Sound Transit can halve the cost of light rail to Ballard and West Seattle by building them as a connected automated light rail line with slimmer stations, according to two transit experts who have launched the Sound Transit Now campaign. Guest op-ed: www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-reconn...

Fun find this afternoon: In 1957, the Port Authority did the engineering work to link the downtown PATH to the Lexington Avenue subway local tracks.

ETA and other civic orgs are urging NY not to require two operators on every train. One-person train operation (OPTO) is a standard practice used on every subway system around the world—including on the MTA. This bill would hurt riders and lock NY's transit system in the past. tinyurl.com/etatpto

Whoa! As I've been pushing for/predicting for years now, it seems CAHSR is abandoning the underground BUR station (whose site has now been fully redeveloped). It looks like the plan is now for a site on the AV Line ROW at BUR instead... but I bet we can get them to push it to DT Burbank.....

I can't believe they're shutting down the DC streetcar. And on Trams Day of Visibility, to boot.

A 125th St Q extension is the right route, but with a price of > $7B/mi and deep stations forcing 5+min escalator trips, the current plan doesn't work. ETA sat down with @jointtransit.bsky.social to talk fixes for this vital link. Watch!: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fgy...

The IBX was initially envisioned as part of a grand regional rail network for the Tri-State. The current plan will be useful for Brooklyn and Queens, but nowhere beyond. With a few complimentary projects, the IBX can live up to its original promise: benjaminschneider.substack.com/p/unlocking...

Thank you, Janno, for the recognition of QueensLink's Initial Business Case and Ridership Report! We look forward to the MTA's review of our findings on this transformative project. #BuildtheQueensLink

QueensLink Fast Facts 🚈💨 - 75,000 daily riders, or nearly double the ridership-per-mile of IBX - 50% more service on Queens Boulevard and 165% more through-service to the Rockaways - 60-70% faster travel through Queens and into Brooklyn resulting in $4.9 billion in time savings for New Yorkers

In a new piece early this morning from the @nytimes.com on QueensLink’s report release, @mayor.nyc.gov's office declined to comment on whether the Mayor still supports transit on the Rockaway Beach Branch. Is @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social turning his back on Queens riders?

God damn. Building over the Rockaway Branch without room for the @queenslink.org is incredibly dumb policy. Right-of-ways like this don't just grow on trees.

Looks like Mayor Mamdani is proposing to keep funding the Queensway's Metro Hub. As designed, this will block future reactivation of the LIRR Rockaway Branch. This goes against his previous support. So if other parks need $43 million, I know where they can get it.

NIMBYs in Del Mar have pushed SANDAG to add *another* alternative to the Del Mar Tunnel EIR - now not set to finish until 2028, 3 years after the draft. Rather than the 110 mph alignments that would tunnel under their town, their preference is to slow down the US's #2 rail corridor to 25 mph.

Despite their in-station PSAs, the MTA clearly isn't trying very hard to prevent subway surfing, or they'd buy 100% open gangway cars

Sad to see @ridersalliance.org signing up for this 💩

Making up the difference by running trains more frequently would be “constrained by the lack of grade separation on the Metrolinx system,” the draft report states. Madness. www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

@governor.ny.gov every closed gangway subway car means another kid killed subway surfing. Tell the MTA they cannot buy any more closed gangway cars. 60% is not enough, that's still 40% of subways continuing to kill kids. It must be 100% open gangway. bsky.app/profile/etan...

I'd rather wait a few months for @governor.ny.gov to yell at whoever needs yelling at, than wait for years for bad purchases to age out. Remember, open gangway = no subway surfing. One phone call, gov, and you can end this scourge once and for all, no celeb voiceovers needed.

While it's exciting that the MTA is ordering new trains, there is no excuse not to buy all of them as walk-through (open-gangway) cars. Walk-through cars are the standard worldwide: they're not only higher capacity, but safer. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/n...

For those that missed the metro board committee meeting today: Karen Bass is officially moving full steam ahead on trying to ratfuck what would be the highest ridership light rail line in the country next week, over unscientific tunneling concerns identical to fred rosen's in bel air.

if every global transit system switched to two person train operation, it would result in service decreases, more people driving, and increased emissions, driving tons of death all across the globe

Holy crap! He brought a gas powered battery charger for his electric truck.

I'm sorry WHAT

US-based researcher: does a study, use some obscure US place as a study case, generalizes the finding as universally relevant. Reviewers: ✅️ -- Non US researcher: does a study, use non US place as a study case, present findings as context-bound. Reviewers: HoW iS tHis RelEVaNT for tHE DeBATe?

Got a hold of PANYNJ’s latest JFK AirTrain MetroCard replacement plan. IT HAS NO PLAN. It’s still only “architecting a solution” with @mta.info as its own stockpile of 10-trip and unlimited MetroCard runs out. On top of that they only seem to be planning a 10-trip OMNY replacement, NOT unlimited.

