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Ilya Petoushkoff

@petoushkoff.bsky.social
612 followers 179 following 2.2K posts

Transport planner with views and opinions. Formerly of Moscow, Russia. Currently based in Melbourne, Australia. Coffee, cities, public transportation, piano music. Occasional cat noises may occur herein. 🏳️‍🌈

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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 15h
Correct. Noting though that many of the deep level stations have either a second entrance, or an interchange connection (quite a few added over last few years), or both, all of which helps keep them running during major escalator replacement works, too.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 16/10/2026
That's exactly why it takes so much time in Moscow.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 16/10/2026
Mid-life upgrades are done one-by-one and therefore may require some restrictions during peak hours (exit-only scheme).
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 16/10/2026
These are two different types of maintenance. End-of-life replacement (after 50-70 years in service) requires shutting down the whole thing completely, which at stations with only exit inevitably means shutting down the station for the duration of works.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
On Moscow Metro, it usually takes about a year to completely replace escalators at a deep-level station. It's a ton of work.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
MAFIA 1 did a better job in representing transit than any of the GTA series.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
what is it this time
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Are there any talks whatsoever on restoring the line past Skulte? That trains do not reach at least Limbaži seems incomprehensible.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
...they are actively building another (branch) line, so that won't be for too long!
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
The concept that people cannot be allowed to sleep in their cars other than in a dedicated, specialised space is in its own way quite fascinating.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
OK, this has me convinced! xD Btw, I wonder if they might need some help with fixing the data and automating the design. I somehow know an extraordinary team who can do both very well.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Unless a simple data entry mistake, I'd assume the data structure here might be designed to use 'station' field as its basis, treating line as a pack of stations, and therefore triggering Belgrave through mere involvement of Camberwell station alone, even though the restriction affects Alamein line.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
(correction on 10. above: I had two interviews.)
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
14. In any case, I digress, so let me just sum it up. Over the last four years, I was employed for 17 months. That sucks. I'd very much like a job. I am now prioritising Melbourne (location and seniority don't matter), but for mid-to-senior roles I am strategically open to Sydney and Brisbane.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
13. Unfortunately, something happened there a few years ago, and I felt like travelling.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
...because the city of 13 million people has been a never-ending source of transport challenges everyone was unhappy with, and in 2011 then-new government has put transport investment on top of its political priorities, which resulted in one of the world's largest transformations of its kind.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
12. Finding work in Moscow has never been an issue. I've come to realise that this is because I grew up there, knew lots of people in the industry from the time we all were seven years old, but most importantly...
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
11. In any case, there has been very limited space in Australia for me to contribute my knowledge, skills, and capabilities to pretty much anything sensible in transport.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
...speaking of which... I mean... yeah
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
There is no shortage of things that need to be fixed in public transport in Melbourne. I'd like to be fixing those things at the level of seniority sufficient for me to be doing just that. I'm nowhere being the best PM in the world, but I could at least arrange cleaning at Melbourne Central station.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
10. I have a ton of expertise in public transport networks and infrastructure. Bringing that expertise to the table has been impossible. Over last four years, I had exactly one job interview across the whole ecosystem of public transport planning and delivery. (I did not get the job.)
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
I have been on the receiving end of this work, including having read probably too many traffic modelling reports back in Moscow. Upon that experience, I totally side with Speck, Flyvbjerg, and many others who have been extremely critical of the method per se and what models are really used for.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
9. Furthermore, there is a lot of demand for traffic impact studies and traffic modelling, including short-term local models done in SIDRA, and long-term 'strategic forecasts' done by big teams in complex tools like PTV. I do not do this kind of work.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Secondly, there is a massive dividing wall between urban design—a discipline that seeks to improve urban realm—and transport. These two things are kept completely separate. (If anything, from my somewhat limited experience, people in these two domains don't seem to even talk much to each other.)
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, there are no systemic, ongoing, large-scale programs to which Movement and Place would embed.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
8. Despite Australia largely pioneering the Movement and Place approach to transport (which I believe is fundamentally a great idea, despite all the challenges involved), the employment market offers nothing to anyone who wants to practice just that.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
7. I believe that place observations conducted through travelling, flaneuring, and drinking coffee whilst watching what people do are essential to designing transport well. I am uncomfortable relying on big data alone and doubly so now that big data is cheap and me drinking coffee is expensive.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
6. To achieve this, what I do, and what I am particularly good at, is talking to people, listening to what they have to say, and learning from them. With these insights on board, I develop a combination of the target solution (defining what it needs to be able to do) and a delivery roadmap.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
4. I fundamentally believe transport to be a system design discipline, across infrastructure and operations. 5. I have been reflecting a lot on what it is exactly that I do. My portfolio suggests that I am good at conceiving solutions that work better for the needs of people who use them.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
The facts are these: 1. I have twelve years of experience in the industry. 2. Three of my most prominent projects are fully delivered and serve—with excellence—over a million people daily. 3. No-one finds any of that impressive or relevant.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
I am genuinely unsure what to do about the transport planning and project management job market in Australia. To use a technical term, it's fucked.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
(Melton electrification can't come in soon enough!)
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
I heard this too, although I am not sure what the status of that work is. One more would be a relief, but I wouldn't mind having enough of them converted to get 6-car and 9-car trains running on that route. (I'd also extend it to Wagga Wagga, but that's another story.)
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Albury trains are low-capacity, reservations-only, always full, and there are too few of them. It'll require acquiring more broad gauge stock to get this fixed. Upon checking, it looks like it is now possible to pay with Myki for Albury trains, but only through an extremely cumbersome procedure.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
...wait a minute, so all this time it was perfectly possible to cook the food right inside the fridge?????
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Small and affordable electric cars are an art form. I am a big fan!
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
I wouldn't comment much on this but I'd just point out that while some (many) EU countries did (and do), some (also many) others acted (and continue to act) in the opposite way. In fact, the whole issue is a very big matter of silent intra-EU political confrontation and bargaining.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
meow meow meow meow meow
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Except Australia, where standing on the left and walking on the right is the standard.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
This is me. It can feel a bit lonely at times, but overall I don't mind being single. Every time I find someone attractive (to the point of developing feelings), they are either straight, or happily partnered, or otherwise not interested. I stopped caring about dating all that much long ago.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
that's the nature of politics the inherent advantage of democratic societies, though, is that teams at the steering wheel change (frequently and peacefully)
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Unlike with other modes of transport, trains allow for border control procedures be carried out on the go. For example, this was the standard practice on St.Petersburg to Helsinki Allegro (almost-)high-speed train service (pre-2022), which was largely what made it enormously successful at the time.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
'Mind the gap', as understood on Russian Railways (photo: Yaromir Lindenthal)
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
...'on impacts of spatial accessibility on gastrointestinal health in urban populations'
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
meow
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
...exactly what I would say upon such evidence presented 🙃
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
How do you mean?
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
5% is a very ambitious target!
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Choosing contractors 'exclusively by price... without technical scoring' is an excellent recipe for a project to explode in budget and timing many times over, which would be perfectly normal in Germany.
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
in the meantime, Alon's checked-in luggage
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