On the design front, these kinds of super-scaled traditional vernacular buildings are interesting. Somehow both AI-ish and genuinely whimsical. A lot will depend on the craft of the exterior finishes.

Benjamin Schneider@benschneider.bsky.social · 7h ago

Last month, an SF Superior Court judge ruled that this 7-unit project at 1736 Filbert St. in the Marina District must be approved. The ruling overturned the city's determination that the project was not eligible for the State Density Bonus. No word yet on the timing of groundbreaking.

Last month, an SF Superior Court judge ruled that this 7-unit project at 1736 Filbert St. in the Marina District must be approved. The ruling overturned the city's determination that the project was not eligible for the State Density Bonus. No word yet on the timing of groundbreaking.

Great piece on the first coordinated city, state and MTA plan to bring true BRT to NYC. Seems like the biggest outstanding variable is bus procurement. Can these routes be designed for level boarding buses, with doors on both sides?

Streetsblog NYC@nyc.streetsblog.org · yesterday

It's time for BRT in NYC. nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/08/04/n...

Montgomery, AL perfectly illustrates this. In 1955, when Rosa Parks mounted her Bus Boycott, the transit system was **owned by a GM-affiliate** and ran several lines every 10 mins. In the 90s, fixed route bus service was eliminated. And now, no line runs more frequently than every 30 mins.

Benjamin Schneider@benschneider.bsky.social · 2d ago

Jake is right. I also wrote about this in my book, more from the political angle. I argue that the streetcar conspiracy was actually a convenient scapegoat for those who wanted to minimize government's role in transit's failure, and the racism of whites who abandoned integrated systems.

Jake is right. I also wrote about this in my book, more from the political angle. I argue that the streetcar conspiracy was actually a convenient scapegoat for those who wanted to minimize government's role in transit's failure, and the racism of whites who abandoned integrated systems.

Jake Berman@lostsubways.com · 3d ago

this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

Philadelphia Watch Case Company Building, Riverside, NJ

Progressive LA Mayoral Candidate Nithya Raman told Vanity Fair that her main difference with DSA is on housing. www.vanityfair.com/story/nithya...

Call it de-gentrification: A neighborhood economic development success story — or a searing symbol of growing urban inequality — whose fortunes have suddenly turned. In the long arc of urban history, neighborhoods experience many ups and downs. www.planetizen.com/features/138...

Is this the first wave of de-gentrification?

Valencia, Temescal, H Street and the fickle fortunes of the gentrified neighborhood.

planetizen.com

Very cool project on the Geary Subway from @infrastructureweak.bsky.social, doing the kind of public analysis that gov should be doing. The public ought to be able to understand the tradeoffs of transit planning so they can push politicians to pursue the best ideas. medium.com/@infrastruc...

Geary metro, purpose-built for SF

Part 2: East Bay connection, downtown alignment, and the yard

medium.com

Unfortunately, this document does not describe the benefits from the Dekalb Interlocking project. That should also make service on the B/D/N/Q/R lines faster and potentially more frequent, but the MTA hasn't published those projections.

Benjamin Schneider@benschneider.bsky.social · last wk.

The MTA's Nostrand Junction improvements are expected to reduce travel times on this section of the 2/3 and 4/5 by 45-60 seconds and improve reliability for all of the lines' 1.2 million riders. future.mta.info/documents/el...

The MTA's Nostrand Junction improvements are expected to reduce travel times on this section of the 2/3 and 4/5 by 45-60 seconds and improve reliability for all of the lines' 1.2 million riders. future.mta.info/documents/el...

This is really good. Of all the transit modes that need a "Fair Fares" program the most, commuter rail has to top the list. It's deliberately exclusionary pricing often drives people to take alternate, slower modes.

Tri-State Transportation Campaign@tstc.bsky.social · last wk.

New Jersey riders shouldn’t have to choose between paying for transit and basic needs. That’s why today we’re launching the Fair Fares NJ Campaign to demand real transit affordability! ➡️ Take Action Now and tell Trenton it’s time to invest in riders: www.fairfaresnj.org/individual-a...

There's some truth here: Transit projects cost too much and the urban transportation market is getting more competitive. Withholding transit grant money, as the Trump admin is doing, addresses neither of those things, of course. But what would help? t.co/cZmiMFc6yf

Very interesting idea that could be useful for AV management at all times: "It would also direct NHTSA to establish a way for public officials to issue notices that digitally fence off certain areas for self-driven cars during an emergency." www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

San Francisco mayor backs national robotaxi rules after Waymo meltdowns

July 4 traffic jams and power outage malfunctions have prompted public scrutiny of self-driving cars in the tech-industry town.

politico.com

All over the transit industry, zero-emission bus mandates, like those of California, are colliding with Buy America requirements that deny US transit agencies access to a competitive bus market. The result is a wave of lousy buses that are impacting service. 1/ nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/07/27/b...

