€89 for a tram stop sign!? I love the public detail about all the costs of a transit project. Compare that to Canada where the costs of anything is treated like a top-secret matter of national security.
MASc. Graduate from UofT CivMin who researched public transport fare and service integration @TAL_UofT. Like trains and buses and trams and people. Urban Transit Planning.
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€89 for a tram stop sign!? I love the public detail about all the costs of a transit project. Compare that to Canada where the costs of anything is treated like a top-secret matter of national security.
Teamsters are truck drivers, right? Why is the transit unions not as supportive of workers? Is this due to the hyperlocal nature of transit operations which means that it very much depends on your employing agency and city?
The Queensland LibNats must keep f***ing up.
Absolutely trains are cool. But buses are too (just they don’t work better as pretend trains). And there’s lots of other things governments need to spend on (like mental health, education, healthcare, defence, etc) so minimizing operating costs (the never ending cost of running) is very important.
Even more importantly from a financial perspective, trains are less labour intensive. Employing staff costs a lot of money in developed countries (unlike in say Latin America, where higher unemployment means employers can be less competitive), so trains running with fewer staff per rider costs less.
I was speaking rather generally. There are some express suburban trains in Australia that are less useful. This would also be the case here in North America if/when we start running our trains several times an hour. At decent frequencies, an express would end of catching up with the local in front.
I have become convinced in a lot of cases express suburban trains are less useful that they sound. It’s like vibes-based service planning. It feels faster as an “express” but the reality of fitting it between all stations services (plus any track or station limitations) means it actually isn’t much.
If the Sydney Opera House were built in Toronto, it would be the Loblaws House or the Rogers Hall.
He says good afternoon sir/madam to all pedestrians and cyclists he passes and waves at anyone waiting for the bus. He has no blind spot so he must be a very safe driver in that car.
Did they shift the upper and lower pair of lights offside slightly?
Removing the perfectly horizontal ones blocked by the gantry in front for signal sighting reasons?
In World History class, I had to read Mein Kampf. I was honestly surprised how any decently intelligent foreign officer in the UK could read said book and not predict WW2. Did Neville Chamberlain or his advisors never actually read the guy’s writings?
Let me guess, they’re doing nothing about the cars speeding or running red lights nearby?
But frequently when people (aka politicians) say BRT they mean just painting a lane red and call it rapid transit.
The 90% benefit for 0.01% of the cost is when comparing apples and oranges: dedicated median LRT with curb bus but they’re not the same benefit. Curb bus lanes still have friction with parking, driveways, cyclists, and right turning that LRT doesn’t and isn’t self-enforcing like rails (exposed).
Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II would have approved (she had nine corgis).
Cue the Holt Swimming Pool swim instructors explaining to parents that their youngster won’t get lost in the water like the pool’s namesake.
Ohh he sure is. But at least we can laugh at has horrid ness unlike some other horrid people like Trump. Also the Katter Party doesn’t exactly have any other sitting MPs, so he’s a lone crazy wolf.
Alberta has to do its job of being the worst provincial government in the confederation. Mission: Being better? Impossible for UCP.
It is in most civilized countries like Canada and Australia.
Bob Katter’s silliness is great though (a comic relief for politics). His speech about man-eating crocodiles when asked about gay marriage is quite something (though if you’re concerned with crocodiles then why waste time voting against gay marriage). bsky.app/profile/bats...
Australia did it in a matter of several weeks. New Zealand did too. bsky.app/profile/jack...
Finnish history is fascinating. They were part of the Russian empire until fighting for their independence while Russia was preoccupied with its civil war. Following that it fought several wars with the Soviet Union to maintain its independence, including a short lived alliance with the Nazis.
Sydney has both daily and weekly caps.
By the way, Welcome to Canada. Bienvenue au Canada. Hope you have fun in Toronto.
In comparison, Australia with 7 states and two territories has only 9 police services: Australian Federal Police plus one for each state and territory. Canada has one federal police force that also does provincial policing in all but two provinces plus municipal police and railway police.
The trains in Helsinki say airport and central station in three languages (Finnish, Swedish, and English). The other stations are just announced in both Finnish and Swedish, which weirdly differs quite significantly in place names. For example, Bole is the Swedish name for a station called Pasila.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve not heard of active shooter drills in Canadian or Australian schools or really any other advanced nation. America needs politicians like Australia’s John Howard and Rob Borbidge who do right despite the political consequences, even from their own supporters.
