Yonah Freemark

When does the next bus come? GoTriangle reduces wait time on its busiest routes The regional agency joins GoDurham and GoRaleigh in offering bus service at 15-minute intervals between Durham and Chapel Hill.

Raleigh increased bus service from every 30 min to every 15 min on its route serving Glenwood Ave. Ridership then doubled in the year that followed.

Over last year, city’s high-frequency routes have had 89% ridership growth.

People will ride when you give them service that they can rely on!

New York becomes first state to commit to all-electric new buildings The state finalized rules ensuring most new edifices will install electric heat pumps and stoves instead of gas appliances, lowering costs and improving…

Electrifying news! New York is the first state to adopt an all-electric building code prohibiting fossil fuels in new construction. A federal district court judge recently upheld the law requiring the standard, slamming a prior judgement on gas bans. My latest: www.canarymedia.com/articles/car...

Smell like an authoritarian regime, echos an authoritarian regime, acts like an authoritarian regime, is an

Tesla sales drop again around Europe despite Model Y revamp Registrations of new Tesla cars in several key European markets fell in July, despite a revamp to its signature Model Y, as the EV maker struggles with a backlash to CEO Elon Musk's political views, regulatory challenges and rising competition.

In the first six months of 2025, Tesla sales dropped by over a third in Europe. The brand’s share of the European electric car market declined from 21.6% last June to 14.5% in June 2025.

When does the next bus come? GoTriangle reduces wait time on its busiest routes The regional agency joins GoDurham and GoRaleigh in offering bus service at 15-minute intervals between Durham and Chapel Hill.

Raleigh increased bus service from every 30 min to every 15 min on its route serving Glenwood Ave. Ridership then doubled in the year that followed.

Over last year, city’s high-frequency routes have had 89% ridership growth.

People will ride when you give them service that they can rely on!

It me

We don't have nearly enough permanent or temporary housing or shelter beds for the currently unhoused population.

Cutting housing aid to 100,000 people would be absolutely devastating to the those people, their communities, and the whole Bay Area.

Fair!

Its value as a transfer facilitator improves dramatically if you can make wait times only 2 to 4 min; I’m doubtful that would happen with LRT.

The one thing that would increase costs with light metro: you wouldn’t be able to cross tracks to get from one platform to the other, as you can with light rail (so you might need additional tunnels/bridges). OTOH, problem could be solved with a shared central platform, which might be better anyway.

Nope! The tunnel is being expanded for the IBX

I sincerely believe that from a construction cost containment perspective moving to frequent trains with shorter platforms could be really beneficial. At that ridership, you could do 26m light metro trains vs 44m light rail trains.

Great!

Suffice it to say, it’s going to be tough to do research if the federal government starts making up data…

An important issue: Who is responsible for injuries & deaths caused by autopilot or autonomous driving tech?

Tesla claims drivers are responsible for system failures, citing its owner’s manual. But when people are told their car has “full self driving,” it’s hard to blame them for the car’s errors.

Notable that, on transit, she killed a bad project (LGA airtrain) & has supported 2 good ones (IBX & 2nd Ave phase 2).

I meant M4!

Because this project will be fully grade separated, it should be built as automated light metro (e.g., Toulouse Metro, Milan M5, Honolulu Skytrain). This can enable:
—More reliable & often faster service
—More frequent service
—Shorter platforms (& thus cheaper-to-build stations)

Because people in the US are very unfamiliar with the concept of light metros

Differences between modes is not super cut-and-dry!

But in general:
—LRT = trains that can street-operate, but in a mostly separated alignment
—Metro = fully separated, automated or not, high capacity (NYC Subway)
—Light metro = fully separated, automated, lower capacity vehicles, very frequent

In theory, I would prefer it to be an automated light metro project.

Because the MTA agreed to place a tunnel under Metropolitan Ave, rather than have it operate at-grade (nyc.streetsblog.org/2024/10/30/m...), the line's benefits will improve spectacularly. The change:
—Reduces route run times from 39 to 32 min
—Increases ridership from 110,000/day to 160,000/day

Governor Hochul Announces Interborough Express Advancing from Planning to Active Phase Governor Hochul announced that the engineering and design phase of the Interborough Express (IBX) has commenced, the next step in the development of the transformative transit project.

NY Gov Hochul announced today that the Interborough Express—a circumferential light rail line connecting Brooklyn & Queens—will enter the engineering & design phase.

NY state has appropriated ~half of the cost of the project so far. One of the—or the—most important light rail projects in the US.

Chart from US Census, showing trends in overall US construction spending, Private construction spending increased from 2019 to mid-2024, and now has been declining. Public sector construction spending increased during that period.

New Census data: Continued decline in US private-sector construction spending, which has been falling since mid-2024.

Seasonally adjusted annual rate of private residential investment was 6.2% lower in June 25 than June 24, with a major decline in multifamily (–9.5%). www.census.gov/construction...

HUD funding serves more than 210,000 people in the Bay Area.

Trump Admin is proposing a massive cut in fed housing aid.

In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, we explore how those cuts would impact the Bay Area: www.urban.org/urban-wire/w...

Cuts could take away support from ~100,000 people in that region, increasing homelessness & cost of living.

The Smithsonian: Embarrassing, cowardly, and straight-up lying

In 2025 Q2, US fully electric cars were 7.4% of the market, down from 8% in 2024 caredge.com/guides/elect...

In Europe in Q2 2025, they were 15.6%, up from 12.5% in 2024 www.acea.auto/pc-registrat...

In China, fully electric cars had 31% of the market in May 2025 cleantechnica.com/2025/06/20/5...

Problems for US transition away from gas cars:
—GOP reconciliation law killed IRA’s electric vehicle tax credits
—Trump admin eliminating carmaker emissions standards, killing state regs
—US carmakers are slowing EV investment plans
—Tariffs make Chinese & EU EVs difficult or impossible to buy in US

In 2025 Q1, 22% of cars sold in the US were hybrids or electric www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...

In 2025 Q2, 58.8% of cars sold in Europe were hybrids or electric www.acea.auto/pc-registrat...

In 2025 Q2, US fully electric cars were 7.4% of the market, down from 8% in 2024 caredge.com/guides/elect...

In Europe in Q2 2025, they were 15.6%, up from 12.5% in 2024 www.acea.auto/pc-registrat...

In China, fully electric cars had 31% of the market in May 2025 cleantechnica.com/2025/06/20/5...