Wahrhaftig was a dedicated user of public transportation, partially motivated by his concern about the environment impact of fossil fuels. He eschewed automobiles and airplanes and routinely traveled by sea to his field work in Alaska. He continued to use horse-pack trains while working in the field for as long as the USGS permitted it. His support of public transportation also helped him fulfill his commitment to making geology accessible to the public by writing field guides that could be understood by laymen and did not require long trips by car to see the relevant sites. Some of his most popular field guides include Streetcar to Subduction and Other Plate Tectonic Trips by Public Transport in San Francisco, A Walker's Guide to the Geology of San Francisco, and The Hayward Fault in Hayward and Fremont, via BART. Wahrhaftig was also the co-author of two geology textbooks. Streetcar to Subduction has been revisited in digital form with a Google Earth -based online field trip guide series Streetcar2Subduction released in December 2019 at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in recognition of the 35th anniversary of the original book and the 100th anniversary of Wahrhaftig's birth.