Good lord Amtrak, part 2: “‘Facility planning has lagged behind its fleet planning by about 15 years even though the two efforts are closely interconnected,” Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General said in a report.” — apple.news/AVEZFEasvRD2...

It's a huge limitation that the River & Glassboro/Camden Lines require a PATCO transfer to get to Philly. However this could be greatly improved if NJT did one thing in its Walter Rand TC rebuild: realign the light rail platform to sit on top of Broadway with a direct platform-platform transfer!

I think Philly has a strong interest in seeing the GCL through run onto PATCO. In the short term it could double frequency between Philly and Camden, making the urban service vastly more useful. Long term it strengthens the case for university city expansion. Sadness about US construction costs

Isn't this basically the opposite of Canadian transit advocates advice to ALTO: Start with the easiest stretch from Montreal to Ottawa and build incremental improvements?

Will be really interesting to see what the details of the TOD bill is here. Hoping it's actually allows significant density (at least 5 stories and hopefully no parking minimums), and that the radius is large enough (1000 ft, not just parcels on major streets)

So glad (and grateful for advocates) that PA bypassed this insanity and is now snowballing towards automated speed enforcement on all major crash hotspots

Just realized that the 50km end to end travel time of the Montreal REM is the same as the 10km end to end travel time of Toronto's Finch W Tramway (55 min).

By god, that's Momentum's music! transitcosts.com/momentum/

This seems... ambitious

Guangzhou Metro invited media to tour high speed metro Line 22 North section, opening at the end of this month. Line 22 will provide an express overlay of Line 1 and 2 shrinking old Guangzhou to Guangzhou S HSR Station travel times from 40 mins to 17 mins... Picture🧵

Friends, Philadelphians, countrymen - The time has come where I ask you to help me compile my annual list of the 10 weirdest stories in the Philly region this year for @inquirer.com. I have about 30 ideas in my 2025 file, but what do you remember as the weirdest story or stories of this year?

Shenzhen Metro has officially confirmed Line 5 West, Line 8 Phase 3, the final section of Line 11 Phase 2 and Line 13 Phase 1 North will open at the end of this year. These extensions will push the Shenzhen Metro to 635km in length. I have not reviewed...

Oh my god. If I'm reading this correctly the TSP basically does nothing at all. It seems the TSP only allows the green to be extended by 5 seconds. I really hope I'm misreading this. But it seems to indicate the green time for the bus phase (8) is minimum 82s (normal), maximum 87s (TSP)

I wish that even a tiny fraction of the attention market east is getting was redirected towards broader structural reforms and investments in Philly. If we fixed business taxes and invested in optimizing regional rail, market east would have the demand to grow without huge targeted subsidies.

Chinatown's unwillingness to grow is actively killing it. Based on 2023 ACS data there are only ~1000 Chinese immigrants in Chinatown, with the core (census tract 2) losing ~25% of its foreign born population since 2010. Meanwhile the immigrant community in Northeast Philly is rapidly growing.

This is particularly disappointing because it’s happening just a few years before rail service returns to Scranton. Would have been a great case study in the power of a land value tax to spur TOD.

I do wonder how much sprawl would really occur if federal and state officials refused to fund transportation projects enabling it. Kinda decades too late at this point, except in Texas where you regularly see news stories about new highway projects opening land for development

Really interesting concept here for connecting the orange line to the REM in Montreal

The feeling looking from Philadelphia

Probably the most damning thing about the planning of Bellwether is the massive widening of 26th St to carry trucks with dual-turn lanes everywhere, meanwhile the only rail spur has been unceremoniously cut off with no planned access. The City should have done much more to improve the plan

We have a new website for the Northeast Corridor High-Speed Rail project, with illustrative graphics. nec.transitcosts.com

Very interesting detailed video showing all the steps of the track renewal process using a track renewal train. youtu.be/4B1jZBNqhJQ?...

There are a whole bunch of overcrowded waterfront paths in cities that would massively benefit from separated bike and ped paths if they are going to be used as part of the transportation network for cyclists. Even with pinch points, speed ups would be really significant.

Later in the show, there’s a lovely interview with Paul Bierman, who talks eloquently about how the US is responsible for cumulative emissions, that are putting the entire Greenland ice sheet at risk of collapse and how we need to take action, personally and in political action.

