“Why does transit seem to be in an endless emergency? Why is it so easy to assume that transit’s financial situation is hopeless? Because we have constructed our transportation funding streams to make transit’s costs visible, while the costs of car dependence are mostly concealed.”

the results so far on congestion pricing in new york have been so outrageously good that opposition to it works as a convenient identifier of unserious buffoons www.reuters.com/world/us/new...

To put this loan amount in perspective: California is spending $500 million to widen a 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 in the northern Bay Area (through a wetland, no less). But $750 million to save the *entire* Bay Area’s transit systems is apparently infeasible.

"A drastic ✂️ in transit service stands to derail the economic health of the 6th-largest city in the US... In the short term, it will strand travelers or upend their schedules and finances. In the longer term,... SE PA could lose $6B in long-term earnings and see a decrease of 76K regional jobs"

All of this is true, but it’s so important for any messaging around the enshittification of American life to explicitly remind folks that things COULD be different. Otherwise it can trigger a fatalistic mindset, which repels people from taking action. www.frameworksinstitute.org/articles/fas...

I enjoyed this. And what an infectious laugh. ❤️ "Reporter left speechless after witnessing Japan's new $70 million Maglev train in action at 310 mph"

Philadelphia students are suffering because of PA Republicans' cruel and willful disregard for SEPTA.

The IRA was surprisingly effective at spurring investment in green energy. Where it failed was making it *politically* sustainable by delivering immediate tangible benefits to the public. In that sense, the Green New Deal was, in retrospect, the more prudent and realistic approach. on.ft.com/4n4Ayra

"A new week brings more uncertainty about possible SEPTA service cuts and fare hikes for commuters. Here’s what we know." -- www.inquirer.com/transportati...

Love this campaign from @mountainkeeper.bsky.social fighting a proposed highway expansion in New York’s Hudson Valley by presenting an irresistible vision of all the useful transportation upgrades $1.4b could bring to the region instead. www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/invest_in_ou...

so effed how the GOP and moderate Dems disparage the almighty biked/ped/transit lobby as a "special interest group" while constantly ensuring that the trucking & auto lobbies get their every wish. they virtue signal caring about cost-burdening taxpayers while abandoning the most vulnerable among us.

"How SEPTA service cuts impact real Philadelphians, in their own words SEPTA riders are grappling with how their commutes — and their lives — will change if funding doesn't forestall cuts to buses, trains, and trolleys." www.inquirer.com/transportati...

🚌💀Today the RIPTA Board of Directors, with the leadership of Peter Alviti leading the charge, voted to officially enact one of the largest reductions to RIPTA service in its history. We will continue fighting for as long as it takes until RIPTA is fully funded. 💪💪💪 Our statement ⤵️

Paying operators adequately is a wise public investment. Service expansions yield collective benefits (to riders directly as well as to the entire city & region environmentally & economically). Across the US, most metros & states should increase public transit operations budgets for shared benefits!

"The idea is to make city governments helpless while continuing to blame them for everything that goes wrong in cities," writes @humantransit.bsky.social . "It plays well in conservative media, but it’s not fair and it’s certainly not democracy."

Save RIPTA statement on new plan for RIPTA from Gov McKee

IMO, one of the most important conceptual tools for understanding politics & social change is "system justification." I think progs, who tend to be high on openness-to-novelty, underestimate how deep change aversion runs in the human psyche.

Today I spoke with a Philly resident whose entire life has been upended. Today's service cuts mean they have an entirely new work schedule – and this is only with half the proposed cuts enacted. This is the reality that Illinois Democrats like @jbpritzker.bsky.social are speedruning us towards.

This idea that somehow rural areas underwrite metros is not only wrong, it’s entirely inverted — and yet it perversely animates basically every element of our current political life.

Clear-eyed piece about why state legislators across the country are evidently choosing to let transit fail: They dislike cities and the people who run and live in them.

Today, Philadelphia’s transit system SEPTA is cutting service by 20% & eliminating 32 bus routes, since GOP state legislators failed to agree to fund the agency www.washingtonpost.com/transportati... What’s going to happen? A death spiral: Worse service ➡️ fewer riders ➡️ less revenue ➡️ worse service

Philly cutting service, Metro has 40+yr old signal system, other cities hitting death spiral fiscal cliff too. We live in the richest country in the history of the world, yet other countries are funding & building more 🚇🚌. Let’s make 🇺🇸 the best in the world, it’s a choice!

