rohan aras

About 10 years after the final 10 acre plus 1 per 100 pupils standard was established is when active Transportation to school starts collapsing.

(I can't prove it's causal, but it's my belief that these standards + desegregation + suburban land use patterns generally that killed walk/bike.)

Recommended school sizes began to show up in the 1920s, themselves larger than what came before, they exploded after the war, and the long prevailing (massive) standard size recommendations for middle and high schools were already reached by 1957-1958.
mcdonald.web.unc.edu/wp-content/u...

We really need to stop siting our public schools this way. Schools should be at the center of town.

Preliminary Results Unlike the infrastructure costs database, the rolling stock database shows much narrower differences in the costs of single-deck EMUs. The Chinese metros average $92,141 per linear meter in 2023 PPP dollars. In Continental Europe, the corresponding figure is $150,641, though as we explain below, we believe incompleteness in the database biases the figure upward somewhat by including more higher- than lower-cost items; the approximate range is $100,000-200,000, and we expect a fuller database to get to a figure of about $130,000/m. The American costs, dominated by New York’s orders, average $152,602/m.

Not all European cities are properly covered. This matters, because there appears to be an effect in which the largest and oldest European systems—especially Paris and Berlin—have higher metro rolling stock costs than others, with what appears to be less standardization. These cities form a larger share of the database than they do the European rolling stock market.

The Transit Costs Project's rolling stock database is incomplete, but the difference between NYC and the older European metros might not be that big

How much of that is pure wages and how much of that is startup and training costs to only make 60, though? I’d be curious what the order scale point is. (Fwiw, the MTA seems to think it’s about ~1000+ for its subway EMU orders)

One of the rare examples of modal filters for buses in the US...
It lasted less than a UK conservative government.

Wait. I think I missed this.

Arizona Democrats don't think renters are "everyday families".

Governor Hobbs Offers Alternative Housing Plan, Adding New Restrictions www.kawc.org/news/2025-03...

Bus only lane at 12th Ave

Confirmed: SDOT will be removing the bus only lane on E Union Street this weekend, ceding this part of the $130 million RapidRide G project back to general purpose traffic in response to requests from nearby property owners.

adjusted to reflect the shorter point spacing, though with the mid day drive time we discussed

Everyone take a moment to gloat over the FinTwit folks who claimed labor & supply chains make quantum leaps in multifamily housing production impossible

"What about teh lumber", they said. "What about teh labor", they said

Then NYC simply exploded to completion levels unseen since 1965

There was also less public/private salary differential in general— @zliscow.bsky.social had this graph in a recent paper. I think this was separate from taxes? But the appendix link has rotted so I can't double check

www.economicstrategygroup.org/publication/...

Though I suppose these numbers should also be adjusted by the amount of time required for parking

What's the midpoint on the colormap? (since it doesn't look to be 0)

This sort of map makes it very clear where the transit investments were most transformative

Typical new Canadian greenfield single-family houses, easily enough density to support good bus service:

We should stop funding new transit capital projects unless the land around the stations is zoned for housing or mixed uses at high density.

The bill would also have FTA work with HUD to make sure that the local policies would actually lead to an increase in the number of units

"Pro-housing policies" are enumerated in the text as
1) the elimination of parking minimums
2) by-right approvals
3) reduced or eliminated lot size minimums
4) eliminated or increased height limits/dwelling unit limits
5) anything else that FTA and HUD can agree on

The ROAD to Housing package in the Senate contains a (slightly weaker) form of this fwiw: the Build More Housing Near Transit provision gives a full point boost (out of five) to Capital Investment Grant proposals that have "pro-housing policies" in the vicinity of the project

There are lawmakers hostile to SEPTA in the more rural/exurban parts of the state between Philly-Reading and Philly-Bethlehem. They're beyond the current SEPTA territory. But a program that extends SEPTA service to those two cities with intermediate stops in the smaller towers could change that.

Jarret's right that support for transit will always be strongest in cities. However, the size/scale of the MTA network shows that you can build and expand regional 'transit' coalitions. LI/Westchester pols may not care about NYCT, but they do care about Metro-North and the LIRR. Scale matters.

Hey hey -- I'm looking for analyses of corridor- and transit area-based upzoning policies or proposals. The analyses can be looking at the change in estimated capacity or expected outcomes (e.g., how much might be built), or the actual outcomes post-reform. Doesn't have to be in CA! Thanks!

Shang-Chi had that depiction of the 1-California and what I assume was the Richmond

Capacity building at Sound Transit 18 primes 248 subconsultants [large chart showing which consultants and subconsultants the agency is bringing on]

I keep going back to this slide shown to the Sound Transit board this month, showing how "capacity building" means consulting firms, more consulting firms, and more subcontractors.

BlueSky crowd-source request: Can folks think of state laws (in effect) that have specifically targeted transit-oriented development as something to be funded or required through local zoning change?

I know of CA SB79; CA AB2011; CO HB24-1313; CT HB5278; HI HB1409; MA MBTA Act; UT HB462; UT SB217.

Wait is this why some east coast cities have more sewer smells than other us cities? I'd always assumed it had something to do with having older combined sewers or something

The segment of West Seattle Link with the segment between SoDo and Delridge highlighted

"This is one of the worst ideas I've ever seen," Dan Strauss says of the "minimum operable segment" for West Seattle Link, which would only run from SoDo to Delrdge Way.

Newsom revives $750 million loan for Bay Area transit, but questions loom for BART, Muni Lawmakers and transportation advocates who pressured California for the $750 million state loan for Bay Area transit systems say their campaign successfully kept it alive.

Lawmakers and transportation advocates who pressured California for the $750 million state loan for Bay Area transit systems say their campaign successfully kept it alive.

Why U.S. Homes Are All Built the Same Way - Type V City Part I Podcast Episode · Most Podern Podcast · 09/03/2025 · 30m

Podcast interview with Ripple about her book, development of model codes and attempts to resolve contradictions of building code (ie Single Stair Reform).

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...

my one public (for now :)) reflection from attending the Abundance 2025 conference last week is that i met a lot of medium-to-mostly-offline people who have a very positive view of what they're trying to accomplish (more housing, more transit, more clean energy, etc)