Markonthemaps (Mark Ovenden)
@markonthemaps.bsky.social
🌈 Author, broadcaster and lecturer in design, cartography, typography and architecture around public transport. Partner of ND 🌈♾️ person. Pro-Transit 🚆 🚃 🚋 🚟🚌 and ‘in transit’ from X as @markovenden.
Today: a Welsh-born professor who lived in China as a child and studied in Leeds and Taiwan! Dafydd Fell also presented a radio show in Taiwan, writes about party politics there and his book on the islands Sugar Railways is an absolute delight. Listen here: www.vectisradio.com/on-air/prese...
A few large heavy ‘steam rollers’ clearing bus lanes might put idiots like this off flouting the rules maybe? #TransitSky
James Austin@jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 6d agoWe should really just make citizen reporting of this sort of thing far easier? I get resourcing wardens etc is hard but if there was a easy way to upload people parking illegally etc. Then it'd be huge boon for councils and wider society
#TransitSky Anything to boost #publictransport simply has to be applauded. Sister who is incapacitated needs to take 3 buses to the hospital (an £18 per return trip) but with this: cut to £12 it’s more do-able. Ideally we need ‘hopper’ fares too (allowing bus changes within an hour). Good start tho.
Daily Herald #FBPE #NAFO 🇬🇧🇺🇦🇬🇱@dailyherald.bsky.social · 2w ago🚨 PICTURED: Andy Burnham unveils a "Funded by UK Government" bus to promote his £2 bus fare cap
Bowled over to be included in #Waterstones list of Summer26 pre-orders! If you know anyone who loves #transport and #cartography: maybe point them in this direction! www.waterstones.com/book/mapping... #TransitSky #UKRailways
When #hovercraft first flew they looked like #science-fiction. Historian and model-maker Ashley Hollebone has built unfeasible machines for #Hollywood from #JamesBond to #HarryPotter. Ashley explains his love of hovercraft and how they were developed. www.vectisradio.com/on-air/prese... #TransitSky
If we want better #publictransport: we have to fight for it. Direct from Oakland @carterlavin.bsky.social explains his great book and why we have to battle to get improvements. Listen: www.vectisradio.com/podcasts/cat... Get the book: www.islandpress.org/fight #TransitSky
This is the calmest I’ve ever seen the #EnglishChannel. There’s hundreds of miles of #ocean out there and was not a breath of wind and literally no waves. It felt like a sci-fi movie scene. Most disturbing! Videoed this morning at #Brook beach (where the #dinosaur footprints are).
Great article here on the new Regional #Transit Connections diagrams going up across #California's #BayArea. www.sfgate.com/travel/artic... Well done to journalist #KentGerman for covering this and helping riders on their journeys, such a map is long overdue IMHO. #TransitSky
The most sophisticated transit map for the entire Bay Area is here
A new map promotes travel to the best of the Bay Area by BART, bus and more.
sfgate.com
Help save and protect Britain’s #RedSquirrels: c.org/hKSqtKzrR4 We are lucky to have them here here at home but more can be done: please read and sign this petition if you care about the subject?
The stellar career of charming Phil Marsh: he tried to sell the Royal Train, send Eurostar's north & help filming for Harry Potter train scenes. He went from selling a Senior Railcard to Bette Davies to managing the railways - but says he's "just a rail worker". www.vectisradio.com/podcasts/cat...
Tunnels to be discussed for the #ShetlandIslands (population: 23,190), but not even on fantasy list for the #IsleOfWight (pop: 141,660)? England's largest/most populous island with some major deprivation issues/expensive ferries. There needs to be some parity here. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Shetland backs 'transformative' £1.5bn plan to replace ferries with tunnels
The undersea links between some of the UK's most northerly islands could be in place within eight years.
bbc.co.uk
#Essex council have banned libraries from "promoting" #LGBTQ+ events and materials. It's outrageous - have we gone backwards a generation to dark days of #Section28? Please consider signing this petition to make them scrap this hateful decision! you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/li...
Essex libraries should be for everyone!
Did you hear that Essex's Reform council have banned libraries from "promoting" LGBTQ+ events and materials? It's outrageous! Sign the petition now to make them scrap this hate-filled decision!
you.38degrees.org.uk
Interesting ideas coming out about devolution. What do people think of a "Number10North" concept?
Still nobody seems to be asking now that £billions have been syphoned off to construction companies and consultants, why they cannot be cajoled or forced into delivering this for less and quicker. They’ve had their vast profits: now finish the job for costs only! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Pause HS2 reset until you are confident it can be delivered, NAO tells ministers
Spending watchdog says high-speed rail project must be put on stable footing to avoid repeat of costly past failures
theguardian.com
#Rail history #YouTube guru Jack is the #WightWanderer, he's an expert on the many closed lines on the #IsleOfWight youtube.com/@WightWanderer and he explains how they were built, reveals a secret railway & why old #Tube trains run here. Listen now: vectisradio.com/on-air/presenters/mark-ovenden/
Local media reported it was indeed over 39degrees here yesterday - while #BBC still peddling the 36 degree high lie. Why are we being lied to #bbcverify ? www.islandecho.co.uk/39-3c-record...
#BBC is running a story that the temperature hit 34.7 at 2pm. No analysis is provided. But the lived experience is that it’s been MUCH hotter with garden weather stations widely showing 36-39. Are they just ALL badly positioned and poorly calibrated? Surely worth reporting this too?
Beautiful #sunset this evening looking across the #Solent into #NewForest. Thank that beautiful ball of energy for our lives!
Passing through #Birmingham New Street recently had enough time between changing trains to take a swift peek at the #tram extension to the station. Very impressive, right outside the entrance, smart vehicles and decent #map on their TVM. All power to the future #MidlandMetro extensions! Bravo Brum!
No not a sign about upcoming YMCA dancers, something much scarier! Spotted on a beach at #Bembridge, #IsleofWight.
If you're planning an international trip and wonder how it can be done by train, check out #HarperCollins range of #rail #maps. I reviewed this one for them and it's very well executed: harpercollins.co.uk/products/col...
Collins Rail Map of Japan: Plan your flight-free Japanese adventure
Looking for your next adventure? This rail map of Japan is the perfect planning and travel companion"This map combines clear, understandable cartography with practical tips and information, making it ...
harpercollins.co.uk
Richard Bowker of the rail industry's most respected YouTube channel, #GreenSignals, speaks about how the channel grew. Plus #HS2, #NorthernPowerhouseRail and the #TransPennineUpgrade. Plus how he ended up running the #FootballLeague! Listen here now: www.vectisradio.com/on-air/prese... #UKRailways
Spotted via the PANDA Facebook page: how certain nuances of language emphasis can have different meanings. PANDA is about Promoting #Autism #Neurodiversity Awareness
Bravo to @weownit.org.uk for getting this added: “No Minister of the Crown, and no person who is a member of the body [GBR], may take any steps that will result in the body ceasing to be wholly owned by the Crown”. Only government can own shares in GBR. No private interests. Not now. Not in future.
We Own It@weownit.org.uk · 2mo agoThe Railways Bill Report Stage was postponed from the 3rd of June to the Wednesday 10th June. So you still have 24 hours to email your MP to ask them to back key amendments so that our railway works for passengers not private profiteers.