Fun find this afternoon: In 1957, the Port Authority did the engineering work to link the downtown PATH to the Lexington Avenue subway local tracks.

Pennsylvania just paid $200m for one additional passenger round-trip from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. Colorado is paying ~$100m per round-trip (on a route 1/4 the length of PA’s). At these prices, the “low-hanging fruit” of US intercity pax rail expansion are a lot higher up than they appear.

Edward Russell@byerussell.com · 4mo ago

Colorado has a tentative agreement with BNSF for passenger rail service between Denver and Fort Collins via Boulder. Est. upfront costs are $333mn for 3 daily Denver-Fort Collins roundtrips funded by state and local sources. It’s described as a starter service. www.cpr.org/2026/04/08/t...

This is my grandfather at work back in the 80s. He was a test pilot at Grumman starting from the LEM and continuing all the way up until the late 90s. You may know him from his work as the Apollo suit test dummy, or helping launch the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island.

quiet part, out loud:

Blair Lorenzo / The Fox and the City@thefoxandthecity.com · 5mo ago

There is also the idea that a diesel locomotive pulling coaches is a "Real Train™" and anything that makes a line more metro-like is not actually Railroading™. ...Bluesky might be right and this is something else that is Gender.

Anyone have any good sources on the crafting of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (a.k.a. PRIIA, a.k.a. the law that governs much of intercity pax rail planning) and/or on federal politics around Amtrak more generally in the 2000s?

There's probably a story to be told here about American railroads not really caring a whole lot for suburban operations which create the very high train volumes you might try to design a station around specifically.

Marco Chitti@chittimarco.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I can't draw any more circulation plan diagrams today (I'm dreaming of arrows and lines at night), so I made a quick visualization of my pet theory: "North America inherited teeny tiny main stations, with short platforms and narrow throats, and that's a problem for rail planning."

Anyone have any good sources on the crafting of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (a.k.a. PRIIA, a.k.a. the law that governs much of intercity pax rail planning) and/or on federal politics around Amtrak more generally in the 2000s?

One of my favorite people to work with is in need of financial support after a horrific incident. If you've been an Amtrak employee or customer, and have ridden the cardinal, you likely know Heather. If you can, please donate to help her recover. www.gofundme.com/f/rally-for-...

Donate to Rally for Heather Steele: A True Union Sister in Need, organized by Brian Halko

Support Sister Heather Steele: A SMART-TD Conductor Injured Protecti… Brian Halko needs your support for Rally for Heather Steele: A True Union Sister in Need

gofundme.com

Sunday evening reminder: I'm hiring! Job posting closes Christmas Eve, so if you're interested, get your application in now. I promise the work is meaningful and mostly fun :-)

Sandy Johnston@sandypsj.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Big news: I am hiring! We're looking for a Senior Project Coordinator to join the Strategic Transit Planning team at the MBTA and work on regional coordination, long-range strategy, change management, and multimodal planning. www.governmentjobs.com/careers/mbta...

No disrespect to Balko and his work against the militarized policing, but this is backwards. It’s otherwise progressive people who drop their principles to defend our system of auto dependence and backfill equity or anti-carceral justifications for it.

Radley Balko@radleybalko.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I think it was a huge mistake to make our society so car-dependent. But man. The Discourse today is a good reminder that when it comes to roadways policy, otherwise progressive anti-car people quickly become some of the most pro-carceral, anti-civil liberties people on the planet.

Such an elemental yet overlooked reality of planning. If you don't: - Design a new route to add value to the network overall - Make changes to the existing network to incorporate the new asset ...you're kneecapping yourself. A key part of transit hist: homesignalblog.wordpress.com/2024/07/12/t...

The Forgotten History of Light Rail

For the last century, the central question of American transit planning has been how best to serve our suburbs. As people moved out of urban cores, bought cars, and began living decentralized lifes…

homesignalblog.wordpress.com

Ben S@bensh3.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The forced bus transfers are an underrated part of REM's success rather than inconvenience, and it's instructive to compare to PATCO: although they share similarities in land use and orientation, NJ Transit was never forced to divert its buses going direct to Philly; PATCO ridership never broke 40k

I think it's shameful that during a second Trump administration, and after NYC voters rejected a return to moderate, conciliatory governance, that a Democrat would tout the entirety of the Council's Republican caucus as her supporters.

Chris Sommerfeldt@c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Menin says she'll work with Mamdani "on a shared agenda that makes New York more affordable." GOP members backing Menin, tho, are likely to look to her to be a check on Mamdani. Vickie Paladino said she's with Menin because she "understands all perspectives." www.nydailynews.com/2025/11/26/j...

Back in spring, I made final images of some of the buildings slated for demolition along the path of the Red Line Extension. These were captured over a monthlong span when demolition permits were getting greenlit, wrecking crews finally dispatching after asbestos remediation and utility shutoffs.

The US Steel Edgar Thomson Works plant is a fantastic photo subject, and I was lucky enough to catch a Union Railroad movement with nice backlighting when I visited there recently. www.flickr.com/gp/traing33k...

