It's hard to reconcile how much Claude Code, which my company pays for and strongly encourages us to use, has made my job better with how exploitative the product's development has been and continues to be, and the negative effects the AI bubble has had on people and public policy.

nah i'm good thanks

All the worst qualities of car ownership (monthly payments, insurance, buying gas) *and* the worst qualities of bad transit service (long waits, infrequent service, lack of dedicated travel lanes)? Sign me up! 🥴

A lack of respect for and trust in our institutions is what has caused a lot of the problems society faces today, from how most generative AI products are being created and marketed (through theft and lies) and are subsequently being (mis)used, to who gets elected and appointed to lead governments.

Back in the US, most transit advocates I know would be worried that a story like this would result in a pendulum swing of divestment from current and future transit projects. Here in Toronto it seems like the risk of that is much lower, and instead the focus will be on fixing the problems. 🤞

The City of Toronto seriously needs to get full transit signal priority activated ASAP to help speed up the new Line 6 Finch West, as well as ensure the same for Line 5 Eglinton when it opens. @ttcriders.bsky.social already has a petition to that effect. #TTC #TOpoli www.ttcriders.ca/greenlight

my american brain can barely comprehend 4.75-minute scheduled headways, let alone 3.5-minute scheduled headways

Same vibes

🚍‼️ The new #TTC #RapidTO bus lanes on #Dufferin are great! Next, they should be: -⬆️ extended north from Bloor to Eglinton -🚌 paired w/ frequent & reliable service -↔️ added to Finch, Lawrence, Jane & Steeles ✍🏾 Sign @ttcriders.bsky.social petition to expand & improve them: www.TTCriders.ca/Lanes

Red carpet for the Red Rocket

First time at The Danforth Music Hall last night to see @thebeths.bsky.social. Great venue, great band. Thanks for making the trip up to Toronto! Looking forward to my next opportunity to see a show there and explore the area a bit more.

narrowing car lanes is a good way to force low-speed streets in addition to a way to provide bike lanes without getting caught in the province's stupid legislation. bike on, toronto. the province can try, but this is a city that walks, bikes, and takes transit in huge numbers and that won't change.

A bad day for Canada, and therefore the world. Ontario (population 16 million, 40% of the country) has passed new legislation prohibiting bike lanes that take a lane from cars. An escalation from Bill 212, which required municipalities to get approval.

"The Zoning Code claims to protect public health, safety, and welfare, but that justification evaporates when applied to density restrictions and bans on multi-family housing. True public health standards should not vary by neighborhood." Go read this banger. #urbanism

But this problem long predates LLMs. On one hand, LLMs have made it easier to fall into this trap. On the other hand, LLMs can empower subject matter experts to start solving problems in their field themselves, and make it easier to communicate their solutions to software engineers to build out.

choose your fighter

I'm in a packed room of ~200 transit riders spending their Sunday afternoon at @ttcriders.bsky.social's #StreetcarSummit discussing the problems Toronto's iconic streetcar system faces and proposing potential solutions with the help of transit advocates and professionals. You love to see it. 🚊

I'm late to the party on this one, but as someone who is historically *very* skeptical of low-capacity transit projects, I appreciated the balanced take and it's cool to see innovative solutions work out—and better understand why they sometimes don't: youtu.be/a5126u88E7E

towson being towson

Conveniently timed column, considering our upcoming Save Our Streetcar Summit - Nov 23 at the Cecil Community Centre! RSVP today here: ttcriders.ca/save_our_str... (appreciate the shout-out in the article!)

The government of Ontario is choosing complaining drivers (including government ministers) over the safety of pedestrians and specifically children, not surprising but still disappointing that these are the leaders we’re left with. Read my latest article: open.substack.com/pub/nextmetr...

having fragmented, per-ward zoning policies isn't ideal, but letting people who want nice things have them seems like the next best solution so that councilors who are currently opposed to allowing such change in their own wards can wait and see the benefits of those changes in other wards first

I kind of want to go to the rave at the mid-block 7-Eleven in Riverdale?

a) lots of people, ignorant or misinformed as they may be, take Dr. Oz seriously b) it doesn't matter who takes Dr. Oz seriously because the office he is in charge of provides health coverage to 100+ million people

Shutting down the government is a big deal. People have been hurt in big ways as a result of the decision. To have that suffering be for nothing—to re-open the government without actually having protected people’s health insurance and economic well-being—is unconscionable.

Mayor Chow posted a video about corner stores!

because there's always a transit angle: DYK most transit agencies in the US don't include cancelled trips when calculating on-time performance either? 😬

must be nice to get paid unprecedented amounts of money to lie to your shareholders to their faces while they applaud and ask for more after having successfully helped burn down whole institutions of the federal government with very little to show for it. just winning stuff all around.

"Did you grow up with privilege? Great, now it's your moral obligation to perpetuate the system that disadvantaged other people so that you could thrive." - the WaPo editorial board, apparently

first toronto halloween in the books. building maintenance tried but failed to stop my decoration game with their scaffolding. mr bones greeted the children as they took way too much candy. all is well. 🎃

There's (almost) always money for governments to fund what they value so long as there's also the political will to do so. Good on Illinois and hopefully more states will follow their lead in lieu of more federal support. 🚂

It's Halloween. Everyone post your scariest neighbourhood photos. A coffee shop across from a house. 😱

When Canada’s public broadcaster asks: “is America becoming a police state?”

Attention: for all you housing lovers along the Northeast Corridor - Baltimore’s City Council just passed single-stair reform AND repealed residential parking minimums AND reduced setback requirements one-after-another this evening

yeah

World Series, Stadium Edition: Rogers Centre vs. Dodger Stadium 🤔

when you intended to order a festbier but get a vesper martini instead

All these people avoiding m-dashes because “AI uses them” simply means that there’s more for me!

It was a good day today.

The agreement that Metrolinx has made with CN to allow much more train service by building new infrastructure in their right of ways is basically the best solution imaginable short of a total change in how railways work in North America. Should be doing in far more places.

Red Rocket Sunset #Toronto #Streetcar #Sunset #Photography

Why do US infrastructure projects cost so much & take so long? Consider the Hudson rail tunnel: 1995—Studies 2009—Construction 2010—NJ Gov Christie kills it 2011—Project relaunch 2015—Fed support 2017—GOP Congress kills funding 2021/22—Biden funds it 2023—Construction 2025—Trump claims to cancel it

The essence of why populism doesn't work out: childish answers are usually wrong

Really just giving the game away. There is no legal logic to what they are doing and they never want it to apply to any future Dem president but they need to give Trump whatever he wants.

“I live my life without a transit schedule, and I like it.” That’s a great, succinct statement about the benefits of frequent service.

Terrible story but great reporting by Laura Penington of the Denver Post: - "A man died... after being hit by the driver of a van while riding his bike" - "the driver struck him from behind" And some extra context that you rarely ever see: - "There are no bike lanes along that stretch of road"

I love living in a city full of immigrants and tons and tons of people who are not at all like me and not like each other. It makes us all better and it makes our city better. I know I’m preaching to the choir by saying this on the lib app but I sometimes just get so overwhelmed by how special it is

Still livid at all the people who got in my YouTube comments last year to tell me Project 2025 was liberal fear mongering

Back when I did this kind of thing, the pitch for why more NYC newsrooms should have dedicated MTA reporters—not even "transportation" generally, just MTA—was that the MTA's annual budget was larger than that of 10 states.

The White House is engaging in direct extortion of local and state governments, attempting to force them to change their policies by stopping funding projects that already have signed grant agreements with the federal government.