It's interesting how cities develop a preference for certain traffic management solutions. Besançon has been rolling out these tiny queue-jump + nearside stop setups since the early 1990s. They are not necessarily the most effective, but they rely on simple TSP spire detection tech.

Your daily transit modal filter (and contraflow tram lane). Besançon. maps.app.goo.gl/m6qxsHQj64Dh...

Grading was already the most unpleasant part of teaching before AI. It induces a lot of friction, actually most of the frictions and bad behaviours that happen in a class. Maybe AI will kill the very idea of exams and grading for good. Or maybe universities will turn Italian: oral exams only.

Today at 9: American media complaining that Europe is doing what US immigration has been inflicting to visiting foreigners for more than two decades.

Yesterday afternoon I tried for the first time the western branch of the REM, for a REM+ bike beach trip, and it's honestly a tremendous improvement in accessibility to the western island's outdoor amenities.

Railway-wise, this week Italy is going to be cut in half because of a planned bridge replacement in Firenze. The bridge spans the four tracks connecting Santa Maria Novella to Campo di Marte. Trains to/from Rome are partially rerouted via Pisa-Grosseto. youtu.be/kKxaNPxeNn0?...

The year is 2130. Artificial Intelligence has pushed the boundaries of humanity beyond imagination, and data centers cover half of the Earth's surface. Acrobat Reader still crashes every other time when opening a simple file for signature.

Happy "highly unusual" day to those who celebrate!

This is an interesting example of design trade-offs and of the concept of "future proofing". Signaling-wise, Rennes's VAL could theoretically already get to 60 sec, but it was limited by the fact that, to save money, the JFK terminus was scaled diwn to built single-track back in the 1990s.

Sometimes I really struggle to understand how Montréal can fail at basic transit priority, even in a multi-million-dollar project like the SRB Pie-IX. At the very end, where Pie-IX crosses Henri-Bourassa and the 439 bus splits, the dedicated bus lane disappears where its needed most to avoid delays

Thanks to @stephenjacobsmith.com for suggesting this paper: "Magic Numbers and Golden Rules" Some pretty clever reasoning about "magic" numbers and thresholds in fire regulations, something than can be said for a lot of arbitrary regulations in general. publications.iafss.org/publications...

Today the 16.5 km Afragola-Cancello rerouting of the Napoli-Cancello line was opened to revenue service, with new direct trains connecting Naples to Bari in 3:30 and Lecce in 5 h. It's part of the ~€6 bn Napoli-Bari HS-ish line.

Mmmm ...not sure 4 complete 30cm traffic light sets is enough for visibility and compliance. I think we need at least a couple more. Maybe double each of them and call it a day. And add a "ceci est un ostie de feu tricolore" giant sign beside each one for extra clarity.

Many years ago in Italy I submitted a permit do open up two skylights on the roof of a building in a landscape protection area. The CQAP design review commission asked me for more renderings, including views from the opposite side of the valley, where the skylights were the size of half a pixel.

A few more pictures of the new underpass. A lot of energy was spent to prevent car users from ever taking it "by accident". A curb modal filter on the western entrance, traffic lights, and the bus lanes narrow to a single lane under the tracks. @chittimarco.bsky.social

Corso Traiano à Turin pourrait être une inspiration pour le traitement "SRB" de Henri-Bourassa: utiliser le parterre central pour localiser la voie de bus en amont de l'intersection, tout en gardant une voie pour le virage à gauche aux intersections principales

Civil works on Bergamo's tram line T2 have been completed. Revenue service is expected to start by the end 2026. The line cost €225 million for 11.5 km, including 10 Skoda trams. It mostly follows the RoW of the former Val Brebana interurban tramway. 📷 by TEB (Tranvie Elettriche Bergamasche)

Today San Marino extended its railway network by almost 20%, reaching some 950m in total, just 50 meters shy of 1 km! And 100% electrified. Congrats San Marino! youtu.be/1Y8o9ZJC_2A?...

Rome, and in general way too many Italian cities, are the living evidence that density does not necessarily comes in tandem with walkability and good transit. These needs interventionist public policies to materialize.

Interesting modal filter-based priority setup in Salzburg, enforced the hard way with a barrier. Bus line 21 runs through Weitmoserstrasse to get a more direct route through the neighbourhood, avoiding a left turn at a major intersection, where general through traffic is routed instead.

There are five lanes in this picture, and a refuge island between each of them. Bikes and peds never cross more than a lane at a time. Can you imagine an US DOT or Canadian MOT designing something like that?

I just watched Hoog's video on Madrid vs NYC SAS, and my favourite bit is about Metro Madrid's engineers keeping the discussion going over beers and tapas I can't imagine this in the Canadian context, where being passionate is highly discouraged in the public sector www.youtube.com/watch?v=utt-...

Lyon doing fancy grassy tram tracks even in its new O&M center, it's peak French www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMEv...