I've had zero to do with it other than watching as an Orange Line rider, but rapid implementation of dropbacks on the OL is one of the coolest things I've seen in my time at the MBTA. From a process improvement exploration project to full-bore implementation in just a few months.

Nik DeCosta-Klipa@nikdecostaklipa.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The MBTA confronts an "unintended consequence" of all its recent Orange Line improvements: traffic www.wbur.org/news/2025/11... @wbur.org

very cool system, but it’s always seemed a bizarre choice that the rem is not identified as part of the metro system, even moreso now that it’s expanded. i know that rem is legally, technically its own thing but come on: it’s really just more metro!

august 🍂@auguststreet.ca · 9mo ago

the biggest section of the REM (and imo the most important phase) opened today, basically extending a highway-median suburban branch into a full-fledged 50 km north-south metro across the montreal region montreal now has a 119-kilometre metro system with 87 stations, by far the largest in canada!

I am continually impressed by Alissa's coverage of LA transportation and also how insane LA's transportation spending is.

Alissa Walker@awalkerinla.bsky.social · 10mo ago

LA is building a new $1.5 billion freeway into LAX. The very same airport where we just spent $2 billion on the people mover — actually, more like $3 billion, plus another $900 million if you count Metro's investment in the LAX station; so let's just say $4 billion — to make cars go away

For decades, everyone has been wondering: would the Pittsburgh Skybus actually have worked? 50 years after the project was canceled, we have the tools* (Subway Builder) to find out. (*This is, at best, half-serious.)

New Haven’s fascinating parkitecture, part 2

Vishnu Reddy@vishnu.red · 11mo ago

I am a parking hater but I can’t deny that New Haven has some good-looking parking structures

hakeem jeffries sees his highest political calling as sniping on brooklyn democratic factional battles and new yorkers should have the opportunity to vote to free up his calendar so he can devote more time to that

RAN after this driver to take a picture of his incredible vest!!! I want one so bad but he said they’re only available for MTA workers 🏆🚍🏆

there was a time when Seoul Metro management and local politicians balked at the idea of installing platform screen doors because of its cost. they pointed to the New York City MTA as an example as to why NOT install platform screen doors

sick public transit, gloria@seung.bsky.social · 11mo ago

new S(ubstack)-Bahn post: 20 years ago, Seoul was haggling over whether to install platform screen doors at its Metro stations. many called it a waste and an impossibility. now it’s at all Metro stations across South Korea. how did this transformation happen? www.substack-bahn.net/p/how-seoul-...

Read this eloquent and pained thread from my good friend and colleague @zagush.bsky.social. The pain caused by short-sighted decisions about transit in our society is immense. And as he says, in many cases choices to weaken transit make achieving policy goals literally impossible.

Zachary Agush@zagush.bsky.social · 12mo ago

I've watched every minute of the recorded oral comments & read the hundreds of written submissions to @ripta.com in response to the painful service reductions and segment and outright eliminations on the table. This 🧵 is strictly my own and is not an official RIPTA statement.

7) Pittsburgh: the second rail tunnel should connect the East and West Busways via Liberty Ave/former Wabash bridge alignment. Also capturing South Hills branch and a new one to Oakland/Hazelwood @struthious.bsky.social www.google.com/maps/d/edit?...

A lot has happened to PATH in the past 25 years -- 9/11, major construction work, COVID, etc. But consistent across all of these events have been ensuing reductions in off-pk service levels: since 2005, the number of PATH trips crossing the Hudson on Saturdays has fallen by *50%*

Free bus proponents have this default resignation over any possible efficiencies from buses in subway deserts, stemming from a general distrust of the transit agency. A mentality driven from austerity and not abundance. As someone who works in transit to make it better, this is hugely depressing!

Atrios@eschatonblog.com · last yr.

the MTA has a huge equity issue - the subway doesn't go everywhere - and free buses are one way to address that. transit nerd urbanists tend to skip the equity issue entirely and will tell you to increase bus service on high density routes - for efficiency

the republican party is a modern day Slave Power and the only way forward for this country is to sweep it into the ash heap of history

Sigh. Transit advocates have been asking for *years* for more resources to make buses better: Countdown clocks, car cameras, more service, accessibility training, sheltered bus stops, TPS, and so on. Free fares was never it and we're no closer to getting what we've BEEN asking for w/ this attitude.

“A mayor who sucks shit” was a four-year sociological experiment conducted by CUNY. The study has now concluded. Thank you for your participation.

We at the Daily News have been working without a contract for three years. Haven't had raises in more than five. We have no newsroom. No parental leave. We were issued laptops that can't hold a charge. All this while our owners at Alden Global Capital continue to turn a profit.

Daily News Union@nydnunion.bsky.social · last yr.

Over 120 former @nydailynews.com journalists have signed a new petition demanding that our bosses at New York’s Hometown Paper recognize our value and agree to a fair contract: nyguild.org/post/id-121-...