If one wanted to drive transformative modal shift in New York or anywhere, one would combine congestion pricing, street parking pricing, and employer/government transit fare subsidy. The latter is a ways away, but making progress on the first two, apparently: nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/03/05/m...

“It was said that whole mansions in Westchester County were built with materials stolen from Co-op City.”

​Greetings from the Northwestern University Transportation Library, where Rachel just showed me the original!

“People used to tell me that explaining jokes ruins them. But I enjoy it. Telling people why things are funny can be funny too.”

We are talking A Better Billion at NYU Marron next week. Housing + Subway Expansion is catnip for New Yorkers. Definite cameos from @27a01.bsky.social, @vanshnookenraggen.com, @eensari.bsky.social, and @ndhapple.bsky.social. We will have food and beverages. Please join us! luma.com/ub7q20a6

“The highway’s final cost came to $238 million, about six times the 1946 estimate, of almost $2 billion in today’s dollars, for 6.5 miles of highway.”

For everyone who asks us to do roads: “At first, planners estimated the Cross Bronx’s projected total cost at $38,670,000. When work had been underway for about a year, the estimate went up to $60 million.”

A BETTER BILLION, AMA: This is the latest report from the Transit Costs Project. It sought to take all the work we've done on subway construction and push it forward into a vision of what could/should be possible in NYC with a steady source of funding -- transitcosts.com/a-better-bil...

We at the Transit Cost Project are hosting an event on our most recent report, "A Better Billion", at 370 Jay St in Brooklyn on March 4th. If you are interested in hearing about the planning proposal in person and ask your burning questions on the report, RSVP on Luma here: luma.com/ub7q20a6

LISTEN: ‘The Master Plan of New York is the Subway’ www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/18/b...

Happy our project is getting some local news love. @egoldwyn.bsky.social @ndhapple.bsky.social @27a01.bsky.social ny1.com/nyc/all-boro...

Look how much Canadians hate the United States now www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

“Canadians were the most likely — among respondents in Canada, Germany, France and the U.K. — to say the U.S. is not a reliable ally (58 percent).” www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

@galvinalmanza.bsky.social I read your op-ed, congrats! I wanted to ask if the person you defended was a bus or subway rider? The set up suggested a bus rider, but the precise phrase you used was “public transit.” Thank you

Seamless Bay Area on Service-Led Planning and how it can help regional network management in the Bay, including: 1. Better transfers; 2. Incremental upgrades to speed, reliability and frequency; 3. More cost effective capital project selection and development. www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2026/2/...

✨ introducing… ✨ 🌇 Transportation for the Abundant Society 🚅 "Abundance" says our problem is artificial scarcity—especially housing. But you can’t build your way out if transportation policy still treats traffic flow as sacred. Transportation is the binding constraint. ssrn.com/abstract=538...

Let’s go!

Since we're crayoning: Here's a challenge. Pick a metro area. You can build 10 miles subway, 20 miles elevated rail, or 40 miles at grade (street, freeway, rail ROW) rail (or any suitably weighted combination.) Where do you put it for max ridership? How do you adjust the bus network to work with it?

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

“But having read more non-fiction about whaling after my “Moby Dick” re-read, I now know this is not true.”

There’s more

It is amazing what gets into the public domain:

And @ndhapple.bsky.social. This was his idea!!!!

Our A Better Billion report is up on our site. It’s a great site. @27a01.bsky.social, @eensari.bsky.social, @vanshnookenraggen.com, and @alonlevy.bsky.social did a great job: transitcosts.com/a-better-bil...

Citylab and @benschneider.bsky.social covered A Better Billion, too. They also had the wisdom to include the killer gif @27a01.bsky.social made showing how the system expands over time. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“The public kept expecting Necker’s brilliance to save the country, and he kept not saving it and being reappointed and refired.”

It has been fun working on the A Better Billion project over the last couple of months. You can check out the full StoryMap here: transitcosts.com/a-better-bil... Also the gift article link to the NYT coverage of our plan; www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/n...

