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!

While the legality of tolling I-76 may still be in question (PennDOT received FHWA funding during the 80's rebuild of the Schuylkill), the principle should not be. Certainly would control traffic far better than any "intelligent" traffic system control like shoulder running!

Mayor Parker’s new H.O.M.E. plan initiative director 🥰

It’s really unfortunate that all Philly’s diagonal streets point to old city and not university city. pedestrianobservations.com/2025/03/20/o...

There is of course one correct course of action with this unnecessary section of I-95: tear it down.

How difficult would it be to optimize SEPTA regional rail dwells to improve travel times to Jefferson Station? Like move dwells and crew changes from Suburban to Jefferson for east bound trains?

Fun episode of densely speaking. Appreciated the conversation around how highway widening projects primarily benefit peak hour commuters but are paid for by a broad tax base. If only PennDOT considered pricing peak hour traffic instead of widening podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

Tax deductions for car loan interest rates… Cool cool. Definitely an industry that needs additional subsidy. www.wsj.com/articles/pro...

Completely unacceptable that Philly-Reading Amtrak Thruway bus service will end in a few weeks without any real replacement. That future service hinges on theoretical pax rail that still has huge hurdles to overcome speaks to the deplorable state of PA transit planning www.wfmz.com/news/area/be...

Improving cycling infrastructure would be a huge improvement to SEPTA's regional rail network. The larger cachement areas and the improved density of bike parking relative to car parking would enable ridership growth if SEPTA ever moves forward with reimagining regional rail.

SEPTA has committed its work in making Chinatown station accessible and now quite attractive; hopefully it becomes a new public space for Chinatown! Now we need the Redevelopment Authority to release a new RFP for the 800 Vine parking lot to finally get some TOD here

Not a doomer for urbanism, but I am for this. Can you imagine spending $100k per mile on all the roads that look like this? Some places are lost to the car.

Philly has a glut of commercial space

VT claims to have a goal of producing 8000 housing units a year and acknowledges a strong mismatch between the number of people per household and available housing stock, but remains unwilling to meaningfully pre-empt multifamily and mobile home construction.

With the Vermont Legislature back in session and thinking about housing affordability, I really hope there are voices in the statehouse making the case for urban development.

Coming soon

this is INCREDIBLE, congestion pricing is already working wonders traffic at 4PM on the average Sunday vs today Holland Tunnel: 30 mins ➡️ 10 mins Lincoln Tunnel: 10 mins ➡️ 4 mins Williamsburg Bridge: 10 mins ➡️ 5 mins

IMO, congestion pricing is premature for Philly, but there are lots of congestion reduction measures worth perusing right now: * on street parking pricing reform * permit pricing reform * congestion tolls on interstates like I-76

I'd be open to considering lot of Philly transit projects, but it's really hard to imagine lower hanging fruit than a PATCO extension to university city.

People in Burlington should keep an eye on land prices on the transit corridors over the next few years. That’s the primary measure that needs to be watched to see if land supply is still constrained enough to significantly raise costs per unit.

Burlington VT is about to be the first city in the US to lose net 0 status.

New sightline study suggests parking reforms are 70x more effective in generating new housing starts than ADU reforms in areas with access to transit.

Excited to go to the transit oriented horse show.