Battery Drain: MTA Trims New Flyer Electric Bus Order Amid Tech Growing Pains - Streetsblog New York City

The MTA will buy 85 fewer electric buses as its manufacturer tries to sort out a way to keep them in service without breaking down.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Just attach JP Morgan's private railcar to the end of the Amtrak. Much nicer than a helicopter. uncommonmotors.com/jp-morgans-p...

Defector@defector.com · last wk.

LeBron James should just take the train to his new job: defector.com/lebron-james...

The SF Planning Commission approved this project yesterday. Here's what the city's planning director had to say about it:

Benjamin Schneider@benschneider.bsky.social · 4w ago

One of the first projects to show the impacts of SF's recent upzoning. 8 stories, 8 units, in a mostly 2-3 story area. sfyimby.com/2026/07/rend...

Look at Toronto's bikeshare ridership growth and expansion plans. Clearly there's huge demand.

Interesting data from @micromobilityco.bsky.social's recent bikeshare webinar. 44% of all commute hour Lyft rides in NYC happen on Citibike In DC, it's 24%, and in Boston and Chicago, it's 20%. Bikeshare is now a serious mode of transportation in major cities.

Social democracies around the world tend to have broad-based and, believe it or not, fairly regressive tax systems. But leading Democrats want America's tax base to be narrower and more progressive. Can this tax policy coexist with a bigger, stronger welfare state?

To build a robust social democracy, just taxing the wealthy won’t be enough

remappingdebate.org

NEW: Metro just released renderings of platform doors they want to put in Red Line stations as part of a huge modernization project. They hope to install the automated doors as early as a couple years from now - they say they'll be safer & prevent falls onto the tracks. #wmata

Time to repost this @benschneider.bsky.social article! This woman predicted that a policy decision was going to result in mass homelessness. She was right.

106 Years Ago She Predicted Today’s Housing Crisis. What if we’d Listened?

In 1919, Edith Elmer Wood drew the connection between ratcheting minimum housing standards and an inevitable crisis of homelessness. Her predictions have proved eerily accurate.

planetizen.com

mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 2w ago

i think people look at homelessness as a relatively new phenomenon and reason backwards to think that in the Before Times, poor people must've all been able to afford houses/their own apartments etc. Most of the housing types the poor used were actually just outlawed (boarding houses, SROs etc)

Social democracies across the world fund their welfare states through broad-based taxation, where everyone pays in and everyone receives benefits. As Democrats embrace middle class tax cuts, their tax policy and social policy goals are increasingly at odds. www.remappingdebate.org/node/2510

To build a robust social democracy, just taxing the wealthy won’t be enough

remappingdebate.org

"It's worth dwelling on the significance of this finding. In studying how to improve other lines, planners wouldn’t even consider replicating what works on the NEC, the nation's one really successful passenger train line. That's a shanda." -- www.planetizen.com/features/138...

Why are America's trains so slow?

A brief historical inquiry.

planetizen.com

"The infrastructure we have inherited, had we consistently upgraded and funded it like the Europeans have done with theirs, would allow many old-mainline U.S. cities to deliver passenger rail service that rivals what's found abroad." — @ndhapple.bsky.social www.planetizen.com/features/138...

Why are America's trains so slow?

A brief historical inquiry.

planetizen.com

What the heck is going on with Valley Link, the BART connector line in the far East Bay? Here's some info from the June project meeting. The project has steadily shrunk. The initial segment will terminate in Livermore, without providing service over the Altamont Pass.

dereksagehorn.bsky.social@dereksagehorn.bsky.social · 3w ago

The first/last mile ATP plans for Valley Link stations are really bleak. granicus-aasmp-peak-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/atta...

US homeownership rate is conventionally described as being ~ 65%. But that measure fails to take into account the large number of adults living in homes where *other* adults actually own the homes. People like young adults, elderly, friends. Once you account for that, the rate declines to… 53%.

New homeownership measure puts people first | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

An alternative way of calculating the homeownership rate tells us how many individuals own their homes—something the most commonly used metric fails to track

minneapolisfed.org

Wild chart from the FRA's Penn Station report. Penn's dwell times are an extreme outlier compared to other big city stations. Its platforms are also the narrowest among peer stations, though not dramatically so.

🚨 Eye candy alert 🚨 How do we add more homes to our existing leafy, quiet, 50'-wide residential lots? @lanefab.com has a gorgeous idea.

In Pictures: The Possibilities of Vancouver’s New Villages Plan | Sightline Institute

The Four/Five design prioritizes green space, daylight, affordability, and accessibility—all for greater connection and community.

sightline.org

"In 2025, Chinese railways carried 4.601 billion passenger trips and 1.640 trillion passenger-km. Civil aviation carried 770 million passengers and 1.399 trillion passenger-km... China is moving people by rail where rail works, using aviation where it remains necessary."

China Is Making Boeing Optional - CleanTechnica

China is shifting dense short routes to rail, building COMAC and treating Boeing and Airbus as conditional capacity in an aerospace-sovereignty strategy.

cleantechnica.com