Ghost-in-the-machine-writing: AI company looking for "prestigious," award-winning writer... to do hourly gig work polishing AI-generated plays, novels, and short stories.

www.curbed.com/article/mta-... A common issue that pervades a lot of app design - people in SV don’t seem to conceive of worlds where you don’t have service bc you’re underground, you run out of data completely, etc. Really great to see @mta.info move this in-house!

"To commit to building public transit infrastructure is to decide to keep being a society." -David Alff www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/n...

Everything the US moves around needs diesel fuel to power the trucks, trains, & boats: food, goods, crops, commodities, everything. Oil products powers ~90% of US transport. It's why we should electrify transport as a national security imperative: to reduce the risk of price shocks to the economy.

#EVs are a critical grid reliability and electricity affordability solution. New @latimes.com opinion piece calls for #EV investments to deliver benefits. #CALeg, @assemblydems.bsky.social, @casendems.bsky.social, use the budget to invest in EV car and truck incentives! #InvestInCleanAir

* U.S. JUDGE RULES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION UNLAWFULLY SOUGHT TO UNDO NEW YORK'S MANHATTAN CONGESTION PRICING PROGRAM @reuters.com

As the guy who wrote the book on zoning abolition, I'd like to go on record as saying: if you can use zoning to stop the concentration camps, fucking go for it.

He'll be remembered for his accomplishments, such as "being an administrator"

Thank you, @dorismatsui.bsky.social, for standing up for strong fuel-economy standards that save families money, cut pollution, and reduce oil dependence. Clean transportation is affordable transportation. #CleanerCars #RouteZero

💰🚗For more than a half century, fuel efficiency standards have saved US drivers money. How much money? TRILLIONS. Fuel efficient vehicles mean less expensive trips to the gas pump and more money for education, for family outings, for groceries. (🧵👇)

Another fact underscoring the descent of USDOT: Elaine Chao (Trump 1 transpo secretary) resigned in protest after the January 6 attacks. Sean Duffy described the 1/6 insurrectionists as people "peacefully walking, giving themselves a tour of the Capitol." www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox...

"Nobody feels like it's safe to ride the public transport, the buses, the light rail" because federal agents are stalking transit stops. "We shouldn’t have to worry if we’re going to have guns pulled on us on the way to work at all, but this is our reality.” www.youtube.com/shorts/b9Rnd...

Can't stress enough that no arm of any GOP-controlled governing body is actively at work doing anything to improve the lives of Americans. Even the typically staid and bipartisan USDoT has been transformed into an instrument of self-dealing and revenge. newrepublic.com/article/2051...

Interesting finding - another reminder that transportation is a network and a change in one link has wide-ranging ripples. And underscores how parochialism is the death of good transportation - politicians all want projects in "their" district but that's often not what brings the most benefit.

Political scientists have a term for how Trump governs: “Competitive authoritarianism.” Like Hungary under Orbán, he was elected but uses the gov't to abuse the law. trib.al/hY3VbAW The DOT is usually immune from this partisanship. Instead, they're using it to advance Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

Why is the Dept of Transportation trying to torpedo NYC congestion pricing? Why - in God’s name - is Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on TV smearing the Minnesotans killed by ICE? For @newrepublic.com, I show Trump has turned USDOT into an authoritarian weapon. newrepublic.com/article/2051...

"Non-violent tactics that waste a company’s time or money are really effective. For Enterprise, we’ve made and cancelled car reservations, saying the roads are too icy. At Home Depot... people [lined] up to buy ice scrapers and then getting in line to return them, in a way that clogs the lines."

The Crossroads conference is tomorrow in DC - I'll be there and hope to see you as well. The transportation equity research the world needs to hear and #TRBAM doesn't want you to see ;)

Times are a changing here in CT. The land "East of the River" (That being the Connecticut River which bisects the state flowing from north to south) is seeing a surge in new long overdue housing projects that rivals far wealthier and far more in demand parts of CT www.ctinsider.com/journalinqui...

this is the most incredible interview i’ve ever read. the aei guy tries so hard to get sliwa to trash mamdani and he simply won’t. he also brings up flaco (rip) unprompted. www.wsj.com/opinion/free...

It’s encouraging to 1) see Mike Flynn named as NYC transportation commissioner and 2) see him standing with Mayor Mamdani at his private swearing-in ceremony, which the NYT found surprising www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/n...

Thank you to @vanhollen.senate.gov and @fetterman.senate.gov for reintroducing the Moving Transit Forward Act 🚌🚇, which would create a much needed federal program to fund increased transit service across the country. www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-r...

Um, ok... This paper forthcoming at the JOP provides evidence that rent control in Germany actually made tenants MASSIVELY *less* NIMBY. This result was in the opposite direction of the authors' pre-registered expectations. And the effect sizes are, truly, massive.

"any savings for car buyers will vanish quickly as drivers are forced to shell out more cash at the fuel pump..."

The trucking industry contributes $60 billion to surface transportation every year. A fair share would be closer to $150 billion. Important fact to keep in mind as Congress debates a new transportation bill and the trucking industry lobbies for lower taxes.

