iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Stumbled across this from the Swiss Rhätische Bahn -- is there any other railroad in the world that publishes daily rolling stock assignments on its website? www.rhb.ch/en/railway-e...

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The SEPTA Reimagining Regional Rail report is out! It's a vision for making the system more useful for more people and a roadmap on how to get there. wwww.septa.org/initiatives/...

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

British urban planners in the 1960s: "You get a flyover! You get a flyover! Everyone gets a flyover!" (Birkenhead, across the river from Liverpool.)

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Britain's West Coast Main Line: kind of like the Northeast Corridor (125+ mph express trains, lots of commuters, all on legacy track with rounds of modernization), but with freight.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Some of you may point out that your local commuter rail line is not through running but should be, but is it as comically not through running as one? (Ormskirk, UK, where electric Merseyrail trains meet diesel Northern services.)

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

In Toronto for #MpactTO26? Spare time to explore? Check out my transit tour guide. www.trainsbusespeople.org/transit-tour...

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Approaching Saltaire, North Yorkshire. The rows of matching houses, stores, public buildings, and mill are the "model village" built in the 1850s by mill owner Sir Titus Salt so his workers (unlike most of their peers elsewhere) would have clean housing, educational opportunities, and recreation.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

When you really need to get a boat up a hill... (Bingley Five-Rise Locks, completed 1774.)

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Victorian mining engineers: "The tin is underground by the edge of the ocean under the big cliffs? No problem!"

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The coast of Devon: lots of trains in beautiful scenery.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Three generations in Bingley, Yorkshire: canal (1774), railroad (1847), relief road (2004).

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Taking the train to the beach lives on in the UK. (St. Ives, Cornwall.)

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Royal Albert Bridge (1859) and Tamar Bridge (1961), Saltash, UK.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Cookie-cutter developer-built speculative housing, Georgian style.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The 1990s still live on the Great Western. Both these trains were built for a nationalized British Rail. They have worked through the entire privatization era and will be handed over to a re-nationalized Great British Railways this December.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

So many Yutong electric buses in Bristol! The British bus market shifted from British brands towards European brands; seeing Chinese brands feels like another shift.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Facebook now has a whole set of AI accounts that create fake “then and now” comparisons. People might find this one amusing.

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 28/08/2026

In some big cities—like New York, Seattle, DC, Boston, SF & Portland—commuters are less & less likely to drive to work. The transformation was underway pre-Covid. The share of commuters driving in Seattle declined from 58.7% in 1990 to 36.6% now! www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...

Share of commuters traveling to work by driving alone, 1980–2024, New York, Seattle, DC, Boston, SF, and Portland.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

My take, based on the new book: "Transportation is geometry. The geometry of public space is politics. And we’ll get better cities if we all engage with the fundamental facts of the space it takes to get us where we want to go." press.princeton.edu/ideas/the-ge...

press.princeton.edu

The geometry—and politics—of transportation

When we talk about transportation infrastructure, we often talk about funding—how much is available, how it gets spent. But often the fundamental constraint is more basic: space.

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Transportation is geometry. The geometry of public space is politics. Read more about how to achieve better cities in Ideas from Christof Spieler, co-author of Transportation and the Shape of Cities. press.princeton.edu/ideas/the-ge...

press.princeton.edu

The geometry—and politics—of transportation

When we talk about transportation infrastructure, we often talk about funding—how much is available, how it gets spent. But often the fundamental constraint is more basic: space.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

If pedestrians or bicyclists wearing headphones is an issue then drivers using their car audio systems is also an issue. Where's the PSA telling people to drive with sound off and windows down so they are more aware of what's happening around them?

