iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

On budget and on time loses its meaning when both are way beyond what would be acceptable anywhere else. The B1M makes good content and has called out construction costs. That does require access. I have to push back here though. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBXk...

youtube.com

America Actually Built Something On Time and On Budget

YouTube video by The B1M

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Nilo @nilo.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Don’t want to call anyone out, but this sentiment is, if not ubiquitous, common in mass transit advocacy, but I think is just inaccurate. Everyone crooned over Josh Shapiro after he “fixed” I-95, but USA highway departments have shown a total inability to deal with complex structure issues.

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nanzhounoodles.bsky.social @nanzhounoodles.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

YOU hate Nader for throwing the 2000 election. I hate Nader for ushering in the era of Consumer as a primary political identity, touting the tort system as an alternative to normal democratic deliberation, and making things generally work worse in the USA.

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Sure, but let's establish that gas isn't that expensive in real terms compared to other periods in my lifetime. www.macrotrends.net/4453/us-gaso...

macrotrends.net

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 29/09/2026

The city needs get out of the business of being a landlord to the city’s grocery wholesalers, since it’s clearly very bad at it. Other industrial districts (northern Brooklyn, Maspeth, South Bronx, Sunset Park, West Shore of SI) should be upzoned for modern warehouses, Hunts Point should be sold off

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The LIRR Today @thelirrtoday.com · 28/09/2026

But our expectations are so low. MTA puts out press releases for every little incremental "post-pandemic ridership record" and people print and retweet them. Nevermind the billions more we have put into the system in the meantime. Why is annual LIRR ridership not north of 100 million by now?

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Clem Tillier @ctillier.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I always thought under-slung BART wouldn’t fit through the Golden Gate Bridge towers, but it turns out BART is small and the bridge is huge. Here is a mockup in 1/100 scale, BART fits easily.

A photo of a 1/100 scale model of a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, showing a paper cutout of a cross section of a BART line under the road deck. It fits easily.

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The LIRR Today @thelirrtoday.com · 27/09/2026

NYC MTA: randomly play announcements on the Subway about how "there are more than 150 accessible stations" and that you should check the website for elevator status (while in a tunnel with no signal) Hamburg: alert bus passengers real-time about elevator outage issues at connecting transit stations

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The LIRR Today @thelirrtoday.com · 27/09/2026

One of the things that again struck me at Innotrans was how very few exhibitors showcased solutions and examples from the Americas. And the few that were on display just look like s—t compared to their international peers. Look at these bus displays, same hardware, very different info quality!

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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Another dumb American code requirement! basin.la/articles/nin...

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 22/09/2026

An area of refuge is an enclosed space protected from smoke by walls and doors. Mostly commonly it’s an enlarged landing in an enclosed stairway. I’ve never seen a publicly accessible enclosed space anywhere in the entire NYC Subway, so what *is* this area of refuge??

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Jason Rabinowitz @airlineflyer.net · 22/09/2026

@stephenjacobsmith.com Elevator installation tidbits you’d probably fine noteworthy in today’s This Week in MTA Construction newsletter.

Then came the curveballs. State fire code required us to add an area of refuge—an additional safe space for riders with mobility needs to wait for help during a fire. It's an important addition to the project, but it required design revisions. That took time, too.

And we won’t sugarcoat this...our contractor's performance was a factor too, especially when it came to waterproofing the elevator shafts. Water damaged equipment. We had to replace that equipment. And then we had to re-waterproof. More time gone.

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Wow. Movements at TEB screw up EWR's primary approach path and, at least as far as federal aviation taxes (IDK about PANYNJ fees) basically freeride. And I'm glad the piece calls out grain-derived fuel. It's a huge net negative for the planet whether a car, truck or plane burns it.

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Ben Vaught @benvaught.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

This is a miss, I’m sorry Suspending a bunch of weight in the air means more structure which means more embodied carbon which means more cost. It’s a tax on bus shelters. Put the rain garden where the street parking is.

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Kell Compost 😷 @compostwitch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

hot take: nah, put plants on the ground. green roofs are difficult environments for 99% of plants, and require a lot of maintenance compared to the habitat or cooling benefit. and the smaller the individual roof, the worse it gets so basically how i feel about mamdani's free bus idea

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 17/09/2026

Check out the QTs – just falling over themselves to applaud him for this idiocy (which isn’t his administration’s initiative or even the city’s, it’s some ineffective altruism nonprofit’s). He’s got a mandate to do whatever he wants. So what does he want to do?

