Monday's ep is out now for subscribers. Don't worry, it's only this long because I've assigned some (optional) homework.

Avant / Après 2008 - 2016 - 2018 Rue du Docteur Labbé dans le 20ème arrondissement de Paris. L'étroite piste cyclable biscornue parait presque n'être qu'un prétexte pour passer au stationnement latéral, changement qui, avec les arbres et le plateau piéton, font que la rue fait moins "rue parking".

New video on Victoria, BC by @nicthedoor.bsky.social! We also visited recently and were quite impressed with the cycling experience and in particular how recent the changes were.

Sadly, I found myself unemployed at the end of October and am now searching for my next PR role in Halifax. If you have leads, introductions, or are willing to share this post, I’d be grateful!

I'm here for Thoughtful Thursdays

Looks like Halifax’s payment app was $1.6 million. Free transit would avoid that cost. But it would mean losing $35 million a year in fare revenue. Having lived in HFX, if the province was willing to provide $35 million more a year, I’d rather fund better service than make existing service free.

Canada’s gridlocked cities are global stragglers at building efficient, effective mass transit. A new Montreal megaproject has the solution we need. https://macleans.ca/society/montreals-new-rail-line-is-the-future/

IMPORTANT: “I boarded Montreal’s brand-new light metro line for its first voyage. From the front of the driverless train, the crowd got a privileged view…The journey was not just a tour of the REM’s 14 new stations, however—it was a preview of the most ambitious transit expansion in North America.”

Totally Unrelated: I did some work over the weekend to update my district revenue/cost-to-service model, adding in a mechanism to estimate costs for commercial properties.

Perhaps the smartest #ClimateAction investment in cities is in public transit. While others make excuses, Paris is building a WHOLE NEW METRO NETWORK CONNECTING SUBURBS. “…the Grand Paris Express, a new 200km system with 4 new lines & 68 new stations.” #ActionStartsHere @mayors4climate.bsky.social

Always very happy to see other cities join the cause!

Another great video by @uytaelee.bsky.social, this time talking about mass timber buildings. I highly recommend checking out his other videos if you haven't after you've finished this one. youtu.be/gQ42KhybIUk?...

Vision Zero Ottawa has entered the chat. Our goals: to overturn the culture of accepting tragedy as inevitable; human health over all other objectives; take a safe systems and design approach to safety; and to hold those who govern our transport systems accountable. Join us. visionzeroottawa.ca

This before and after of curbside parking lanes being converted to RapidTO bus lanes on Dufferin show what Quinpool Road should look like right now. What are we waiting for?

A great example of daylighting our streams and enhancing transit.

😍🤩🚋🚋 (Via Riva Reno, Bologna, reopening today after the extreme makeover linked to the tramway works) Pics not mine.

@davidwtrueman.bsky.social passed along this message from staff: "[the project] has been delayed due to work on Lawrence Street. Due to a scheduling error, the contractor began work installing the temporary infrastructure [...] the temporary infrastructure has since been removed."

For the record, the traffic diverter would have improved safety not only for cycling, but for pedestrians and drivers as well. The area has speeding issues on Harvard which would be prevented with this diverter. Safety, traffic easing, enhancing other forms of transportation. These are the benefits.

Imagine if we had a single line like this in Halifax. We are the class of city that requires a transit project of this scale. A single line at minimum.

Really nice #BikeHFX article www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/...

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.” It costs a lot less to house people.

I have to say, the REM is so fantastic, it's going to make the Eglinton Crosstown feel even more like a let down. Ironically, the Eglinton stations seem a lot more impressive, but the REM is just so fast, frequent and high capacity by comparison. I really hope CDPQ does more . . .

iCYMI: "Paris started with periodic, strategic closures of key streets, then day-long closures of the entire city center, always in the context of the conversation about air quality, livability & noise…It's a very smart way of doing it." — @brenttoderian.bsky.social in BlogTO. #Paris

Beyond a certain level of traffic, you should dedicate the entire street to transit, dead-end half of the crossing streets, build platforms capable of having 2-3 buses stop simultaneously and/or stagger them. Fundamentally, there is no way to do effective TSP in through gridded street layouts

“We can move a lot more people in a lane full of buses than in a lane full of cars. But that requires change, and that’s what’s difficult for a lot of people.” Can data help Halifax shift its #CarBrain mentality? #CarCulture www.dal.ca/news/2025/11...

