Nick Aster

Still no PHL?!

Should you bother turning your LED lights off? In a word, yes, and it's not just about the electricity consumption.

the NYTimes Wirecutter recently suggested that LED bulbs use so little electricity that there is no point in turning them off. I disagree, and not just because of the waste of electricity...
lloydalter.substack.com/p/should-you...

Let’s Talk About Pissoirs: The Unsung Hero of Urban Design Of all the commonalities in life, the occasional need to relieve one’s self while out in public is as universal as it is problematic. It’s not a sexy topic, but it begets a fundamental problem that pl...

$4m could go a long way if they'll accept Pissoirs as an easy solution.... linkedin.com/pulse/lets-talk-pissoirs-unsung-hero-urban-design-nicholas-aster-zqlhe

CTA wouldn’t make an ‘L’ map of what their doomsday could look like, but I did. RTA says the CTA could reduce or close four entire lines and close or greatly reduce service at 50 stations, so here’s what killing 4 lines and 50 stations could look like.

Welcome to the future.

a man in a suit is riding a red bicycle with his feet up . ALT: a man in a suit is riding a red bicycle with his feet up .

This one cool trick can save you $12,000 a year and also make your old car last longer since Trump is ensuring you'll never be able to afford a new one:

Whenever I see stuff like this, I always think of this exchange between @sgoodyear.bsky.social and @drtaragoddard.com because it's such a perfect encapsulation of how in the U.S. we've built our environment in a way that doesn't let kids move like kids. All so drivers can go fast.

Detroit killed the sedan. Trump's trade war will make them wish they hadn’t As Trump threatens tariffs and consumer confidence plummets, the lack of options from U.S. automakers could send buyers to foreign competitors.

Seems like a good time to re-up this one

Want to combat exurban sprawl?
Legalize these on every lot in America.

Noooo, Canoooo is toast! This was the electric car of my dreams, and now it is gone.

Alas, Canoo is no more. I share @lloydalter.bsky.social 's sentiments exactly - lloydalter.substack.com/p/noooo-cano... But I guess I don't really need a new car any time soon anyway.

The Broligarchy is Here Inside the Billionaire Boys’ Club Plotting America’s Future

Welcome to the #broligarchy! emilyinyourphone.substack.com/p/the-brolig...

The best thing one can hope for is that some of the deregulation he supposedly champions will be good for fighting NIMBYs. But keep sending him videos of Chinese trains and you never know!

The NY Times is quite car loving themselves, judging by their coverage of congestion pricing and other things

It's time to rethink our e-bike regulations And just eliminate Class 3; twenty is plenty for e-bike speed.

In New York, the Governor wants to get heavy class 3 e-bikes out of the bike lanes. It might be a good time to look at all the e-bike regulations, rooted in American exceptionalism, instead of being based on European experience. lloydalter.substack.com/p/its-time-t...

What the fuck is wrong with you

Great to see this finally happening

Ambitious graffiti, however!

I wish I had a solution for denser cities (Philly) where you can’t access a yard. Would need to be something you share with neighbors, a bit harder to secure though

PennDOT seeks public feedback on long-term transit plans to redesign Roosevelt Boulevard Four open meetings with SEPTA and city officials will examine six options, including to build a Northeast Philly subway line.

PennDOT is calling on the public to help decide the future of Roosevelt Boulevard, whose long-term redesign could include a Roosevelt Boulevard subway line in Northeast Philly if funding can be obtained.

www.phillyvoice.com/options-impr...

That needs to change!

Protect the Spruce & Pine Bike Lanes Sign this petition to show your support of the City's plan to make Spruce & Pine Streets safer for all users.

We have a petition… if you’re a Society Hill or Center City resident, please sign it!

I'm enjoying the dialogue over on a new site called #CarbonParadox - carbonparadox.org #CarbonCredits are potentially effective tools to address climate change but they are full of complexity and paradox. Take a look!

That south street bridge needs to be redesigned, just lose the freeway ramps altogether

Although marketing is certainly part of the reason for increasing car/truck size, it's not even close to being the primary reason. The actual reason is CAFE standards. A quick explanation: (1)

Another American streetcar, another disappointment The DC Streetcar is another example of pretty much everything wrong with modern streetcar implementations.

American cities really don't do streetcars very well. Washington DC's single 2.2-mile route - the only part of a more ambitious system to open - illustrates why they mostly fail.

seanmarshall.ca/2024/12/02/a...

US sets tariffs for solar panels from Southeast Asian nations U.S. trade officials announced on Friday a new round of tariffs on solar panel imports from four Southeast Asian nations after American manufacturers complained that companies there are flooding the market with unfairly cheap goods.

This is madness. If other countries want to sell us solar on the cheap so we can expedite adoption of clean energy, let them. Either climate change is a crisis, or it isn't.
www.reuters.com/business/ene...

This looks like a great improvement on mistakes made a generation ago. And great for housing affordability in Philly

The end of the day at a primary school in Amsterdam, situated on a bicycle and pedestrian only street

Meh. Happy I don’t have anything to do with it then

Yo. Will this actually be useful?

what the heck is Threads? I'm so happy in my ignorance