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rohan aras

@rohanaras.bsky.social
327 followers 540 following 602 posts

Senior Transportation Policy Analyst @niskanencenter.bsky.social

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Reposted by rohan aras
Reed Schwartz @reed-schwartz.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Many great (+ familiar!) Transit Abundance™ ideas in here!
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 02/10/2026
Fourth: relatedly, transit agencies in the US, apart from maybe in Seattle and LA, don’t really know how to get big projects going. They are extremely reliant on consultants. They have forever processes to make decisions. They experience delay after delay after delay.
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Anyone here attending APTA Transform this week?
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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This gets tricky given that North American plumbing codes require extra holes through the floor due to the amount of drainage and vent piping. The single stack drainage configuration eliminates 66% of the holes needed, making coordination for office-to-residential projects like this much simpler.
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
@a320lga.bsky.social does iirc
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JackTatt 🇨🇦 @jacktatttran.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The real secret sauce (particularly in Toronto and to an extent Vancouver): frequent buses feeding each and every metro or train station. All but one subway station has a connecting bus service.
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Infrastructure Weak @infrastructureweak.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This looks like an early example of the international best practice, circulation planning-based bus priority measures that @chittimarco.bsky.social details in the Transit Priority Atlas. tpa.transitcosts.com
"Busway Turn Map" of Tremont Ave in the Bronx. The busway extent is a one-mile stretch of Tremont, across ~11 one-way cross streets. Cars are permitted to enter Tremont by turning right or left from the one-way cross streets approaching it, or to cross Tremont on the same streets. However, they must turn right to exit Tremont at the first opportunity along it. 

Source:
https://newyorkyimby.com/2026/08/construction-begins-on-tremont-avenue-busway-in-tremont-the-bronx.html
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SideStreets @sidestreets.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Your every-few-days reminder that the NITA board, which Director Alvarez serves on, has the statutory authority to declare any roadway lane a bus lane.
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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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dereksagehorn.bsky.social @dereksagehorn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Anthropic donating $250k to the Regional Transit Measure has scandalized a lot of the opposition. It seems straightforward to me. The AI industry is highly concentrated in FiDi, which depends on BART, Muni and Caltrain for job access.
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Ah yeah that makes sense
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
oh my question was whether the road would already have to be a tunnel in the first place to count Maybe you could try to copy Indiana and use the ISRRPP? Though it doesn't seem like anyone has successfully used the program in the past indianacapitalchronicle.com/wp-content/u...
indianacapitalchronicle.com
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If I'm reading the right section of text, I think the tunnel waiver would also require reconstructing an existing tunnel? www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...
law.cornell.edu
23 U.S. Code § 129 - Toll roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferries
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I can't remember if NYS bought truck probe data or not, but it's questions like this that make me wish that I still had access to my old employer's tools. In some states we had traces for a large portion of truck traffic. ritis.org/tools#segmen...
ritis.org
RITIS Tool Catalog | Regional Integrated Transportation Information System
Regional Integrated Transportation Information System
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The Value Pricing (Pilot) Program. Getting a waiver under the program is what allows you to toll existing interstate lanes. Without it you're limited to tolling bridges/tunnels/HOV lanes/new interstates/new lanes.
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Lewis Lehe @lewislehe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
i say yes. if not then the future could be very frustrating. www.govtech.com/transportati...
govtech.com
Could Robotaxis Create New Path to Congestion Pricing?
As robotaxis begin taking to the roads in major U.S. cities, some experts are wondering if congestion pricing could be coming along with them.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 15/09/2026
And by “we’ve decided that there shouldn’t be any more 6,000-sq. ft. condos in NYC,” I mean we’ve decided there shouldn’t be any more condos at all. Residential condos (“apartment you can own”) of any size have been effectively banned on all land rezoned since 2014 by Mandatory Inclusionary Housing.
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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
The Great American Property Tax Freak Out
There has been a lot of news over the last two years, so it is understandable that neither the mass media nor the legal academy has focused on what is happening
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
www.instagram.com/p/DchPF1tMuj...
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Well the NFPA decided to serve me ads on Instagram
An NFPA ad on Instagram with a smoke detector in the middle and the text NFPA 72