Seriously, take a deep dive into the @toronto.ca Complete Streets Guidelines. In #TorontoDanforth we are heavily car-dependent (even though we don't have to be), but a lack of political will keeps us at the status quo. If we want safer streets, we have the tools. www.toronto.ca/services-pay...

This is a small snow plow for sidewalks If your city plows the roads but leaves sidewalks up to property owners, your city hates pedestrians.

Did anyone see this hit and run?

Checking out Halifax Transit—same buses as in Boston!

Cineplex Digital media have isntalled advertising signs in Toronto's Union Station that use facial recognition to target the ads. CDM says it only recognizes age / gender of note CDM was also recently sold to an American firm and is no longer part of Cineplex

“That’s what frustrates me about the polarisation of everything. If you say you care about cycling, you must be anti-car. Or if you talk about safety, people assume you’re against freedom. It’s all nonsense. We all want the same city, we’re just speaking different languages.” LISTEN: bit.ly/43ho6wQ

It's impressive how contemporary projects' budgeting practices in Canada are made of very thin actual analytical estimates based on quantities and unit prices on top of which there is an entire enormous castle of random percentages of percentages of percentages which are suspiciously multiples of 5.

It’s really important that #Vancouver’s Downtown Business Association, who were originally against bike-lanes, are now among their most vigourous supporters, because of ACTUAL EVIDENCE that they’re better for downtown business than any street parking they replaced. Safe bike-lanes mean business.

Don’t miss I Light HFX. The weather is looking warm (by recent standards) but a little damp. But we won’t let that dampen our spirits, we’re Haligonians! 6pm tomorrow (Saturday, Nov 8) at the Dal Quad by the Dal/Kings Bike Centre. Sign waivers at: cyclehalifax.ca/i-light-hfx-... (once per year)

Mid November and the DeeDee’s bike rack is gone. It lasted a month. #BikeHfx

A few days after the presidential election one year ago, we went to Fordham Road in the Bronx. It was a little different last week.

Something to note for our provincial covenants that prevents land previously owned by grocery chains and surrounding areas from being used by competing grocers. Only specialty grocers are allowed in these areas, which have good selections but have limitations on what they can sell.

You can walk into Sobeys for gvt funded scene points. Or simply go to an independent store or farmers market, where local food prices are cheaper, often by far. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

New issue is out tomorrow. On the front, @joshrjhealey.bsky.social recaps a summer of soccer that happened. On the back, @landofsticks.bsky.social writes about Halifax's record road deaths. Free digital issue this week, publicly funded road violence is too important to put behind a paywall.

Imagine a city of great apartments where everyone knows their neighbours. The Neptis Foundation has a vision: www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/art-...

*taps the sign*

It’s amazing how many cities in Canada and the US only started building protected bike lanes in the 2010s. So much of what we’re fighting over is relatively new. No surprise people still don’t really understand it yet.

“New data shows road safety in Halifax is trending in the wrong direction, with 2025 already being the deadliest in the region in recent years” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Brunswick Street, downtown Halifax – the old painted bike lanes are gone, replaced with a wide, bidirectional protected bikeway that looks not far from completion. 🚲 #BikeHfx

What's up democracy superfans, I'm at the transportation standing committee meeting to see if this committee will change our road safety strategy to prevent preventable deaths.

Anyone know any Ottawa city hall reporters?

White: If Canada's road safety is expected to get worse, why aren't we looking at juristictions that have achieved vision zero? Staff: We're trying White: Okay, but how are we learning from them if we're not looking at what they are doing to succeed?

🚨🚨🚨 Emergency podcast alert: People are dying because our road safety strategy is working. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. 🚨🚨🚨

This is how we need to think about public services like the post, transit, and so on.