San Francisco came within a single vote of saving the Embarcadero Freeway from demolition.
I like trains and walkable neighborhoods. https://linktr.ee/thetransitguy
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San Francisco came within a single vote of saving the Embarcadero Freeway from demolition.
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Here's how to help and stop them docs.google.com/document/d/1...
I DESPERATELY NEED YOUR HELP. REPUBLICAN COMMISSIONERS ON THE NYC BOARD OF ELECTIONS ARE TRYING TO STOP THE THREE PROPOSALS TO MAKE 100% AFFORDABLE HOUSING EASIER TO BUILD BECAUSE THEY KNOW VOTERS WILL PASS IT. PLEASE HELP.
IBX is the newest rapid rail line in NYC almost a century. My thoughts🧵 thetransitguy.substack.com/p/a-review-t...
I think this is more that NEC Regional stops more than the Acela, hence why it's slower.
You. are. brilliant. I was looking at ORM the whole time
I’m looking for a nationwide map of U.S. rail track standards. Specifically, how can I tell whether a given segment is FRA Class V? Any pointers to datasets or maps would be appreciated!
The next Ohio Rail Development Commission meeting is 9/18 at 11 am. It’s on Zoom. Please register on their website and leave a public comment. They are presenting and voting on the State Rail Plan, and it grossly underaddresses passenger rail @allaboardohio.org rail.ohio.gov/about-ordc/c...
Follow @allaboardohio.org and support their work
Ohio, with an economy the size of Switzerland, runs just 48 trains a week. Switzerland runs 77,000. Over the next four years, Ohio will spend $2.45 million on trains, against $6.7 billion for roads and highways. Meanwhile, here’s what became of Dayton’s train station: Dayton Daily News Archive
Brightline West, a 220 mph rail service connecting the LA Metro to Las Vegas, is to break ground by the end of the year. I'll take any high-speed rail we can get!
I didn't realize Amtrak has eminent domain powers? When have they used that?
Does Amtrak have the teeth or legal authority to propose this on their own?
So NEC future has nothing to do with Amtrak on paper?
So who was the governing body trying to push it through?
What other cities should try this? @bloombergdotorg.bsky.social @boston.gov www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/04/m... www.wbur.org/news/2025/06...
Boston students can lose up to two weeks of learning time due to being stuck in traffic. Now, as one of 50 finalists in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, the city is piloting a new solution: using AI to give buses priority green lights, and get students to school on time.
So much housing and development in my neighborhood that the queens bus network redesign rerouted two buses a block away from my apartment. It’s good to match transit with evolving development patterns!
Everyone upset the Acela runs as slow as Japan’s 1970s trains: Amtrak had a plan 15 years ago to straighten tracks in CT & RI. A few thousand wealthy locals killed it, costing us 25 minutes in time savings between Boston and NYC.
Like I get the governor hates transit but can we not?
Hit 7000 subs on substack. Truly grateful for y’all 🥹
The Republican gerrymander in North Carolina meant that Harris’s 47.65% vote share translated into only 21% of congressional seats.
Here’s a graph showing the cost to avoid cutting service on 78% of Rhode Island’s bus routes compared to the state budget:
What I’ve Learned From Getting Transit Wrong - usa.streetsblog.org/2025/08/28/w... via @usa.streetsblog.org and @thetransitguy.com
I’ll have more thoughts soon on thetransitguy.substack.com
Sometimes talking endlessly about trains online. The new Acelas are gorgeous.
www.governing.com/urban/oregon... @bloombergdotorg.bsky.social
Inspired by the success of Bridge Meadows' intergenerational housing, city leaders, as finalists of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, will tackle high costs & restrictive zoning. The goal: clear the way for more walkable, community-led developments. More of this, please.
The MARTA rail system changes over the last 25 years, during which the Atlanta metro area’s population has expanded by 50%.
Replacing a single surface parking lot at a small suburban Michigan outlet mall could create homes for 2,750 people instead.
While the 6th-largest city’s transit system utterly collapses, here’s a gentle reminder that the Pennsylvania Turnpike has $17.37 billion in debt on the books, for all those who think roads and highways make money.
Someone recently asked me what feeling I’d love to experience, and I can only wish I could know what it’s like to conduct an orchestra and chorus at the crescendo of a gorgeous piece or aria in some cathedral. How about you?
Oklahoma City, a city with a Republican mayor and city council, located in a deep-red Trump +34 state, has a violent crime rate 25% higher than Chicago’s. Not sure why they aren't on the list?
It takes 4 hours and 23 minutes to get from Boston to NYC by train, when high-speed rail like Spain’s could do it in just 2 hours. I will never understand how we find this acceptable as a country?
On an overnight flight with no wifi, I figured I tell you all what I got wrong about transit, and the lessons learned along the way: thetransitguy.substack.com/p/confession...
What was something about transit and cities you were wrong about? I'll start...
When I’m abroad visiting any developed country, I always notice the fast trains and robust rail systems that the world’s largest economy seemingly doesn’t have.
We just used to build cities like this and then decided soulless strip malls and endless subdivisions would be better.
