The freeway revolt of the 60s and 70s was a noble movement that didn't go nearly far enough. But what's undeniably clear is that the few neighborhoods spared from the freeway builders ended up far better off. Read my latest book excerpt in @nyc.streetsblog.org: nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/06/b...

Great layouts! Look at all of those exposures and bedrooms

With the passage of the housing ballot initiatives, Mamdani won a second victory—one he didn’t even campaign for. These laws will make at least some of his housing policy goals meaningfully easier to achieve. www.fastcompany.com/91436060/zoh...

This is a great piece on efforts to envision a truly transformational regional rail system for So Cal. Looks at all these publicly-owned tracks! We should have have 15 minute peak service running under overhead wires powered by 100% renewable energy.

Recent subway ridership records: Busiest post-COVID day, Wednesday, 10/29: 4,589,477 Busiest post-COVID Friday, 10/31: 4,428,750 Busiest post-COVID Sunday, 11/2: 2,825,658 2nd busiest post-COVD Saturday, 11/1: 3,093,309 This is how people get around NYC.

Momentum is gaining momentum. The railroad infrastructure framework developed by @ndhapple.bsky.social has gone bicoastal. A new report from @calelectricrail.org shows how level boarding and electrified trains would transform transportation in SoCal. benjaminschneider.substack.com/p/how-southe...

Time for Electrolink, Southern California 🚆 Electrification and level boarding "on the San Bernardino Line, the journey from San Bernardino to LA would go from 106 minutes to 70 minutes." via @benschneider.bsky.social

New 196-unit housing project proposed for SF's Presidio. It's a very unique development led by the Presidio Trust and financed in part by US Treasury loans. Revenues from this fully market-rate project in a super desirable area would go toward supporting the park. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/p...

What a waste. $200 m on a 2.2-mi line that plods along at 8 mph, doesn't have a direct Metro connection, gets stuck behind cars with which it shares lanes, & arrives less frequently than the (faster) bus along the same route. The city couldn't bother to make it effective, so now it's being killed.

Berkeley's transformation from one of the NIMBYest cities in California to one of the YIMBYest is a major arc in my book. In 2022, Berkeley completed more new homes than it did in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s combined. Rents there have been mostly flat in recent years.

And then we entirely forgot all of it

Really enjoyed talking to Adam Shanks at the @sfexaminer.bsky.social (my old paper!) about "The Unfinished Metropolis." It was interesting to reflect on how growing up in San Franciscan informed my thesis about the stagnation of American cities. www.sfexaminer.com/news/urban-d...

Think the pandemic was a low point for America's downtowns? Think again. In a new excerpt from my book, I explore the perpetual reinvention of these neighborhoods. This time around, cities should celebrate the things that make downtowns special, not suppress them. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Think the pandemic was a low point for America's downtowns? Think again. In a new excerpt from my book, I explore the perpetual reinvention of these neighborhoods. This time around, cities should celebrate the things that make downtowns special, not suppress them. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Very interesting deep dive into the safety issues with Brightline Florida, America's deadliest railroad by far. The core problem is the 331 at-grade road crossings, compared to 0 between NYC and DC. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Today is publication day for my book, "The Unfinished Metropolis"! To mark the occasion, the @sfchronicle.com published an excerpt in which I explore what has and hasn't changed in SF's cityscape, and imagine what the city could look like in 50 years. www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

Compared to US transit systems, the latest metros being constructed around the world look like they rolled straight out of science fiction. Picture driverless trains arriving every 90 seconds, platform screen doors, and subways traveling over 100mph. benjaminschneider.substack.com/p/why-automa...

Today is publication day for my book, "The Unfinished Metropolis"! To mark the occasion, the @sfchronicle.com published an excerpt in which I explore what has and hasn't changed in SF's cityscape, and imagine what the city could look like in 50 years. www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

“The politics of transit construction are ‘all about minimizing disruption. That mentality leads to expensive choices.’” The U.S. only has to look as far as Canada for an example of how to build transit, via @benschneider.bsky.social.

As the YIMBY movement took on zoning codes around the US, an even wonkier group set their sights on building codes...

Excellent piece that's worth your time.

“The cost of living accelerates at a far faster pace than inflation. So every year, our costs increase with the cost of living, but our revenues increase at best with inflation,” said @jeffreytumlin.bsky.social. Enter the transit fiscal cliff. via @benschneider.bsky.social

"The MTA could save as much as $160 million a year if it could run the LIRR as efficiently as Metro-North, a Streetsblog review of federal data shows." nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/10/08/m...

Trams and streetcars pair best with missing middle density. Heavy rail transit demands missing massive density. Asian cities mostly skipped the era of missing middle style development, so streetcars and trams are rare there. nextmetro.substack.com/p/asias-lack...