There's a caption that says #DontChanceSafety
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Day one: Proud to be on the team working on the next generation of subways, trains and buses.
Some err personal news
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 09/09/2026
My question was ruled out of order, presumably due to CP 50-21, which forbids us from talking about pricing. Well how are we supposed to talk about the cost impact of a proposal to allow a product manufactured by a single manufacturer without talking about that price? www.iccsafe.org/wp-content/u...
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Evan Roberts @evanrobertsnz.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If you care to look around the suburbs there are enough examples of 1960s /70s duolexes to show that "single family zoning" was not quite as rigid as it is now. But today I saw my first "historic" fourplex in a single family zone in the suburbs
A fourplex in Brooklyn Center
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Adam Millard-Ball put together an estimate of street ROWs in various cities including Chicago. It's a little messy and imperfect, but it might be reasonable start depending on your purpose? streetwidths.its.ucla.edu/map/
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Sandy Johnston @sandypsj.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The difficult thing about stop consolidation and other tradeoffs conversations is that the *future* benefits to *more* riders, including those with disabilities+other needs, are often real...but the harms are *present* and have a current voice.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 03/09/2026
If you live outside of the US and Canada and would like to help me with an elevator census I'm doing, please DM me – I want to send you something! Would just involve noting a few items about elevators you encounter in the wild.
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Ken McLeod @kenmcld.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The average person, and probably average member of Congress, might hear that bike lanes are on the National Highway System and think that's crazy But, the National Highway System includes many arterials These bike lanes in my city are threatened by the proposed language
Bike lanes on Memorial Ave in Roanoke, VA - part of the National Highway System
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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 27/08/2026
If the state abolished park impact fees today, cities’ impact fee consultants would prepare replacement fees tomorrow. No park fees allowed? OK! Under current law, I could write fee studies that justify huge fees for road widenings, yacht harbors, etc., etc. Impact fees need comprehensive reform!
paloaltoonline.com
Housing advocates pan planned impact fees
As Palo Alto prepares to overhaul its fee system for new residential developments, some advocates are arguing that the city's new proposal unfairly burdens multi-family projects while making the costs...
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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 16/08/2026
This 1962 APA report, "Underground Wiring in New Residential Areas," offered reasons why, as the report puts it, "electric power & telephone distribution systems in the US and Canada have been developed primarily with overhead construction", while in Europe "underground distribution is commonplace."
planning.org
Underground Wiring in New Residential Areas
This historic PAS report from 1962 examines the growing practice, and benefits and challenges, of providing underground power and telephone lines in new residential subdivisions.
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I'm sure people will get mad at @humantransit.bsky.social for saying this, but he's right. Campaigning on fare-free transit shrinks the coalition of people willing to invest in public transportation. It endangers transit's survival. humantransit.org/2026/08/an-i...
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awjustus.bsky.social @awjustus.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Factory building can help unlock higher construction labor productivity, better working conditions for residential builders, and savings for home buyers. The recent 21st Century ROAD to Housing law will help unlock even more savings by modernizing the old chassis requirement for HUD Code homes.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 16/08/2026
I’d like to know why underground power lines are standard across Europe, but in North America they are so expensive. In Europe, many single-family neighborhoods and almost all denser neighborhoods have buried lines. In the US, almost all lines are overhead, often even in high-rise neighborhoods.
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Alex Armlovich @aarmlovi.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
New AGF blog: Transit-Oriented Development is a surprisingly underrated way to end America’s housing problems Physically realistic capacity near rail alone is >30M homes. Financially plausible capacity is ~6M to 13M. TOD is not just a boutique or niche idea! open.substack.com/pub/abundanc...
open.substack.com
Transit-Oriented Development is a surprisingly underrated path to ending America’s housing problems
America’s rail systems are still recovering from 2020, and robot cars are coming. Legalize apartments first.
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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
New academic study: Inclusionary zoning costs renters $800k per affordable unit created. This is more than the per-unit cost for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. While LIHTC which is largely funded by the rich via income taxes, IZOs are regressive because they place the burden on renters.