It is fantastic that the Ben Franklin Parkway vision is still moving forward despite Mayoral change, but any time someone has to convince you that you won't feel the "irrelevant" cars anymore, it's a major red flag that road dieting hasn't gone far enough!

Preview of SEPTA's reimagining regional rail plans from a Transportation Research Board webinar today.

Today at 2pm ET: Join the free #TCRP webinar “The Future of Commuter Rail in North America” 🚆 What you’ll get: @caltrain.com/ @septaphilly.bsky.social case studies; fare & service innovation; infrastructure strategy; funding trends; & earn 1.5 AICP CM credits. Register now > conta.cc/4mx2kf8

SEPTA Sino-American Friendship Station (formerly Spring Garden Station) circa 2035. New underground high speed metro line platforms were constructed and served by 160kph metro trains reaching Glassboro, Grenloch, King of Prussia, West Chester and Wilmington in 30 mins, departing every 3 mins each.

State capacity is when you can look at a super narrow (750mm) 1880' suburb-to-rural single track rail line with 50 yo cars and can decide "we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*. But keep it single tracked" Then do construction in 1 year

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%*

The Transit Cost report on the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway is out! ibx.transitcosts.com/rbs-post/

GOP reconciliation bill included a provision eliminating funding for any reconnecting community projects—those projects designed to cover highways—that have not yet been obligated. That has likely killed projects like: —Atlanta Stitch —Philly Chinatown Stitch —Toledo riverfront —LA ped improvements

Mayor Parker's zoning code reform was incomplete! Removing parking minimums on CMX-4 minimally moved the needle when CMX-3 still has minimums and it's more prevalent across the city, over 5% of all developable land. Removing parking mins in CMX-3 must be top priority

Take Action Now Build the City Hall Bike Lane! bikeaction.org/campaigns/bu... #phl

Sometimes I hate being right. In my thesis I ID'd conservative management as one of the pillars of the iron triangle that underlays the political economy that has mostly prevented us from transitioning to a modern regional rail model in North America. itineranturbanist.wordpress.com/masters-pape...

Regional planning: We're going to allow 12 story buildings within a 1/4 mile of rail and bus exchanges. 20 stories if it's closer. Municipal planning: We're very serious about housing, which is why we're studying the possibility of allowing 6 unit buildings as long as they are under 32 ft.

Does anyone know what the revenue split looks like for Amtrak services between states? Would VT save on its state supported route contribution if ridership increased 5x?

VTrans released their new draft rail plan and chose to only model trips that begin or end in VT, ignoring the ridership that Montreal would have on Vermont services. Hard to imagine any competent rail planning organization using such a provincial analysis to make planning and investment decisions.

While Illinois is doing broad land-use reforms to support transit, Pennsylvania questions if SEPTA should continue to run trains on the Mainline.

I wouldn’t mind the false alarms so much if the alarms weren’t set to be at migraine inducing decibel levels. Luckily something that can be easily mitigated with a sound insulating panel and some tape.

If Philly had just door dashers on bikes at the same rate as SF, it would remove more than 1 million vehicle miles from our streets per month. The costs in extra traffic delays and increased road maintenance are easily in the tens of millions. www.axios.com/local/philad...

daylighting intersection w/ swales. tabled intersection w/ bollards to protect pedestrians from motorists density on narrow 2 lane roads instead of 4-6 lane arterials. bonjour, france 🥰

Just got served an ad for AI-enabled fare gates.

Remember the white ways of knowing tweet. Yeah it was about not doing financing to do social housing.

The report is out, AMA. How to Build High-Speed Rail on the Northeast Corridor transitcosts.com/north-east-c...

Surprised to see Allentown on the list of underperforming cities, but its permitting rates are really awful. Not sure how urban places like Allentown or Reading will see significant development running 30 minute buses, requiring parking and banning density most places.

"Many cities in other continents have made sizeable investments in indoor bike parking structures...Philadelphia is rare in that it has an existing public asset (the concourse) with no immediately apparent higher and better use in a prime location beneath streets often challenged with congestion"

Asian grocery stores are a lifeline to the communities they serve. But store owners say the prospect of sweeping tariffs are threatening their ability to stock up on goods and keep prices affordable.

Yet another blow to Market East.

One more for Franklin Square: here's a slide from a DRPA presentation that shows the original design drawings of the station, including a draft that was supposed to have the tunnel go down 7th with the integrated trolley terminal!