Unfinished Metropolis also features the illustrations of @alfredtwu.com including this EMU.

Got my copy of The Unfinished Metropolis by @benschneider.bsky.social

A tale of two rezonings: The now-passed SB 79 would raise height limits across more of SF than the proposed Family Zoning Plan. But the Family Zoning plan, which nullifies SB 79 in the affected areas, allows much greater heights in some places, like Van Ness, the Castro, and Glen Park.

Caltrans is presenting on their preliminary findings for Vision 980 at the 10/16 BPAC. The initial findings show that both the technical and community feedback planning processes support removal of 980 for a complete street, housing and parks. www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets...

"Though robotaxis have notched up impressive growth, they look ploddingly pedestrian compared with far zippier pedal-powered rivals. [Waymo] proudly proclaims that its cars do around 250k trips a week. Yet in NYC alone that number of trips is made every three days using the city’s bikeshare scheme."

Very informative discussion about how transit can succeed in the US. The answers are right there across the border.

And the number two lesson: allow density around transit stations.

Here are the Subway/Metro Station design guidelines that were compiled by UMTA/USDOT in the 1970s in an attempt to prevent WMATA-style cost overruns again. It got shelved when everyone at UMTA got laid off and we forgot it. But it's prescient about cost drivers -- rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/11352

Interesting take on the "missing massive" development in New Rochelle. The release valve metaphor feels ever relevant. Missing massive development is partially a product of development being illegal almost everywhere else.

@benschneider.bsky.social wrote the book I wanted to write and did a better job than I could have. Journalism skills are more important now than ever. Ask the right questions. Delve deeper. Rope your audience in. Then give them tools to resist populist policymakers and authoritarians.

Very kind words about "The Unfinished Metropolis" from one of the leading transit professionals in the US. Thank you, Jeff!

I'll be co-hosting a book launch party for "The Unfinished Metropolis" with @abundanceny.bsky.social in Brooklyn on October 21st! RSVP here: luma.com/r9fvqd8k

Areas on top of subways should be dense, vibrant, mixed-use neighborhoods 🏘️🚇🚶🙌 Great piece from @benschneider.bsky.social about how we’re not just “missing middle” housing—we’re “missing massive” in the places that matter most: transit hubs.

Sabbatical pleasure #27: Reading. Sabbatical pleasure #28: When new books by @benschneider.bsky.social and @carterlavin.bsky.social arrive on the same day! @islandpress.bsky.social islandpress.org/books/unfini... islandpress.org/books/if-you...

Just unboxed! Looks beautiful! Congrats @benschneider.bsky.social

Missing middle housing is great, but in certain places cities should think bigger. Missing massive development, to use @aarmlovi.bsky.social's coinage, is commensurate with a severe housing shortage and complimentary to high-capacity transit. benjaminschneider.substack.com/p/missing-ma...

Really good stuff, as always from @benschneider.bsky.social. The fiscal cliffs are hard. The NY region has been one of the few to actually plug many of the holes. I'd add that a pivot to different types of trips in a remote work world is a good strategy. But it's a hard situation.

Important detail in this very good story: The draft rule would allow public housing operators and housing departments to *opt in* to these new regulations.

As with all things transit, Canada could show a better way for addressing 'fiscal cliffs.' Vancouver's Translink is mandated to spread costs across all the beneficiaries of a great transit system: riders, drivers, land owners, and the broader economy. www.planetizen.com/features/136...

New: four million people could be forced to leave public housing and other federally assisted housing under new plans from the Trump administration, according to experts who reviewed drafts of two unpublished rules obtained by @propublica.org.

Across the US, transit agencies are staring down huge 'fiscal cliffs.' The popular explanation is Covid and inflation. But experts say there are other, longer-term forces in play, from declining gas tax revenues to 'Baumol's cost disease.' www.planetizen.com/features/136...

CA high-speed rail is at a crossroads after securing the biggest funding commitment in the project's history. My take on where things stand now: benjaminschneider.substack.com/p/can-califo...

Talking Mike Davis' "infinite game," stadium subsidies, and why sports rivalries started with trains. defector.com/this-buildin...

Lots of transit news from BART director Victor Flores - including that the BART board has voted to use standard gauge for the 2nd set of transbay tubes. This will open up the option for Caltrain, High Speed Rail, and Amtrak to cross between downtown San Francisco and the East Bay in the future.

the US if Tylenol actually caused autism

A century ago, Edith Elmer Wood put forward a version of the "homelessness is a housing problem" thesis. She predicted that ever more "restrictive" tenement laws — which were going way beyond health and safety — would eventually create a "house famine." www.planetizen.com/features/136...