This week's episode of Talking Headways discusses transit agency power dynamics, the loss of public sector capacity, and how the Trump administration is looking to gut civil rights enforcement for transportation projects.

Yes, it has cleared the internal federal review. We haven't seen the language yet. They should post it 1 day prior on the Federal Register in "Public Inspection". This internal review looks like they are trying to do it as a final rule with no public comment period. www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eo...

Always a pleasure to talk with Jeff @theoverheadwire.com! (Less a pleasure to hear my own voice recorded.) Thanks for having me on to highlight the threat to civil rights protections in transportation. Watch this space for updates on the pending US DOT rescission of Title VI regulations.

So glad my Congressmember is leading on this critical issue! We have a long history of discrimination in transportation in the US and disparate impact analysis is a critical check before important transit fare and service decisions.

Great quote! BART does allow the Bay to function. The photos in this article seem selectively taken to make BART seem empty. My regular experience at rush hour is standing room only. It is not the pre-pandemic sardine levels, but still 'take your backpack off' levels. (efficiency=shorter trains)

HUD has to read every comment we submit. Be a wrench in their plans to scapegoat immigrants & make families homeless ⤵️ actionnetwork.org/letters/keep...

Trusted friends in Minneapolis tell me that this fund is supporting many people but does not have enough money. If you can give, please do: chuffed.org/project/1671...

Yesterday, Minneapolis gave us hope. That’s what they’re trying to kill: the will of a people who are willing to fight them.

ICE abducted two members of CWA Local 7304 at their workplace, New Flyer in St Cloud. Both men had come to the US from Laos legally as small children and had worked at New Flyer for over 20 years.

The Clipper fare system upgrades in the Bay Area have great benefits - free transfers, fare caps, open payment. But unfortunately they leave behind people without access to Clipper. This is pronounced on AC Transit where cash riders don't have access to a weekly pass www.kqed.org/news/1206773...

The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow

The main threat to transit isn't crime, it is the federal government threatening funding and rolling back civil rights and environmental justice protections. commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/the-...

In the continuing attacks on civil rights and environmental justice today the Federal Transit Administration withdrew its circular on Environmental Justice issued in 2012. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

This is my fear for the future of transit, sponsors determining service. It will create inadequate and inequitable service levels and we now lack the credible threat of federal Title VI enforcement. Support for everyone in PA fighting for transit funding!

Join me tonight at this virtual panel!

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.

remember to breathe they want you to stop, but you shouldn't

as much as anything, Andrew Cuomo's campaign represents the bipartisan consensus at the top that consequences and standards are for other, lesser, working class plebes. destined to suffer what they must for the outcomes others merely would prefer. But No Kings should mean No Nobles either.

This time-lapse video of protesters marching down Broadway in Oakland for No Kings Day gives an idea of how many people turned out today @sfchronicle.com

This is heartbreaking and infuriating on so many levels. All of the details illustrate how our society is designed for some and against others. The $1.5 million bond for both parents makes the injustice so clear. Zero consideration given to what is best for the surviving 10 year old.

New: States say the Trump Admin is holding emergency relief and transit funds "hostage" in retaliation for not complying with immigration directives. "More cars, planes, and trains will crash, and more people will die as a result."

If this wasn't real, it would be the plot of a nerd's action movie. The bad guys are trying to break into the Library of Congress to steal all of the copyrighted material to feed into their earth destroying machines and the librarians have to fight back to save humanity!

No surprise that the federal data grab continues to fuel the AI race. And also no coincidence that this occurred within days of the Librarian of Congress being fired without cause. The Office of the Register of Copyrights sits within the Library of Congress. Keep fighting @morelle.house.gov.

Poisoning the air of a Black community for a fucking chatbot.

A report from the scene of a horrifying kidnapping on the streets of Worcester, MA today by @billshaner.bsky.social www.welcometohellworld.com/they-dont-ne...

