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Canadian pals! This is my PSA. You have til the end of the month to join the NDP as a member and when you do, you can vote in the leadership race. Which means you will get the chance to cast a ballot for my fearless friend @avilewis.ca. Don't sleep on this historic opportunity.

Is it a Dalek? The Terminator? The helmet from Robocop? Nope—it's the diesel-electric streamlined train that changed everything. I got to board the Pioneer Zephyr at the Kevin C. Griffin Museum in #Chicago. More in this High Speed dispatch: #RailSky #trains www.highspeed.blog/aboard-the-z...

"From 1898 to roughly 1934, the U.S. military invaded, occupied, and in some cases outright colonized no fewer than 14 countries and territories in whole and in part, including Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic."

If my recently submitted op-ed on #RethinkingI-94 is published in the @startribune.com I want this quote included. Enough planning for drivers to race through our beautiful cities when we can create a stampede of new residents simply by making a former highway an actual amenity.

"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health...what have the Romans ever done for us?" By the same token, when you look closely, what has congestion pricing really done for #NYC anyway?

The resulting small improvements in speed aren’t necessarily visible to many people. But if you cross one of the chokepoints into Manhattan, you can likely see real change.

Pretty consistently, the toll has deterred about 11 percent of vehicle trips we might have otherwise expected to see in Manhattan’s central business district. That amounts to some real breathing room on roads.

We heard from many people who believed the benefits of the toll had tailed off since the spring. And we thought we might see that, too. But the number of car trips the toll has deterred has been remarkably stable.

That and other evidence from the policy, which is one year old today, in a big collab between @upshot.nytimes.com and the NYT Metro desk: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

My favorite evidence that congestion pricing in New York has reshaped peoples’ behavior: we can see a surge of people trying to enter the zone before the price kicks up at 5 a.m., and after it decreases at 9 p.m.

"Cities are meant to stop traffic. That is their point. That is why they are there. That is why traders put outposts there, merchants put shops there, hoteliers erect inns there. Rationally one wants to have traffic *stop* there, not go *through*." —Kirkpatrick Sale, Human Scale.

Love that magic mix of residential and retail! The City of #Toronto is looking to relax rules on local retail in neighborhoods—detached properties on select residential streets, like a house or multiplex, to become a retail store in certain wards. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

#Edmonton’s Brand New, Totally Empty LRT Station That You Didn’t Know Existed (Until Now) urbanaffairs.ca/huh/edmonton...

Congestion pricing had two goals: ✅Reduce traffic in the birthplace of “gridlock” ✅Fund long overdue mass transit projects: nearly $550M raised for the MTA, exceeding their goal by abt 50M Here’s one impt project CP is helping to pay for: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Traffic in the zone is down 11% compared to pre-toll trends. It may not sound like a lot, but it’s meant really big time saving for some commuters, esp on bridges and tunnels. 51% faster on the Holland Tunnel in the am rush!

The latest numbers are in: Congestion pricing cut 27M car trips in 2025. Commutes got faster Streets got safer And business went up See more exclusive analysis - and feedback from 600+readers - in our latest collab with @upshot.nytimes.com Free link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Also for anyone suggesting Canada is limited in what it can say because of its proximity to and dependence on the US, that didn’t stop Mexico.

Compare Canada’s shitty statement to what France’s Foreign Ministry released. It‘s night and day.

Meanwhile the leader of the Conservative Party, a man who does not care one iota for international law, is taking a victory lap, declaring “Down with Socialism” and echoing US lies about “narco-terrorism.” He’s previously said the Nazis were in fact socialists, not fascists.

Mafia World, 2026 Xi gets the East. Putin gets Central. And Don Demento gets the whole West Side.

Mark Carney turns off geolocation on phone just in case

Elon Musk, Jan 2026: "Congratulations, President Trump! This is a win for the world and a clear message to evil dictators everywhere."