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Just got it in the mailbox this morning. Simply love it @christofspieler.bsky.social

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I would say this is old vs. new but really it's old vs. old -- a 50 year old locomotive passing a 70 year old one.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

The train before the storm. (Wisconsin & Southern northbound across the Yahara River, Madison)

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A. Zivarts @nondriver.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Perfect bus read

Kid reading transportation and the shape of cities

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

To celebrate the launch of "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" we're doing a happy hour this Friday to talk about the book. If you've gotten your copy and started reading, come with your questions. If you don't have the book, come to learn more. riceuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

riceuniversity.zoom.us

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Transportation and the Shape of Cities Happy Hour. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The urban planners say “get a smaller bus.” The highway engineers say “rebuild the underpass.” Ops shrugs “I guess we’ll make it work.”

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Someone a few decades from now: "Why does the State of Idaho have legislated statewide design standards for flag poles at public buildings?"

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dcopelandloredo.bsky.social @dcopelandloredo.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Today is the official launch date of Transportation and the Shape of Cities! Pick up a copy at your preferred book retailer and join us for a Happy Hour on Zoom. When: Friday, August 14 at 5:00 p.m. CST 🍹 Please register below: riceuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

riceuniversity.zoom.us

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Transportation and the Shape of Cities Happy Hour. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

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Reposted by Christof Spieler

Jake Berman @lostsubways.com · 03/08/2026

this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

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Kevin Wilson @kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Shocking.

NTSB graph showing the relationship between miles biked per person per year and cyclists killed per billion miles biked. There's an obvious negative trend (people bike more in place where it's safer to do so.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Anyone out there teaching a transportation class? "Transportation and the Shape of Cities" (out now!) is for anyone who is interested in how cities work. But it can also work as a text for a class, and we've put together some resources to make that easier. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

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National Association of City Transportation Officials @nacto.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

A change on a website doesn’t change what works on our streets. That's why NACTO has archived and compiled resources for the five proven safety countermeasures recently removed from the Federal Highway Administration's website. Access the documents: nacto.org/latest/the-e...

nacto.org

The evidence hasn't changed: Proven safety tools continue to be effective best practice - NACTO

NACTO makes available resources related to five proven safety countermeasures that were removed from FHWA website Earlier this month, the Federal Highway Administration pared down its list of proven s...

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 28/07/2026

Wild to see US cities pursuing these huge redevelopment projects without effective transit plans. If this were a European or Asian city, 7200 future homes would mean a light rail branch at the minimum. Instead, because the US can't afford to build anything, the area might get some bus improvements.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Vertical Urbanism: "Using handy, dimensionally scaled illustrations, and concise text they lay out these spatial implications: How many urban blocks it takes to build a below-grade rail crossing, or the turning radii required by trucks, or how much sidewalk space people need to walk comfortably."

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Enzo Zacchiroli, an unfortunately not well known architect, also designed one of the coolest bus garage around for Bologna's bus operator ATC in 1980.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

One of the ironies of transit is that the streets that are easiest to run a bus down are often also the ones where the pedestrians have the hardest time making it to the bus stop. But if you want ridership you need pedestrians!

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Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Holy hell Katie Wilson is on fire here.

Most of all, we must tell our own story.

It's time to discard the notion that Seattle is "dying." The forces pushing that narrative never wanted Seattle to succeed. This isn't a call to ignore challenges, but to tackle them with a sense of possibility, because we've seen what our city feels like when we pull together.

Cities are humanity's greatest invention.

Where opportunity, creativity, culture and democracy come together. Cities are where people who are different from one another learn how to live together. Cities are where innovation happens because people encounter new ideas, new neighbors and new possibilities. That's always been Seattle's story, and we have an opportunity, a responsibility, to write the next chapter.

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Christof Spieler @christofspieler.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

On Madison Metro bus 55, running past farm fields. (I’ve said before that light rail past farm fields is probably a bad project, but local bus past farm fields is a sign you’re actually serving the whole city.)

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 05/07/2026

My upcoming book is absolutely packed to the brim with em dashes—more em dashes than any well-adjusted human being could possibly need or want—and if any of you tries to claim they are the result of some soulless LLM rather than my own unhinged compulsion I will fight you.

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