Was glad to see this. As @davereichmuth.bsky.social wrote for @ucs.org, Toyota has called for the end of EV tax credits; it even asked its employees to lobby Congress to kill California's clean car rules blog.ucs.org/dave-reichmu....

Last summer, I took a road trip through the Adirondacks in an electric car. It was drama-free - as I wrote for @ucs.org - largely because of a recently added fast charger near "Frontier Town," a convenience store that sells camping supplies and Pakistani food blog.ucs.org/steven-higas...

It's a sad day when our leaders turn their back on long established science to try and roll back public health protections while the dangers of climate change are palpable on a daily basis. We cannot let this stand. www.ucs.org/about/news/t...

TONIGHT tune in to learn how to make your city's bus system better as we host a book talk with the author of "Better Buses, Better Cities" @stevenhigashide.com actionnetwork.org/events/bette...

Excited to host a virtual book talk with the author of "Better Buses, Better Cities: How to Plan, Run, and Win the Fight for Effective Transit" @stevenhigashide.com. Register today! actionnetwork.org/events/bette... Get your book through @islandpress.bsky.social at islandpress.org/books/better...

useful piece for people who might be wavering on Zohran. from the outside he seems like a smart guy who is willing to build alliances with more experienced folks like Lander, I think that is key

"The Elizabeth Line in London is used by more than twice as many people as expected, for example. For some reason, this is not being treated as a massive embarrassment, nearly as bad as a 100% cost overrun." backofmind.substack.com/p/department...

Cuts have consequences, illustrated. As seen on TV 📺

“Everybody will say, ‘Silicon Valley’s reinventing the bus again.' But it’s more like they’re reinventing a worse bus”: @kevshen.bsky.social in @grist.org grist.org/transportati...

Powerful non-partisan moment on the Weather & Climate Livestream as fired NOAA employees address the popular belief that voters in red states should "get what they voted for." wclivestream.com/watch/

For decades, U.S. residents have had the experience of traveling, riding public transportation networks that blow ours out of the water, and asking "Why can't we have that here?" Would be ironic to see the same thing happen to the experience of driving!

Some toplines: 🔌EV brake wear PM 83% lower than combustion vehicles; tire wear PM ~20% higher due to higher weight ☁️40% of brake PM goes airborne compared to 1-5% of tire PM 🚇Model: 5x reduction of non-exhaust emissions (in London) from shifting trips to public transit vs. faster electrification

Actual quotes from the Dallas Fed's monthly manufacturing report: "Business sucks" "DOGE has killed us. Our customers are fighting tariff increases and dramatic funding cuts from USDA and USAID." "We have a large order delayed until 2026." www.dallasfed.org/research/sur...

For reference, this show is taped 4 blocks from a train station in Hollywood, one of the places in LA with excellent transit connectivity! I bet at rush hour, @awalkerinla.bsky.social could easily get to the show faster than other guests driving there!

Demand for transportation options is growing - people are increasingly choosing transit 🚌🚇. But still over half of the country’s population does not live near any transit whatsoever. Meanwhile, agencies' hard-earned recovery faces the threat of fiscal cliffs. Read more: blog.ucs.org/kshen/how-mu...

“This could be the start of a new kind of freight system. One that’s better for our health, as well as delivering significant operational savings to fleets. So, let's not undercut this remarkable advance in technology at this critical moment.” www.govtech.com/transportati...

The Prius has given #Toyota a pro-environment reputation that covers up the fact that the company does more than any other automaker to fight climate solutions. Toyota is even asking its own employees to lobby Congress to kill California's clean vehicle rules.

Last week I received notice that FHWA’s INVEST tool—a resource launched in 2012 to help transportation agencies evaluate the sustainability of their programs and projects—will no longer be available starting this June. www.sustainablehighways.org

100 days of this administration, over 200 separate documented attacks on science (as tracked by @ucsusa.bsky.social - blog.ucs.org/jules-barbat...) savesciencenow.org

The US declared the interstate highway system complete in 1992 and last raised federal fuel taxes in 1993. Since then, the US has continued to massively expand roads, and the cost of building those roads has increased. Three decades of expanding the road network while keeping the gas tax unchanged.

Most rail services in the US still use polluting diesel locomotives. Recently, our commuter rail system in San Francisco, @caltrain.com, was electrified. Good news: we found DRAMATIC air quality improvements once the electric trains replaced the diesels. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

People might think this is an exaggeration but it’s a literal description of what happened in New York, where Cuomo partnered with a small group of turncoat democrats to hand control of the NY Senate to Republicans

There's lots of uncertainty surrounding EV policy right now. However, it's important to remember what we can be certain of: EVs are a critical technology for reducing pollution from transportation. blog.ucs.org/dave-reichmu...

we live in an extraordinarily wealthier society than our parents and grandparents. our problem is that we have not invested enough of that wealth in social goods, but i don’t think anyone actually wants to return to a time when even a “good” factory job was backbreaking labor

asterisk because i think we look at that period of stability deeply red rose-colored glasses. when people think prosperity they don’t think “family of six sharing a 1200 sq ft home living largely on canned goods and hand me downs” but that was the reality