Though Mr. Borbidge has never held public office after losing the state election largely because of his stance and just tends sheep, he does not regret supporting the enactment of the National Firearms Agreement (NFA). Since then, Australia has had almost no mass-shooting. Gun control works.
Just a reminder that after one mass shooting in Australia in 1996 at a historic site, the conservative PM John Howard pushed through legislation to enact national federal firearm regulations and restrictions, with the support of state premiers (including Rob Borbidge of QLD who lost next election)
So sorry for you guys. Transit needs its funding to run its services. Are the trains standing room only even at off-peak times?
Excellent article today in UrbanToronto regarding the King Street priority corridor. After 7 years of transit priority, the street remains unchanged, with no timeline for when improvements are coming. This is low hanging fruit and the city is failing big time. urbantoronto.ca/news/2025/08...
Selfies while driving are illegal (or should be).
I wonder how that would compare with Canadian systems which all run on POP (even the poor service West Coast Express and Montreal EXO). How do they have two person crews though? GO Transit needs two crew members in the cab plus a third (customer service ambassador) to open the doors.
I’m Canadian and don’t get the US National Guard but my understanding is they’re volunteer reserves who do this on top of normal jobs.
Police is Australia (like in Canada) are subject to state disciplinary and complaint review Law Enforcement Complaints Commission , so their are established procedures to address grievances and misconduct. Authorized officers are dressed as normal staff and only check tickets and issue fines.
For example, in the 2010s, NSW replaced RailCorp security officers with the NSW Police Force’s Public Transport Command to ensure better oversight and address allegations of misconduct and excessive force and unarmed non-confrontational staff called “authorized officers” for fare enforcement.
TCRP is US funded so focuses on US examples. International takeaways are also important. Such as: prompt cleaning/removal of vandalism; staff presence on transit; and accountability structures for transit security personnel.
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The budget is ♾️. A cost overrun of 💯% on ♾️ is still ♾️!
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Is she federal or state? Unlike Canada, Australia weirdly calls both MPs.
A benefit of having disused but fully functional ghost stations or ghost platforms (like Bay Lower) is that you can do such practice without inconveniencing or alarming passengers. Bag Lower is widely used for filming, practice by Canadian police and fire services, and (as mentioned) the military.
To be clear, the soldiers were unarmed and live ammunition was not used. This was a training exercise. The only armed people on the Toronto Subway are the local Toronto Police Service. The timing of this was interesting though, as it was just a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Only example I have heard of Canadian military deployed to mass transit in Canada was in 2022, when the 48th Highlanders Reserve of Toronto did army urban warfare practice at Bay Lower, a ghost station attached to an operating TTC station (but they were just using it to access the closed station).
For fun we could give Forces Canada some electro-diesel locomotives and rail cars for use on the Alto HSR line and existing national rail lines to transport equipment. Give CAF members free travel on VIA and HSR too, particularly if travelling for military duty. Extend the Barrie GO to CFB Borden.
The other thing is NATO seems open to counting massive infrastructure investment as military investment. Investment in infrastructure could make trade and communication within Canada cheaper/quicker/easier than cross border to the USA, also insulating our economy and institutional continuity from US
Any soldiers who like trains probably love being assigned to the metro. Trains and tanks are both big machines, so may attract similar strands of nerd.
So a Z class tram (Australians call them trams because that’s the proper way). Those trams will be replaced in the next couple years by new Alstom G class trams so Yarra Trams (currently operated by Transdev John Holland Yarra Journey Makers) can have a fully accessible fleet.
Probably better for national security reasons (makes Canadians stand out more from Americans as autumn is more common in the UK and Australia).
I guess that’s one idea of small government (it’s just one dude) versus small government that is limited in its powers, accountable to the people and other government entities that check each other.
I expect the Secret Service and FBI will raid UPRR headquarters in a matter of days (maybe they can throw some charges of delaying Amtrak and commuter trains on top of that)?
Speeding is the number one cause of road crashes worldwide, especially crashes involving pedestrians. What if we lowered the speed limit on city streets to 30km/h? This literature review shows us how that one change saves lives.
What good are they doing there? WMATA already has its own armed security (the two “special police” guys in hi-viz vests) so they’re not even useful from a security or deterrence perspective.
Taitaet has a good video on Wellington’s rail network for those whose tongue has been wetted now by this revelation (Wellington is smaller than both Ottawa and Canberra, two cities which lack electrified suburban rail). m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdf9...
