined.
Tiny, elegant, and immediately recognisable to anyone who shares your affliction - sorry, passion - for public transport. They're the sort of accessory that sparks conversations at industry conferences: “Are those… buses?” “Why yes, yes they are. Would you like to discuss vehicle utilisation rates?”
Perfect for the transport planner who wants to signal their professional interests without wearing a hi-vis jacket to social events. Though let's be honest, some of you do that anyway.
Wear Your Passion (Or At Least Your Network)
The world of transport-themed wearables continues to expand at an alarming rate. US transit agencies in particular seem to have discovered that merchandise is an excellent way to both promote their networks and, let's be honest, generate additional revenue streams in the face of persistent funding challenges.
Whether it's scarves covered in railway maps, socks emblazoned with vintage buses, or beanies sporting your favourite metro line, there's never been a better time to dress like a walking transit map. This year's standout is undoubtedly the CTA's light-up holiday sweater - because nothing says “serious transport professional” quite like LEDs.
It's all part of an innovative Travel Demand Management strategy. Or possibly just merchandising. Hard to tell really.
And there you have it: another year, another selection of gifts that will either delight or deeply concern your loved ones, depending on their tolerance for transport-related conversation topics.
If you're looking for a way to beat the January blues (and let's face it, as a transport planner, you'll need one), why not reach out to us to discuss your 2026 projects? We can't promise to solve the funding crisis, but we can help you plan networks considerably faster than you're currently managing.
Schedule a demo and see how Podaris can help make next year slightly less chaotic. Happy holidays! 🎄