I am now off the clock, so I am officially, formally, incredibly thrilled that 'A Better Billion' is now in the world. And it's absolutely surreal to help with something that ends up with a feature in The New York Times. -- transitcosts.com/a-better-bil...

We're proud to present A Better Billion: how New York should be spending an extra $1b a year on subway expansion, in lieu of Zohran Mamdani's free bus proposal. transitcosts.com/a-better-bil... See gift article for a New York Times writeup here: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/n...

41 miles of new subway for the cost of free buses. Here’s an audacious, expansive plan to expand the subway’s reach & catalyze housing to attack the affordability crisis. An incredible effort from NYU Marron team. Excited for this to be out in the world: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/n...

Lots of great stuff in this @davecolon.bsky.social joint. Just yesterday I was thinking the vote for best New Yorker was between David Stearns and Zohran Mamdani. Janno said, hold my baseball book babe ruth’s widow. nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/01/21/i...

“Simcoe was that rare Britisher, apparently, who saw the advantage of not wearing red uniforms in forest combat.”

The ultimate sign of bookstore class and erudition

HARDHAT HOCHUL: Guv’s transit ambitions could put MTA on track for biggest expansion in decades “She’s building a transit legacy for herself.” NEW Sunday read in @thecity.nyc www.thecity.nyc/2026/01/18/t...

Folks, any help with populating this map of bus and tram boarding policies in South America would be most welcome! I suspect that 99% of cities are front-door boarding-only outside of BRT systems (so B*) and eventually trams (the few existing systems) but I'd appreciate more detail!

Read the new 125th street subway feasibility study. It’s well done report. Every project in the US should have something like this! There are still questions: Why are stations so deep? Why are stations 75 feet wide? If serious, let’s seriously plan the tunnel sequence. www.mta.info/document/196...

When I start a burner account this will be my profile picture. HT: @27a01.bsky.social

“The subways created the modern Bronx and the highways almost destroyed it.”

“The achievements of government in Chicago at times rivaled the feats of the Old Testament God.”

“The Chicago fire of 1871 destroyed an estimated fifteen thousand buildings, devastated three and one-half square miles in the heart of the city, and drove sixty-eight insurance companies into liquidation.”

Really fascinating look at what the IBX could mean for Brooklyn and Queens by a team at Hunter College/CUNY -- www.hunterurban.org/wp-content/u...

“Mr. Adams was required by law…to create 150 miles of bus lanes with barriers or camera enforcement and 250 miles of protected bike lanes over 5 years, a task that now falls to Mr. Mamdani….In the last 4 years, the city installed about 28 miles of bus lanes and 95 miles of protected bike lanes.”

Pedestrian Observations: Fare Practices pedestrianobservations.com/2025/12/31/f... With thanks to people who helped populate the table: @joao-paulouro.bsky.social, @borners.bsky.social, @egoldwyn.bsky.social, @chittimarco.bsky.social, @eensari.bsky.social, @4freedoms.es, and @etany.org.

A PROGRAMMING ALERT (8pm eastern) =>

Since Mamdani won the Dem NYC mayor nomination with a free bus proposal, let's talk about free transit. Research suggests that free transit: a—increases ridership b—doesn't get people out of cars c—benefits youth, elderly & low-income ppl d—doesn't add employment e—maybe ups operational efficiency

in 2024, Seoul Metro's busiest Line 2 completed its tech transfer to ATO and began looking into converting Line 2 into a single-crew operation, as is done for Lines 5,6,7,8. Seoul Metro's largest labor union balked, claiming major safety risks for both employees and riders. 🧵

“[IRT & BRT] would be paid a sum equal to the profit they were getting from existing lines (14-15%) plus 6% on their investment. They would take this ‘preferential’ payment, intended to reduce the risk of expanding into thinly populated areas, out of operating revenues before the city got a dime.”

“You could lead an iron horse to water, it turned out, but you couldn’t make it cross.”

I know there’s a lot of TWU heat because of the recent veto in Albany. I am looking forward to reading Marc Kagan’s new book on the more recent history of the TWU. Marc, I believe, has paid for the book to be completely open access when it comes out: brill.com/display/titl...

Legislating train operations from Albany always seemed like a bad idea: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/n...