@borners.bsky.social reminded me that I recently watched a cool video going into the details of "rail whitening" in Italy to reduce heat stress on rail. The part about how they do it and the machines they use is particularly interesting. English CC do a decent job www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXAY...

These glass canopies have spurred a heated debate in Bologna and the city is now saying that they will probably retrofit them with shading elements (e.g. a shading film on the glass). This is a great case to study to understand why bad design decisions happen. >>

This day 17 years ago a train carrying LPG derailed while going through Viareggio station triggering an explosion that killed 32. A few days ago several managers of FS, including the CEO of the time, were confirmed guilty by the Appeal and will face prison time. it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inciden...

Someone should really explain to people designing fictional cities set in ancient times or some fantasy movie setting that cities surrounded by barren lands or forests are not really a thing that could exist. Most premodern cities had agricultural hinterlands, without which they would not exist.

RFI seems oriented toward picking the at-grade option for the eastern urban segment of the HS line in Vicenza, b/c it's cheaper (€360 m) and faster to build compared to the two tunneled options (€1.2 bn) Documents showing the alternatives can be consulted here: drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Watching images of the deserted streets in France, Benelux and Germany under the midday scorching heat and thinking about all those said European northeners considering southerners lazy because of their mid-day siesta... Eagerly waiting for the German composite word for "mid-day-heat-relieving-nap"

The first complete stop of Bologna's tram has been inaugurated today in front of the Ducati's headquarters (from which it takes its name). Not a big fan of the glass roof, honestly. Pics not mine.

Quantitative research and qualitative research need other. Nicholas Klein, Orly Linovski, Kate Lowe (@kateontransport.bsky.social) & Michael Smart: “The barriers that qualitative researchers face in peer review have implications for individual careers and the field of transportation more broadly.”

Under pressure from unions, the Italian government has backtracked on its previous decision to tender intercity PSO service into three separated lot, reopening the possibility of a single lot. Translated, it means that Trenitalia is likely to keep it. www.odisseaquotidiana.com/2026/06/ferr...

A new bus, bike and pedestrian only underpass opened today in the southern suburbs of Bolzano/Bozen, part of a project to build a new railway station to serve the airport and S. Giacomo/St. Jakob neighborhood The underpass will provide a shortcut for buses, avoiding long detours to cross the tracks

Another day, another goodbye to an absolute legend of the Aegean and a symbol of everything wrong with the greek economy: HSV Aeolos Kenteris A icon of pride and progress when launched, she was mothballed during the recession and was led to the scrapyard a few days ago. A thread (1/7) 🧵

The urbanism of the Riviera Romagnola.

A bridge over an unremarkable little river, but extremely famous when crossed.

I'm always quite amazed by the capacity of RFI designers to find non orthodox solutions when upgrading platform height from 30 to 55 cm.

One-ways are actually mostly good. They get too much unmotivated hate in urbanist circles The safest crossings I experienced as a pedestrian in the US are in Manhattan, a grid almost exclusively made of one-ways.

It's very gross that the Brits are trying to steal from Italy our well-earned primacy on short-lived governments. But it's quite clear that they aren't up to the Art of Short Governments yet, because they still haven't had a proper "Governo Balneare" it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governo...

A type of display I've never encountered before where lines T6 and T3+Rhône Express cross in Villeurbanne. I guess it's some sort of rail signaling for this complex rail crossing, alongside the traffic signal on top.

I really love how they replaced most parking with continuous bioswales along the recently inaugurated TB12 BHNS in Lyon.

US: flexpost is infrastructure Lyon: how about adding an edge on top of the curb, just to be extra sure nobody parks on the sidewalk?

We truly live in the age of pettiness-cracy. Forget about geopolitics or ideology. These are dead things of the past. The world is driven around by a Petty Old Guy and his court of Petty Boys. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/w...

A pic encapsulating two of @stephenjacobsmith.com 's pet peeves: containerized garbage collection ( in the u/g bin version) and nes instead of permanent sidewalk sheds for precarious facades.

I was filling an IRCC survey but after the umpteenth question about language I just dropped. It was the same thing with the Census, amost only questions about language. It's almost like there is no other issue governments feel the need to survey people about.

Last Sunday at a lunch with friends and friends of friends I met an engineer working for one of the big rolling stock manufacturers and casually chatting she ended up telling me how much of a problem is to deal with customers that require too much customization of many components.

Umarelling around for metro stations' above ground interfaces

Rice pads as far as the eye can see. East Asia's rice belt? Nope, Vercelli/Novara.

"Timed-transfer on transit is good. But it really needs an operator that deliver and that users trust to fulfill the promise of a seamless connection" Methink while rushing between platforms from a +5' delayed local to take an on-time regional express in Chivasso with dozens of other stressed users

Late spring in the Alps. (Even though the climate feels a bit already like early July)