My thoughts exactly
Has anyone used Croatia’s rail system because I have thoughts…
Texas will spend $146 Billion on more roads and highways while its biggest city’s train station looks like this:
The rail map of Columbus, OH, a city of nearly one million people:
*Me 4600 miles away from NYC on vacation on a tiny island in Europe* What the bar has on tv:
It took 20 years to restore rail service between Mobile and New Orleans after Katrina. I’m happy to see any rail restoration, but let’s be clear: no highway would have ever taken this long to be restored.
I love how bright and open the trains are in Europe. Anyone know which metro this is?
My first ever funicular ride. Guess where?
What if we built a Chick-fil-A drive-through and a Walmart with a massive parking lot here instead?
The perfecta place doesn’t exis-
Just give every city and town a few streets like this and see the response.
Barcelona has transformed 160 intersections into public spaces, and I think every city should implement superblocks like this immediately.
Now obviously I’m riding trains in Barcelona
Amtrak was so delayed that family members of mine were going to miss their flight in Boston and had to Uber instead, and have sworn off trains as a result. It’s bad experiences that can turn off people to transit, and we need to be mindful of that reality.
Took 62 minutes tonight to go from NYC to Stamford via Amtrak, sorry I have lofty expectations that the nation's busiest rail corridor goes faster than 33 miles per hour.
Like 10-ish but you cannot go down until the train is at the platform lol
Oh I do literally exclusviely lmao
The country’s busiest rail station has the worst boarding protocol I’ve ever seen ever. Please widen the platforms at Penn Station, this is so embarrassing.
I always take the first and most packed one, so it’s interesting to see people do the opposite of me.
Something I find fascinating is that when trains come frequently enough, people will take the train that leaves a few minutes later instead of the packed one that leaves now.
Today, Secretary Duffy said he wouldn't fund high-speed rail projects due to them "not having the means to go the distance". Hours later, he announced plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon.
Twitter is so cooked because what do you mean N*zi's are retweeting my posts talking about how walkable cities cannot be diverse... sigh...
I’m sorry what do you mean the busiest pedestrian crossing in the western hemisphere isn’t closed off to cars?
If we are just talking about the structure and bones of the system, WMATA or BART are the best transit systems in the country, right?
lol
Today, Los Angeles and the Bay Area will see 130 flights in both directions, equivalent to a plane departing every 6.5 minutes for 18 hours a day. Hard to argue it's not a perfect candidate for fast trains.
This is the urban transit system for a Swiss metro area of 1 million people, the same size as Rochester or Omaha.
What is the best small train station in the world? I'm talking about like an unmanned station that is replicable and great.
When I tell you we HAD the greatest rail system in the world, I meant it. (Omaha's Old & New Rail Station)
No but actually
😂
When very well used bus lanes are asphalt and not reinforced concrete, the wheels of buses over time will destroy them. (Fifth ave)
Two cities of nearly equal population, with one built before and the other after the car.
Did a car write this?
Enjoying a nice walk after work to unwind after a long day!
I'm traveling the Mediterranean next month and I will be insufferable about the transit and urbanism, FYI.
In my latest Substack article (linked in my story), I write about "Where We Vacation Reveals What We’ve Lost" and the cognitive dissonance of vacationing in places built with policies we largely forbid at home. thetransitguy.substack.com/p/where-we-v...
If Disney World's Main Street were a town, it would be the 50th densest in the country, and its density would nearly justify a subway station.
I know it’s been said a million different ways but Moyinhan’s lack of seating and efficient boarding protocol is so silly.
You will literally never guess what project document called to gut the scientific arm of the EPA.
TxDOT displaced 160 homes, 433 apartments, 486 public housing units, 5 churches, and 344 businesses in Downtown Houston, costing up to $310M in annual tax revenue, for a $1.1 BILLION-per-mile highway expansion. But somehow, the U.S. “can’t afford” trains?
The USA has spent $2.85 Trillion on roads and highways in the last decade and traffic still hasn’t been fixed.
Cities are where strangers meet.
I just think US cities with more than 1 million people should have urban cores with a population larger than a small suburb.
www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...
A slow daily diesel train between Minneapolis and Chicago sees 100,000 more riders than it was projected to see when it opened a year ago, and you all want to tell me there’s no demand for fast and frequent trains in this country lol.
What would you say is the best, smallest transit system in your country?
Obama coming out against NIMBYism was not on my BINGO card.
lol
The amount of prime real estate for dense housing next to major train stations in this country is absolutely insane. (Newark)
What if our cities had more color? This proposed project in Vlore, Albania is stunning. (📷 Mir)
Point Roberts, WA is fascinating because what do you mean there’s a U.S. town of 1,200 people that’s only accessible from Canada?
The DOT secretary will also be the interim head of NASA? Lol?
Solar is a "blight on our country" Meanwhile Coal:
We need an act of congress to stop them from making this into a movie 😭
Literally so stupid
What is the biggest city with an OK food scene?
If Downtown Dallas's highways were overlaid onto London:
What cities have the most underutilized waterfronts?
If Penn Station had to adhere to Draper, UT's parking requirements, the minimum amount of parking needed would be 90,000 parking spaces. If laid out, the parking lot would cover 108 city blocks and would take 27 minutes, or an 11-minute subway ride, to get from end to end.
I hope you all have a safe and happy fourth ❤️🎆