Elon Musk, Feb 2025: "America should mind its own business rather than push for regime change all over the place"

"I'm so sorry that we could not have done this earlier...to have saved the loved ones in your life. But I thank you fopr the work that you have done...to ensure that this pain not be felt by others who call this same city home." — Mayor Mamdani at McGuinness Blvd. presser youtube.com/shorts/uwAYI...

I love that Zohran Mamdani took his oath of office in the Old City Hall Station! And that he rode the W train to work today. His mayoralty of the great city of NY is bound to be transformative. But making city buses fast and free only gets things half right... 🧵

Oh, they were real, all right. (And they were spectacular.)

Here's the TEE network at its largest extent, in 1974.

Railway Sublime, episode 9. The Trans Europ Express. A network of a dozen trans-border trains, running at 200 km/h, launched in 1957. Armchair-style seating, hot meals, named trains (Rheingold, Medolanum, Étoile du Nord...) #RailSky #RailwaySublime 🚅🧵

This blows my mind. After 1977, the deluxe, all-business class carriages of the legendary Trans Europ Express ended up providing daytime service Toronto and Timmins on Ontario Northland Railway. [Go to end of thread for photos] 🧵

My piece on the gorgeous #Naples metro stops, which make those of #Toronto and other cities look bleak www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

Mayor Mamdani hasn't moved into Gracie Mansion yet and remains in his Astoria apartment for now, his team says. He expects to move at some point before his lease is up Jan. 30. His team also shares this pic of him taking the W train to City Hall this morning from Astoria.

Ontario Northland's first new train arrived just in time for Christmas. We look forward to riding the reinstated Northlander service by the end of next year. doppleronline.ca/huntsville/t...

We need to choose the train, starting with the very achievable link between #Ottawa and #Montreal, which will allow Canada to join the 28 nations that already have high-speed trains for under $20 billion. www.highspeed.blog/montreal-and...

Don't be fooled by this op-ed in @theglobeandmail.com. Choice isn't between a "$75-billion funding injection...for Canada’s urban transit systems" (not on the table) + high-speed rail. It's between clean, fast, frequent trains serving half Canada's population and even more pipelines, LNG + mining.

"Sure, I love riding high-speed rail in Asia and Europe! But, now that it looks like fast, frequent, clean trains might be coming to #Canada, I'm going to make specious arguments to make sure they never, ever get built."

If we want a transformative project for Canada, rail is it. We are so far behind every European nation (and Asia). Moving people quickly, frequently, and reliably will change so much. A new pipeline? Nope.

Don't be fooled by this op-ed in @theglobeandmail.com. Choice isn't between a "$75-billion funding injection...for Canada’s urban transit systems" (not on the table) + high-speed rail. It's between clean, fast, frequent trains serving half Canada's population and even more pipelines, LNG + mining.

One thing I wrote about here is how technology has made buses *way* more convenient while techno-futurists were obsessed with flying taxis and self-driving cars.

Good Riddance to the Year of the Snake(s). 2026: Year of the (Fire) Horse

damn, missed the new doritos flavor drop in taiwan. Taiwan will always continue to be the pinnacle, the avant garde, of the culinary world.

How did they do it for Zürich Hauptbahnhof ? Central, accessible, public, a place you want to know/see.

Taking VIA Rail train to Prince Rupert, BC, I got a surprise when I stopped at the North Pacific Cannery. In the museum, I got to go within the Lionel ‘O’ gauge layout model built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad Society. Loved the fact that full-sized freights pass by outside! www.highspeed.blog

Taking VIA Rail train to Prince Rupert, BC, I got a surprise when I stopped at the North Pacific Cannery. In the museum, I got to go within the Lionel ‘O’ gauge layout model built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad Society. Loved the fact that full-sized freights pass by outside! www.highspeed.blog

Love that Bernie Wagenblast voice of the NYC subway is the announcer for Zohran’s inauguration. www.them.us/story/bernie...

PS It's that time of year—I have to pay the fee to Ghost, the platform that hosts the newsletter. I could use your support to keep it going!