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Looks like I got my answer: "The presence of the [per-minute] fee nudged cyclists toward several unsafe behaviours." "The policy recommendation is to avoid such strategies in favour of less time-pressuring schemes." doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It's still kinda silly inasmuch as the core of Silicon Valley straddles the San Mateo/Santa Clara border though
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Hmm it's basically just asking what density the average person actually experiences right? It's less sensitive to gerrymandering the definition of the urban boundary (assuming that choices of boundaries run through less dense areas)
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Can you ask Gemini to use population weighted density so that NYC doesn't seem less dense than LA?
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 12/08/2026
In June 2026, the US urban areas with the highest per-capita transit ridership were: 1—New York 2—San Francisco 3—Washington, DC 4—Boston 5—Seattle www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...
Ridership per capita, US urban areas, June 2026
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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Interesting debate about self-driving buses down this thread. I think the main issue with self-driving buses is not technological, but legal and operational. There are too many unanswered questions before we see them deployed effectively. Just some of them as an example in the next posts: >>
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RAIL Magazine @railmag.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
"The project, a partnership of the UTA and Utah Department of Transportation, will add a total of 26.1 miles of double track in 11 locations...The completed project will allow service at 15-minute intervals during peak periods and 30-minute intervals off-peak, increasing capacity by 60%."
trains.com
Utah FrontRunner double-track project advances to engineering phase - Trains
SALT LAKE CITY — The Federal Transit Administration has given approval for Utah Transit Authority’s FrontRunner 2X program to enter the engineering phase of development, moving the double-tracking project close to receiving $1.28 billion in federal funding. The project, a partnership of the UTA and Utah Department of Transportation, will add a total of 26.1 [...]Read More...
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Ilya Petoushkoff @petoushkoff.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
One of the greatest points of difference between my career as a transport consultant in '10s Moscow and my experience with transport advisory in Australia is what the deliverable of a consultant actually is.
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Sarah Billington (the CEE department chair) had started to pivot to doing some housing research (with my friend Isabella Douglas) by the time I left. I bet we could get her on the building code train.
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Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 07/08/2026
After the third day of counting, the measure to extend a 0.2% sales tax that funds ~40% of Spokane Transit’s service hours has extended its lead to almost 2.5 points! Yes: 42,754 (51.15%) No: 40,811 (48.82%) There are ~41,000 ballots left to count, though not all of those are in the PBTA.
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Sandy Johnston @sandypsj.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
It's only a first step but I'm impressed with this transit (lack of) connection study conducted by TYLin for RTA, in preparation for NITA reforms to governance structures. More regions need an honest look at these things. www.rtachicago.org/blog/2026/08...
rtachicago.org
Regional Transportation Authority | Study lays groundwork for more coordinated regional transit service under NITA
A new regional transit service coordination study will help bridge between current service planning practices and the first Northern Illinois Transit…
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dereksagehorn.bsky.social @dereksagehorn.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Still thinking about this video. youtube.com/shorts/eSIMn...
youtube.com
Electric Train vs. Diesel ⚡️
YouTube video by Caltrain
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Though if it was a paid bus every 2 minutes vs a free bus every 3, maybe I'd choose the free one
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rohan aras @rohanaras.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Surely there's a minimum threshold at which the benefits of increased frequency or increased coverage paid for by fares are outweighed by the benefits of free fares, right? I'd much rather pay a fare for 30min service if the free alternative was hourly. Same for 15 vs 30.
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The LIRR Today @thelirrtoday.com · 04/08/2026
LIRR has gone even further specifying the type of engine in the last work locomotive RFP—effectively rigging the bid for one manufacturer. www.thelirrtoday.com/2020/04/new-...
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Fix the L8 @fixthel8.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
5 PM traffic after blowing up the network:
A photo at the Denny / Westlake bus stop showing minimal traffic on Denny WayScreenshot of Google Maps showing an eastbound Route 8 bus running 4 minutes early at 5 PM
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