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Between weird, expensive NGO port-a-johns and rain gardens on bus shelters, ZM and his admin are 2 for 2 on prioritizing shit that dances around problems rather than solving them. gothamist.com/news/nyc-off...

gothamist.com

NYC officials want to put rain gardens on top of bus stops

The city is testing out a green roof on a bus shelter in Brownsville, with the hope that the design can be expanded across the five boroughs.

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I'll take 17 more restrooms, but when each one is $250k, needs cleaning every 15 uses to avoid a utility hookup, and makes you jump through hoops to use it, that's just janky. I was hoping for more action from the city & state on cheaper hookups in place of bandaids like this.

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Mac the squirrel :) @macsquirelera.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Damn that’s crazy, picture unrelated

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Alon (they/them) @alonlevy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It's a $6 billion, 4-km double-track tunnel without any station excavation. "Ahead of schedule" is still less than bare minimum. "Doable for 1/5 the expected price" would make it mildly more expensive per unit delivered than Stuttgart 21.

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Nilo @nilo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

One bad order (HHP locomotive, Metroliner EMU) is enough to hold against electric rolling stock for multiple generations in the USA but diesel failures (Metrolink EMD F125; Amtrak’s constant charger problems) aren’t held against diesel even though their intrinsic to the mode.

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This incapacity to perceive vehicular travel demand as elastic, especially within the North American traffic planning practice, is reflected in the technical tools used to measure project impact: intesection-based LOS where the input level of traffic is a given rather than variable.

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Rich @hoxtonrich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Suggested ground rules for the ‘debate’ on 'bad' cycling 🧵: 1) Cyclists or cycling advocates are not collectively responsible for the bad behaviour of individuals. What’s your actual point? You want less cycling or rules that have that effect? Be clear.

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Alfred Twu @alfredtwu.com · 14/09/2026

Do you ever think about how San Francisco basically went through an economic miracle, with multiple years of double-digit growth, and about the only thing they have to show for it is a world-famous housing crisis? Data from fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPAL...

Chart labeled Economy of San Francisco, showing rapid growth from 2011 to 2024. On the right is a chart showing the GDP per year in billions, and percentage change.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPALL06075

Year Billion % Change
2001 $70
2002 $68 -3.5%
2003 $68 0.8%
2004 $70 2.0%
2005 $76 8.7%
2006 $81 7.5%
2007 $87 6.3%
2008 $88 1.1%
2009 $88 0.3%
2010 $92 4.6%
2011 $100 8.6%
2012 $112 11.8%
2013 $119 6.7%
2014 $131 10.3%
2015 $144 9.7%
2016 $157 9.2%
2017 $173 10.0%
2018 $189 9.4%
2019 $207 9.6%
2020 $215 3.7%
2021 $250 16.4%
2022 $246 -1.8%
2023 $259 5.3%
2024 $268 3.7%

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Elon Musk is an unstable right-wing grifter with more power than any one else in the world. But my liberal neighbor has convinced my city council to put in bike lanes on the road I use to commute to work. I have never felt more politically homeless.

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is around $10 million per elevator BTW

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Noise ordinances are one of those very obvious and necessary things in urban environments. It’s also incredibly funny watching cops shushing grown men.

Sign reading “No loudspeakers at the beach. Fines of up to €3000 for anti-social behaviour.”

Shhh face on sign on a pedestrian street with €3000 fine

Sign asking people to be quiet with microphone above it

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Hot take: I want to see some version of this proposal from the Voorhees Center to grade-separate I-78 through Jersey City to the Holland Tunnel. The existing at-grade configuration is treacherous to walk and to drive. cait.rutgers.edu/wp-content/u...

One of 2 alternatives evaluated in a Rutgers study of grade-separating traffic from where I-78 and NJ-139 meet in Jersey City to the Holland Tunnel mouth.

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Jane Natoli 🥑🚲🍍 @wafoli.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I live in a 120+ year old building. It’s missing basic amenities many folks take for granted that have come along since then. The “charm” of extremely old housing stock comes with a lot of costs! www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/a...

