I guess by the "U.S.A.," Trump is referring to Puerto Rico

The US president's petty effort to blackmail Democrats to get a station & airport named after him are directly contributing to infrastructure project delays, cost increases, and job eliminations.

TL;DR Donald Trump is blackmailing the country in exchange for naming rights

Today we have US transit data for all of 2025, & DC's WMATA was officially the fastest-growing major US agency, with ridership up 8.7%! The LIRR (NY, 6.4%), King County Metro (Seattle, +6.5%) & SEPTA (Philly, +4.7%) performed well, while LA Metro & NJTransit lost riders🧵

flatly impeachable conduct

A self-absorbed megalomaniac in action

If I'm interpreting these data correctly, high-speed rail services departing from or arriving in Hong Kong (pop. 7.5 million) are now achieving ridership levels equivalent to the entire Amtrak system.

Yesterday, in a blatantly partisan move, the White House instructed the US DOT & the CDC to cut $1.5 b in grants, exclusively in Blue states. The grants appear to be being cut because they support poor neighborhoods, non-English speakers, queer people, or efforts to combat climate change.

Yesterday, in a blatantly partisan move, the White House instructed the US DOT & the CDC to cut $1.5 b in grants, exclusively in Blue states. The grants appear to be being cut because they support poor neighborhoods, non-English speakers, queer people, or efforts to combat climate change.

Indian government allocated $32 b for capital expenditures on its railways in 2026. This includes initial funds for 7 additional high-speed lines on 2,500 mi, adding to the 316 mi Mumbai–Ahmedabad Line, now under construction (the US Northeast Corridor is 450 mi). www.railjournal.com/passenger/hi...

Indian government allocated $32 b for capital expenditures on its railways in 2026. This includes initial funds for 7 additional high-speed lines on 2,500 mi, adding to the 316 mi Mumbai–Ahmedabad Line, now under construction (the US Northeast Corridor is 450 mi). www.railjournal.com/passenger/hi...

Fantastic story by @conordougherty.bsky.social about the conundrum at the center of the housing crisis: people trying to buy a home to build a nest egg need housing prices to come down, while the people who already own need prices to go up so that nest egg can grow. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...

FY26 US govt spending bill that Congress just agreed to mostly funds agencies as in FY25, though it: —Reinforced DOGE’s 24% cut to HUD staff —Reduced resources for rail substantially, including recissions of $950m for high-speed rail grants —Reduced spending for transit, increased it for highways

The US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government every year from 1994 to 2023. The Cato study provides the first-ever 30-year analysis of the fiscal effects of immigration on government budgets. https://ow.ly/jy8a50Y8kM3

She’s asking about the Epstein victims And He’s telling @kaitlancollins.bsky.social to smile. I want to scream.

Text of lawsuit by Gateway project vs. US government for failure to fund the cross-Hudson tunnel. The key issue: The US government suspended funding for this vital infrastructure project because that project used DBE contracting, but the DBE contracting was *required* by the US DOT's own rules!

The White House is holding this project hostage—unconstitutionally, as it was funded by Congress—because: (a) it followed contracting rules the Trump admin doesn’t like, but which were the law when the project was contracting. (b) Sen. Schumer likes the project. (c) Something, something immigration.

The White House is holding this project hostage—unconstitutionally, as it was funded by Congress—because: (a) it followed contracting rules the Trump admin doesn’t like, but which were the law when the project was contracting. (b) Sen. Schumer likes the project. (c) Something, something immigration.

BREAKING -- the Gateway Development Commission filed suit against the Trump administration in the Court of Federal Claims tonight, accusing the feds of breach of contract in their ongoing refusal to fund the Hudson River Tunnel

“Drown the federal government in the bathtub” party strikes again

It's not new information that just saying "no" works but for some reason, many institutions have been paying the full ransom immediately

Sounds pretty close to tearing down to me

Hundreds of transit projects will open globally in 2026. On Transit Explorer—newly updated—use our new features to zoom to cities & projects, or turn back the time to see transit systems in the past: www.thetransportpolitic.com/transitexplo... Download data: www.thetransportpolitic.com/download

Portland City Council member

A voice of sanity

Elon Musk last year: "Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED" Musk to Epstein emails: • “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” • "I really want to hit the party scene" • "Is there a good time to visit? Story: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u...

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infra Law) devoted hundreds of billions to streets & highways. But impacts are limited: While road quality generally improved, it improved more slowly than previously—and not on all rural road types. More: www.urban.org/research/pub...