Did you know Wellington New Zealand has an electric suburban rail system? Well now you do, and their contracted private operator (Transdev Australia New Zealand @transdev.bsky.social) has moved into a shared control centre with KiwiRail, which manages the infrastructure and intercity services.
Glad you found it. My mom lost hers on an international flight two years ago.
Neat comparison with Uvalde: Almost two years later, in April 2024, a guy started stabbing people dead at a mall in Sydney with a sword-like knife. A lone police officer, without a bulletproof vest or any backup yet, went into the mall and pursued the suspect, shooting him. Because it was her job.
Ticket machines and payment apps aren’t as expensive as they seem in the long-run.
The opposition NDP (who don’t like P3s) and liberals (who first proposed all this) also have a chance to use this as a club to beat Ford in the 2029ish election while concern about Metrolinx management and high costs relative to European/asian comparators is coming up among laypeople on both sides.
My hope is that Toronto has an army of transit advocates both in the profession (who eventually will replace the dying old heads) and not, who care deeply about this and spend most of their advocacy on it and a few other things (since we don’t have to fight for survival like in the states).
The public parts are: - Metrolinx, who thinks they’re experts and smarter than the Germans (who they kept changing requirements and expectations on only to blame for being late), wants to rephrase/refine the project to be manageable - The Bush trainshed won’t fit overhead wires without being raised.
GO electrification isn’t canceled, it’s just messed up for a mix of incompetence, heritage, and trying to save money while wasting money. Electrification will still happen but take far longer than it should and maybe with an attempt at battery trains in the USRC (which will probably not work out).
@ttchelps.bsky.social @mayoroliviachow.ca we need to do this in Toronto with our street running streetcars like King Street, Queen Street, Dundas Street, and College Street.
Not surprised. Canadian mass transit kicks ass. Comparing ourselves with the USA is basically useless. How do the boardings per hour compare with Calgary CTrain, Edmonton LRT, Canberra Metro, Sydney Light Rail, GLink, and Newcastle Light Rail?
The best part is the karma of the cranes that the TTC uses to remove the cars. They use rail-mounted cranes with grab hooks that will total the car in the process of extracting it, grabbing it, lifting it, carrying it, and dumping it. Many adjectives describe them, gentle is not one.
And flashing amber and red lights. What part of the words “Danger”, “Do Not Enter”, “Streetcars Only”, and flashing lights do you not understand!?
So that emergency vehicles like police cars and ambulances and fire trucks can use the bike lane to get to incidents quickly by getting around car traffic. A similar approach is taken in other places like the Netherlands.
I had a similar thing except I was afraid of the walk across campus to the subway station when there was this guy who was dumping buckets of 💩 on people. I got campus police to walk me to the station (a service they offer) and then a couple days later Toronto Police arrested the peepeepoopoo man.
I’m learning to drive right now (my G2 road test is this Friday) and the scariest part is the impatient drivers behind me (even honking once IIRC) when I try to stop appropriately at stop signs, turn carefully, travel the speed limit, stop behind streetcar doors, and otherwise FOLLOW THE DAMN LAW!
At least in Ontario, speed cameras are only allowed in community safety zones so the environment dictates low speed because of the presence of children, seniors, and families in a complicated road environment full of transit vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, trees, playing, and other vehicles.
54 in a 40 is not a little bit over, it’s over a third more than the posted speed limit. A little bit over would be like 42 or 43. And it makes a big difference, every K over is a killer when it comes to reaction times and braking distances, as Sgt. Peter Bellion of Victoria Police explains for TAC.
I heard the phone number given on anti-human trafficking posters in the US is that of ICE. Which is an interesting choice compared to Canada, which advertises a specialist hotline that is not run by law enforcement (but will report to police if required) and is only mostly government-funded.
Not related but can I say that those are nice next stop screens in NYC. Seem to have more useful information and colourful interface than those in Toronto which dedicate most space to blank space, logos, and “Welcome aboard”.
So they don’t carry assault rifles when patrolling the airport? Interesting because the police at French and German airports usually do and that’s fine with business travellers there.
So what are the upper houses in the state legislatures if they’re not senates? QLD is a weird state politically but I don’t quite get why. Is the rural population in QLD more significant relative to the SEQ urban population compared to other states (especially NSW where even Libs are pro-transit)?
Ohh the tollways are privately operated on long agreements with Transurban with guaranteed annual increases of 4%. The government of NSW had a hard enough time negotiating a cap on tolls.