Furthermore, in San Francisco, having tons of pre-World War II buildings isn't much of a rarity. Citywide, a whopping 45% of homes have been standing since then — by far the highest share of any California city with at least 500,000 people. It's also on par with Boston's 47%, the highest of large cities in the U.S., the Chronicle found.

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terra firma, terra eterna 🚱🌉 @kavi.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Also like, I feel like the broad tax base obsessives really haven't priced in how unequal this country is. Adding in an additional tax bracket and increasing taxes on rich people would genuinely narrow the deficit substantially

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Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰 @urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I agree. I think there’s been a bit of an overcorrection, rhetorically, among some libs who are arguing with people saying stuff like “just tax billionaires to do Medicare for all” Billionaires can’t solve every spending priority but there really are a lot of high income people we could tax more.

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Birds or Trains? @birdsortrains.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Can we please tear down the Prospect Expressway? Pretty please Mr. Mayor?

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 12/09/2026

Jesus Christ, Palo Alto is looking at paying half a BILLION dollars each for grade separation projects?!

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Gareth Dennis @garethdennis.uk · 11/09/2026

GOOD THINGS: 🦽 low floor train for full level boarding 🚲 4 horizontal bike spaces BAD THINGS: ⭕ TPE is a 125mph intercity service, these trains aren't 📏 200m platforms, 121m trains, we did it again 💰 GBR brand but trains owned privately at high cost 🔋 batteries instead of wiring measly 45km

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

School sprawl is such a fucking scourge. I would have had things to complain about in high school no matter what, but I know enough to be able to say having something you could walk to before or afterward, like I did in middle school, would've helped.

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Emily Hamilton @ebwhamilton.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

@yonahfreemark.com and I have a new piece on what was a fun topic for me to dive into--why have school sites gotten much bigger and harder for kids to get to over time? www.theargumentmag.com/p/one-big-re...

theargumentmag.com

One big reason nobody’s walking to school anymore

How to end the dreaded carpool line

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City Limits News @citylimitsnews.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The approval comes after a tense nomination hearing where lawmakers grilled Mangin—a key architect of the 2024 “City of Yes for Housing” plan to boost development across the five boroughs—about his views on community input in land use decisions. citylimits.org/city-council...

citylimits.org

City Council Approves Mamdani's Nominee for Key Housing Post, Despite 'Reservations' - City Limits

Lawmakers approved John Mangin to chair the Board of Standards and Appeals, following a tense nomination hearing where some criticized him as dismissive to local residents' concerns about new developm...

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I can’t unsee that Atlanta is getting about 1/3 of Seattle’s ridership for about 1/6 the per-resident expenditure.

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

www.gardenstateinitiative.org/wp-content/u...

gardenstateinitiative.org

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Harry Dunn @libradunn1.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Rhode Island ✈️ wheels up!

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Metropolitan Transportation Authority @mta.info · 10/09/2026

Who needs a folding phone when we’ve got bending buses

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Alex Bozikovic @alexbozikovic.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Some drivers whine like toddlers at any hint of inconvenience, and media treats their whining with respect. Having to drive a couple of blocks out of one’s way is not hard. This does not constitute imprisonment.

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Mikhail Gorbaechev @mikhailgorbaechev.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you want there to be a movie theater there, have the city purchase it to operate a theater. Or raise money to build a theater. But "neighborhood busybodies micromanage commercial property transactions" is the most untenable form of governance imaginable.

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I don’t consider this a good piece. I lived in an area assailed by vagrancy and drugs. It was demoralizing. It’s also clear to me that harm reduction won out because it works, at least to some extent. The tone screams sore loser to me. apple.news/ARbx8lmNrRwO...

apple.news

The Cities That Said Yes to Drugs — The Atlantic

Policies that gave addicts clean needles and places to use drugs were intended to reduce harm. They created a “zombie apocalypse.”

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Jennifer Shin - WTAF @jennifershin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I'd even settle for a threshold. If they make more than a certain amount, they have to pay taxes on it. We've got mega pastors out there living in mansions and owning private jets.

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Robert Hale @rdhale92.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Before MOM, Monmouth and Ocean need to get carpet bombed with road diets, sidewalks, bike lanes, and cul-de-sac cut throughs. Also FFS reverse the job and school sprawl. Glad to see @jointtransit.bsky.social stirring this pot though. youtu.be/8A4TbwyQQGY?...

youtu.be

The Hidden Transportation Problem in New Jersey

YouTube video by Joint Transit Association

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