A judge issued a TRO in a case brought by @kingcountymetro.bsky.social challenging changes to the FTA Master Grant agreement. I learned from reading the legal filings that FTA changed their master grant agreement to say federal requirements includes executive orders and cooperating with ICE.

ClimatePlan is searching for a new director. This org acts as the nerve center for all sorts of bright, equity-oriented sustainable transportation and land use policy advocates across California - come work with us!! cal.streetsblog.org/2025/05/07/i...

This is an outrageous policy change. Also, if you’re gonna do this then you gotta do it for drivers, too right? Given those are obviously far far more dangerous vehicles. nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/05/02/p...

"Mobility justice demands that we confront the surveillance, policing, and xenophobia ... It demands we stop asking people to prove their worth before they can move without fear. It means acknowledging our streets, sidewalks, and bus stops are not neutral but political" Ruth Rosas

A literal Chicago Boy running a deregulation effort under an authoritarian government, ask a Chilean what could go wrong!

republicans are trying to give ICE a 140% increase in funding at the same time they're doing mass deportations, exiling citizens and permanently disappearing people to foreign prisons w/out trial this is VERY REAL. it is part of their reconciliation bill that can be enacted even with all ds opposed

Andry José Hernández Romero, I remember you, even if I do not know how to articulate my horror, rage, & sorrow at your treatment by my government. No one has heard from you in 43 days. As vigil, I’m posting a photo of you every day until you are returned from El Salvador.

Earth Day….

Shout it from the mountaintops, transit is safer than driving! For fatalities and crime. As we have seen from the federal government recently "transit is unsafe" is a narrative designed to defund transit, decrease ridership, and demonize transit riders. www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-p...

Let me say this again: If a president can illegally deport someone, conspire with that country’s leader to abandon them to human rights abuses, and face no consequences, we are in a hellish authoritarian moment. What a fucking evil, illiberal government this is.

Great to see advocate installed benches in use after today's Hands Off protest in downtown Oakland! Bus stops need benches.

Mass transit makes mass protests possible! Maybe that is why Sean Duffy is scared of it.

In accusations are confessions news, my colleague uncovered the California landlord lobby paying people to attend a city council meeting to support rolling back rent control and just cause eviction protections! See the video www.instagram.com/reel/DHw5ctY...

The Boston #HandsOff organizers are killing it. Handsoff2025.com

Good time to learn about the history of Diego Garcia and the people who were displaced by the US military base. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mla3...

The capitulation of TRB continues. It is particularly maddening when it is an institution you gave so much free labor to!

Loss of data collection is one of the many things I am worried about from this federal regime! This article focuses on public health data, but the concern applies to the data we need to measure disparate impact of policies whether in health, environment, transportation, housing, education, etc.

12 of my articles and the book I co-edited are on this list. Given how academic publishing works it is like I was robbed twice of the same thing! First the journals profited off my labor and now Meta. And ironically I would have published it all creative commons noncommercial if I could have.

Mahmoud Khalil has become a political prisoner for protesting a US-backed genocide. His detention heralds new vistas of repression made possible by institutions and technological developments begun by the War on Terror.

Really bad take from where I sit (behind the wheel of a bus) because so much of the skill of an operator relies on human skills like intuiting the intentions of other humans. A surprising fraction of my work is reading faces, body language and gestures.

“I think the public needs to know that if they are going to visit a national park that they should bring their own toilet paper.” www.sfgate.com/national-par...

A new bill threatens to repeal bare minimum renter protections. Tell Congress to protect the 30-day eviction notice standard & oppose the so-called “Respect State Housing Laws Act.”

The EEOC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's company, Tesla, alleging it allowed "severe racial harassment" of Black employees including “frequent direct verbal racial attacks” and the “constant presence of racist graffiti evocative of lynchings.” Every story about these cuts should say that.

This is not about efficiency. Giving federal employees purchase cards saves money - it reduces layers of paperwork and red tape. Imagine running a business where you stopped employees from purchasing anything. The goal is to shut down government by other means.