Fun thing is with UK FOIs public agencies and FOI subjects release the data to the entire public not just the requesting person. So everyone can relish in the random data someone has requested (and filing requests is free of charge). @whatdotheyknow.bsky.social tracks most FOI requests & responses
Reminds me of when some guy filed an FOI with ScotRail and got an over two hour recording of every single automated announcement on the Scottish rail network publicly released to the world. Announcements range from the next station to a bomb on the tracks. simonwillison.net/2022/Aug/21/...
May I remind you Alberta that we are supposed to have universal publicly-funded healthcare. $100 for a medically recommended preventative treatment is not that. Is this a violation of the federal Canada Health Act too? bsky.app/profile/jack...
Similarly, Canada only has a senate at the federal level which (unlike the Australian federal and US senates) doesn’t have equal representation for provinces (but a strong eastern and urban province bias with ON and QC each having 24 senators while most get only 6 and NB and NS have 10 each).
The other benefit is the NSW senate is elected at large by the whole state through PR while the VIC senate is elected from eight regions, which are still reflective of population (five are metropolitan). That reduces the US issue of over representing low-population rural at the expense of urban.
Even the suburbanites need a train to the city when you have only a few motorways, most with eye-watering tolls (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane) where missing some toll payments could cost you very expensive fines and even jail time (VIC and QLD criminal justice system enforces private road tolls).
Frustrating to see similar problems across the country. Transit is such an efficient use of public money. thetyee.ca/News/2025/08...
Oh, and don't forget the transformation of its scarce rail infrastructure with virtually no passenger service (does it sound familiar, Canada?) into a fast, electrified suburban train line, Metrotren Nos, running every 8-12 minutes, with a second line now under construction involving a 3 km tunnel
I don't think Canadians realize how not only peer high-income countries but also middle-income ones surpass us in terms of capacity to build urban infrastructures. Santiago de Chile is not only building its 7th metro line and planning its 8th and 9th, it's also building a ton of u/g urban highways.
Sounds like a good approach. Unarmed inspectors with approachable uniform, graduated fines that escalate with number of offences, thus punishing repeat fare evaders (who cost the system the most). Will they have handheld readers for scanning Charlie cards and bank cards or mobile devices?
The MBTA is stepping up fare enforcement next month, with warnings and fines ranging from $50 to $150. The new effort comes amid recent concerns about a dramatic increase in fare evasion. But some transit advocates question if now is the right time. www.wbur.org/news/2025/08... @wbur.org
All but the last are real PSAs! Crying child: m.youtube.com/watch?v=SfAx... Grim reaper: m.youtube.com/watch?v=mSma... Twenty Years of TAC ads: m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2mf... Beware the Rhino: m.youtube.com/watch?v=wdeq... Dumb ways to die: m.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR... Zillions more on road safety!
You just burst the bubble at every state and federal agency in the Commonwealth of Australia. They won’t know what to do anymore. Marketing departments are crying. Government communications experts and public sector spokes people are contemplating suicide. What will we do without scary slogans!
What would we do without videos of a toddler crying at a train station, the grim reaper bowling at Aussie families, people getting hit by cars in rapid succession from all angles and directions, rhinos skateboarding down the street, jellybeans being sliced up by trains, truant teens being blown up!?
You just burst the bubble at every state and federal agency in the Commonwealth of Australia. They won’t know what to do anymore. Marketing departments are crying. Government communications experts and public sector spokes people are contemplating suicide. What will we do without scary slogans!
This is Canada. We’re suppose to have publicly funded healthcare free at point of service for all residents. Charging around $110 for some residents to access nationally-recommended medically necessary preventative treatment is going against those principles (and maybe the federal Canada Health Act)
Name of museum? I have to visit.
Adding a visual representation of the train as a row of rectangles with a triangle at the front would be useful in showing crowding and arrangement. You could colour code by crowding (green: lots of seats, yellow: few seats, red: no seats) and add arrow below the car that said screen is closest to.
What are those three tracks beyond the platform, a layover?
„how can [German] railways be timely again?“ There are two answers. Lots of new tracks (double and quad tracking, plus high speed lines) or simply run way fewer trains
More tracks can also prevent cancellations by giving more resiliency for delays. For instance on a single track railway with tight passing, if a train is delayed, you may need to just cancel it in order to keep service running and prevent deadlock. @wb62.bsky.social has an example of that on GO.
So you mean ads with lots of gory guts, mangled wreckage, broken glass, and slamming doors aren’t effective!?
Engineers should really improve their infographic communication skills. Every paper about transit policy or transit priority I've read has the most unreadable atrocious graphics I've ever seen. My eyes are bleeding.