These are concentration camps. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

In 2025, the US electric vehicle share fell to about 8% as the Congress killed tax credits for EVs, Tesla self-immolated, & other US automakers returned to gas cars. With many vehicles on the market & public incentives, European EV share rose to about 18%, and the Chinese EV share rose above 30%.

One aspect of US housing policy that doesn't work is the fact that we simultaneously: A—Want "more affordable" housing B—Want the middle class to put wealth into housing & to increase their wealth that way (indeed, they do: usafacts.org/answers/how-... ) These two goals are difficult to reconcile!

Paris' Metro Line 14 is now the system's most-used, with 820,000 riders/day (above Line 1, with 750,000/day). Line 14 is expected to increase to 1 million riders/day once Lines 15, 16, 17, & 18 open in the coming years.

The amount of money the US government spent on troops in DC in 2025 ($223m) would have been enough to give the city's ~5,100 homeless residents each $43,000. Instead, federal troops destroyed their meager encampments.

Why do people on the right claim that protestors in Minneapolis and elsewhere are “paid”? Because they’re just telling on themselves

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...

Andy Byford wants to: 1. Exclude NY and New Jersey from planning effort of new Penn Station 2. Privatize the station, so NY and New Jersey will have no input into running it for generations to come 3. Make New York and New Jersey pay for it. Lol, LMAO, etc etc.

US DOT Secretary Duffy in April announced federal govt was taking control of the project from the MTA, & that "USDOT & Amtrak can together deliver a world-class Penn Station" (while reducing $ for project: www.transportation.gov/briefing-roo...). Now Byford wants city & state officials to pay up?

Ethiad Rail confirms it will launch services this year, including the key Abu Dhabi—Dubai route, expected to take 57 min www.railjournal.com/passenger/ma...

The US—already a laggard on electric vehicle adoption—fell further behind Europe & China in 2025. Both Europe & China have substantially increased their EV market shares, while the US EV market share fell from 2024 to 2025.

The same circumstances are true when it comes to metro systems. China opened more metro lines in 2025 alone than exist in the entire countries of Russia, UK, or France. Over the past 4 years, China built 2.5x as much metro lines as the US has in total.

This isn't mine, and I can't definitively find the original source. But I love this little bit of wisdom: "If you're a fifteen-minute walk from a coffee shop, but the server there has to drive an hour to get to work, you don't live in a walkable city. You live in a theme park."

Ottawa, Canada’s capital & 4th largest city (1.1 m residents) just passed a substantial zoning reform that: —Allows 4-unit buildings on lots citywide —Increases allowed heights to 6 or 9 stories (& up to 30) on major transit corridors —Eliminates most parking requirements —Allows home based retail

The amount of money the US government spent on troops in DC in 2025 ($223m) would have been enough to give the city's ~5,100 homeless residents each $43,000. Instead, federal troops destroyed their meager encampments.

The US—already a laggard on electric vehicle adoption—fell further behind Europe & China in 2025. Both Europe & China have substantially increased their EV market shares, while the US EV market share fell from 2024 to 2025.

The same circumstances are true when it comes to metro systems. China opened more metro lines in 2025 alone than exist in the entire countries of Russia, UK, or France. Over the past 4 years, China built 2.5x as much metro lines as the US has in total.

The Trump campaign didn’t even mention transportation in its 2024 platform. But during the lead up to the election, we could read the tea leaves — www.bloomberg.com/news/article... — a 2nd Trump admin would systematically undermine transit investment. And here we are.

My repeated experience in France: You get sick, you go to the doctor, you get a prescription, and you pay €5, with no insurance, for many drugs that would cost $25 to $50 in the US, with insurance. One of these countries' health care systems is broken, and it's not France's.

The center-left Spanish government just approved a legal change allowing hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants the ability to apply for legal residency permits. These migrants simply have to prove they have lived in the country for at least 5 months.

Just to reiterate: It's not Trump's money to give or pull at his whim. There *is* a funding agreement. There *were* line items (pork) approved by Congress. The money has been appropriated. Don't like the appropriation? Veto the bill. Otherwise, this is crazy talk.

New Census data (www.census.gov/newsroom/pre...) show a big decline in US population growth. The foreign-born population in the country has dropped by 1.5 million between January and June alone (www.census.gov/newsroom/blo...).

Funding has been off since October. This should be a complete national scandal on top of all other national scandals. The administration is holding our money hostage while they make up new rules.