“Making essentials like healthcare, affordable housing, energy, and transportation easier to build—and thus cheaper—makes it even easier to pay for them through progressive taxation and allows us to serve our communities more equitably. Abundance makes economic populism more effective.”

Vienna’s “Car Bet”: From May to July, households gave up their private cars in exchange for a monthly €500 mobility budget. Result: 2/3 realized they don’t need a car many sold theirs, choosing public transport, carsharing & more. More space, less traffic, better life.

Imagine if we did this in California - instead of transit agencies facing a fiscal cliff and huge cuts to service, we’d be expanding service and saving our climate. Tax the rich, fund transit.

Yeah I actually do think bus riders should always have priority

The millionaire’s tax in Mass is providing critical funding to the MBTA, and has resulted in the elimination of subway slow zones, trains that are moving faster, and the hiring of more bus drivers to expand service. Tax the rich, fund transit.

"I think on some level, conservatives know perfectly well that liberal American cities are quite safe. That’s why they have to work themselves into such paroxysms of hysterical cowardice—to give themselves permission to inflict violence on the Americans they hate." prospect.org/justice/2025...

Transit getting scraps even in states where the Democrats control both chambers and the governorships is a shanda. Hard to think of a government function that directly touches more lives and is more of a marker on the question of 'can government deliver' and ... yet.

Kind of feel like it should be bigger national news that the poorest major city in the country is being forced to accept devastating service cuts to our public transit system because PA Republicans actively hate Philly and want to cause us pain

This is the NJ Transit trap and it's a *bad* idea => "HARRISBURG — Senate Republicans are considering pulling $592 million over two years from money designated for ongoing or planned transit capital projects to help fund SEPTA operations" -- www.inquirer.com/transportati...

If only these (powerful) stats moved persuadable audiences, rather than simply animating the base of people who already support transit. We need to find a way to advance stories about transit safety that connect with people on an emotional level.

Pennsylvania has the money to fund mass transit across the commonwealth. Pennsylvania has the money to fund mass transit across the commonwealth. Pennsylvania has the money to fund mass transit across the commonwealth.

Buses on 34th St crawl at just 5.5 mph — so it wasn't difficult for us to win @ridersalliance.org + @transalt.org's annual bus race yesterday. But change is finally coming in the form of a long-delayed busway, thanks to the leadership of @keithpowersnyc.bsky.social, @ebottcher.bsky.social and more.

It is completely untenable for a state legislature to hold its cities hostage this way because they've convinced themselves every American city looks like the 1970s but worse. Economic suicide and political hostage-taking.

Important thread from a planner on the front lines of Rhode Island's public transit apocalypse. The same crisis is playing out in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Oregon. In each case, only the state legislature has the power to stop deep transit service cuts that would take years to restore.

“Of the two dozen policies outlined in @cplusc.bsky.social’s ‘Let People Move’ report, a moratorium on highway and major arterial expansion is an immediate step that every government in the country, down to state, county and city, can and should take immediately.” usa.streetsblog.org/2025/07/28/o...

This new rail line, the most ambitious in 90 years, could change the face of New York City. We hopped on a freight train to film the route, and show its potential. Take a look! 🚂 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Not surprised to see this data, but I differ about what should be done about it: Design a safer (from cars) outdoors for kids to play in so that they are not dependent on parents www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... (+ hilarious to see illustrated w the Junglegym whose history is in my book)

Raleigh increased bus service from every 30 min to every 15 min on its route serving Glenwood Ave. Ridership then doubled in the year that followed. Over last year, city’s high-frequency routes have had 89% ridership growth. People will ride when you give them service that they can rely on!

A Democratic message that leaned in HARD into uplifting the idea of the commons and re-teaching people about importance of PUBLIC GOODS and the fact that they are GOOD and FOR EVERYONE would be an easy place to mobilize lots of people towards a project of building.

State capacity is good, actually.

Shout it from the rooftops! Investing in transit agency capacity rather than outsourcing so much of their work to consultants SAVES MONEY.

Canada has higher transit use than the US because there is far more transit service per capita there. If you want ridership, you have to run service.

God, this is so good. "The faster you can get around…the more you need to get around." Ilse just gets it; and I want to quote so many lines from their writing here; like: "In other words, this time spent moving isn’t dead space or a means to an end; it’s alive." Yes! And this:

cc @transitcenter.bsky.social @thewaroncars.bsky.social @costasamaras.com

Van Ness BRT is very good. Bring this to Flatbush pls and thx