Elizabeth Warren hates renters and just teamed up with republicans to pass MAGA policy that will curtail rental housing production reason.com/2026/03/10/c...

A per-minute, rather than flat, fee on passengers entering the central business district would reduce traffic, Charles Komanoff says. buff.ly/FsKknyp

A new report by @thedotcity.bsky.social quantifies the economic toll of downtown freeways, and the economic potential of tearing them down. The 66K acres that downtown freeways occupy could yield more than half a trillion dollars of development and over $5b annually in property taxes.

These improvements will increase service by 93% while requiring only 25% more funding, due to the efficiencies that come with all day, regional rail-style service. Imagine the further gains with electrification and level-boarding! legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/atta...

🚨🚨 🚨 The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is scaling back the controversial Newark Bay Bridge project (loved by labor; hated by environmentalists/locals). A single-span two-lane bridge with shoulders will begin construction this year. Story coming at NorthJersey.com

“On the D1, the increase in costs to SEPTA are nearly as high as if every passenger had started evading the fare.”

Judge Lewis Liman (brother of Doug Liman) has ruled that the federal government can‘t unilaterally end congestion pricing, giving the MTA yet another court win on congestion pricing

Holy shit CAHSR now planning on electrifying AV Line by 2039! @calelectricrail.org

MBTA and MARC issue an RFP for battery power locomotives for the Providence and Penn lines (i.e. the NEC), instead of just getting electric trains -- www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

3. Trains would have a maximum speed of 320km/h, but would be limited to 200km/h in tunnels. And yet, Newcastle to Sydney would have 115km in tunnel, 38km on bridges and viaducts and just 41km on the surface. It raises the question of whether so much of the line in tunnel is such a good idea.

Pretty crazy that kids continue to hack MTA subways with impunity throughout the system with seeming impunity. The videos are all over instagram. You would think that given the normal security theater in NYC we would be having city council hearings and such, but crickets. 🎥 in 🧵⬇️

1. Mayor Mamdani promised to hold hospitals accountable that capitulate to Trump. He promised funding to trans youth care in the city. There are very real steps he can take right now to maintain care for trans youth after NYU Langone's capitulation. It's time for Mamdani to uphold his promises.

In a blatant violation of NY state and NYC law, NYU Langone has shut down its youth gender clinic and caused a potential forced detransition to its patients. Where is the NY AG and Mayor Mamdani? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/n...

Trans rights are human rights. Shame on NYU Langone for ending life saving gender-affirming care for trans youth. We must continue to fight back against Trump’s attacks on our most vulnerable. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/n...

Returning diesel trains to Shore Line East would be a disaster: ⬩Electric trains accelerate far faster, enabling quicker service with fewer delays ⬩Amtrak pricing aside, electric trains are far cheaper to operate & maintain ⬩Electric trains pollute less & are more reliable tinyurl.com/c77fkzus

Ugh. Like seriously, ugh. And this is on Amtrak. How much are they overcharging ConnDOT for electricity to make them prefer running diesels? And this will make Amtrak have to deal with slower, lower performing SLE trains! www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/...

NEW: The Trump administration’s legal stay to avoid funding the Gateway Tunnel has expired. Donald Trump needs to follow the law and get the project back on track immediately.

Sitting here open-mouthed at this Sound Transit board presentation, because it was just explained that making Ballard Link's Seattle Center station "slightly trapezoidal" would save the agency a HALF BILLION DOLLARS.

John Pegram got the Jacobs engineering winning technical proposal for the IBX. This is a really fascinating look at just how much work the MTA and its contractor will need to do on the ROW. Which is, a lot. They’re turning into a trench — bqrail.substack.com/p/interborou...

Very excited to say that the stars have aligned and NYU Marron/Transit Costs Project have landed a grant that will fund a second edition of Momentum, which will apply the high-throughput framework to major regional rail networks beyond the NY area. Our three big new cases: - NJT - SEPTA - METRA

Tish James announces NY/NJ have won a TRO preventing Trump from shutting down the Gateway project. Details TK.

If we can't find a way to fit the capacity of two more tracks in this space I have little faith in our ability to build high speed rail in Canada. This is basically trivial stuff. We are building tunnels and stuff to avoid . . . THIS?!

The western extension of the Second Avenue Subway has a $7.7-billion price tag that calls into question the very logic of building it at all — but advocates and researchers say the train is a good idea that could cost a lot less with some minor alterations.

Not only are they shitting the bed, but a major bed-shitter – the person who decided that NYC should no longer have passes, and every single ride should come with a reward for fare evasion – has just been promoted www.trains.com/pro/passenge...

Extending the Second Avenue subway across 125th St is a great concept, but the current project is deeply flawed: * At $7.7B for 1.3mi, it will cost an order of magnitude more than similar lines in other global cities. * Deep stations will waste a lot of time—over 10 min across 125th.