How going to a new city and riding their trains and buses feels

Die „Bürgerinitiative Schwabenstraße“ kritisiert die weitere Planung der Neubaustrecke Augsburg - Ulm… …und das ist mir so scheiß egal. (Guten Morgen, ich habe die Schlagzeilen gelesen)

On the topic of mixed use: how about school courtyard on the ground floor, classrooms on the 1st floor and flats on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors? The main building(s) of the school are located behind this one.

If you are in Athens in the next month or so, make sure you drop by the gallery at Katerinis 3 in Votanikos (close to Kerameikos and Rouf Stations) to check out some artwork, including a piece by a dear friend, Despoina Vaxevanidi

Since nobody is getting it (though clue no. 2 should make it glaringly obvious), here is another hint: The coffee is ALWAYS cold with a plastic straw

Guess the city I am at: - at this time of the year, German is widely spoken in the centre - the wind smells like Terea blue (iykyk) - it’s getting warm so might as well start showing skin (very scandalous!!!111!1!11!) - omg let’s go to the beach!!!! - why is the next tram in 6372^56 minutes

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Good morning I hope the British aren’t fucking up HS2 again today… oh… what is that?

After more flights than I can count, a lot of train rides and quite a few ferries, it is time to retire my yellow carry-on luggage

Another day, another IT-Störung im Büro 😩

Guess who has spent the last enjoying the same infra and planning he was bashing on for a whole month here!

so… what were the juries thinking tonight? 😐

I need your thoughts on something: a new direct Berlin - Oslo train has been announced for 2028 and I am sceptical. How effective is it to introduce one daily connection (at a heavy cost and with difficult planning) for a very long route that will, effectively, be forever lost on air traffic? (1/3)

After BER last month, Ryanair has now drama with SKG and will close its base there too. I feel like I should make another account just about Ryanair feuds

Apparently a new metro line is opening on Los Angeles and this video is how I found out: vm.tiktok.com/ZGdHm4BPF/ I love the internet

I don’t need another good example of a wide (more often thank not Dutch) street with perfect modal allocation and enough green space, I need to see great instances of corridor allocation for the modes alongside the street design that comes from it, in a realistic city where space is scarce.

So since BRT discourse is taking over my feed right now, should I start complaining about them too?

At best Utrecht makes car-oriented design pretty by putting a canal or trees along wide roads. At worst it slaps bike lanes on massive intersections and calls it a day. Good urbansim is supposed to be transit-dense, mixed-use, and space-efficient! Utrecht, compared to many dutch cities, falls behind

I feel like throwing some vitriol tonight so let's take a look at the brand new railway masterplan for Athens. Here is why the latest plans are not a reason to celebrate, especially when considering the reality under which they are being developed. Grab snacks, this thread is long (1/21) 🧵

Since people sometimes struggle to understand why it's important to consider what happens outside the targeted corridor when it comes to transit priority, here is a simple matrix of conflict points for: different types of transit lanes X lateral street circulation setups.

Another month, another airport Ryanair has beef with (BER) because they cannot get it their way.

Do you (yes, YOU!) want to have a say in the design of Athenian buses? You can! OASA has launched a competition to redesign the livery of the fleet. The current livery dates back to the 90s, when it replaced the standard blue paintjob that would be given to vehicles contest.oasa.gr

new pfp who is this diva

More Almaty observations: the city features a dense bus network with frequent services. In addition to that, it has on average some of the widest roads I have seen. However, bus lanes are rare. A major problem for a city with traffic that gets so bad…

Governments trying to reduce costs for consumers during an energy crisis

Who would have guessed? (Literally anyone who has spent 5 seconds looking at the topic)

Was the weather in Almaty bad to go to the mountains? Yes. Did I go to Medeu regardless? Also yes. I would do a long thread about the large outdoor ice skating rink, but I couldn’t see anything due to the fog.

Apparently, not even Kazan escaped the 81 series, leaving Almaty as the only system in the USSR to have never used these trains

So for better of for worse, getting around Almaty as a foreigner means that you’ll need YandexGo on your phone. Calling a taxi and seeing public transportation directors was what I thought this app could do, however now I have started wondering what it cannot do…

In Almaty and the weather is bad? One of the things I did was visit the arts museum, which, to my surprise, is incredibly well-curated and features work from Central Asian and international artists alike. The Almagul Menlibayeva exhibition was definitely a highlight of my trip!

Wow the mountains of Almaty are so amazing - is something I would say if it wasn’t incredibly foggy every single day I was there. Regardless, I found other things to do and now I have a reason to visit again.

„omg Lufthansa will shut down cityline due to high fuel prices“ keep in mind that Lufthansa has been trying to get rid of cityline for a decade at this point

The least soviet metro out of all metros? Maybe, but is it really soviet if it opened way after the fall of the Soviet Union? The Almaty metro is a curious case: plans were drawn in the 70s and 80s, and construction started in the late 80s. A thread (1/9) 🧵

omg I am finally flying in an A340 isn’t this exciting?!

Every insufferable man in his mid 20s chooses an Asia trip that will become his whole personality, that’s something to take for granted. However, I need to know: why did I choose Kazakhstan over Japan, Korea, China or somewhere in SE Asia?

Hot girls don’t gatekeep: here are the four restaurants in Tbilisi that made my jaw drop when entering and left my stomach satisfied (click on ALT for a description)

It’s loud, antiquated and obviously soviet - and maybe a bit unsafe (looking at the wood panelling on the very long escalators), but the Tbilisi metro is surely the quickest way to transverse the city (1/3)

Honestly, I am impressed by how flavour-rich and fruity Georgian wines are.

Officially a marshrutka survivor, which is how we reached Sighnaghi, the heart of Kakheti region! Apart from being one of the oldest winemaking regions, it also houses the Bodbe Monastery, where the tomb of St Nino, patron saint of the country, is located.

Girl, whatever - said the people responsible for putting a locomotive in front of the very unreliable multiple unit (chinese-built in Europe mind you).

So apparently taking photos on the Tbilisi metro are banned… I learned that on the last day, on the last station I visited and after having taken lots of pictures of the system. The station was the most interesting one I saw though and all I managed to snap was a polaroid…

Tbilisi impressions up to this point: the bar for hospitality is sky high. Menus, service, design of the restaurants is at a level I have to search a lot to find in other cities.

Guess the city I am at: - actively getting religious trauma - literally so f cool - people around my age are so stylish - food, food, food - wine, wine, wine - not in the EU, but you couldn’t tell since the EU flag is everywhere

The most interesting thing I read today

The way I was humbled for this one just a few minutes later; I was one of the last to board and there was no space in the overhead lockers around my seat 😐

Top 10 overrated things: 1. early boarding on flights Why would I want to spend an extra second in the big metal tube?

Update 🫣

Don’t be fooled by the propaganda, Liége-Guillemins is neither pretty nor unique

Endlich bekommt Aachen vernünftiges Bikesharing (hoffentlich): nach mehreren Monaten ohne System, Nextbike soll ab Mai in der Stadt verfügbar sein! Und nein, niemand wird Velocity vermissen 🫣

Despite a rough look overall, the Brussels metro features stunning artwork and architecture. If only the stations were properly maintained…