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Xavier Harmony

@transitharmony.bsky.social
2K followers 1.2K following 256 posts

Australian-American 🇦🇺🇺🇸 | Transport Politics and Policy | PhD | Lover of cities 🌃, buses 🚌, trains 🚊, nature 🌳, and cats 🐈‍⬛ | He/him

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Reposted by Xavier Harmony
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This new tool, the Carbon Impacts Tracer, which translates carbon emissions into real-world climate impacts like heat exposure and coral bleaching, looks super useful. ➡️ carbonimpactstracer.com
theguardian.com
New tool directly links carbon emissions to amount of environmental and economic damage caused
Carbon Impacts Tracer can be used to estimate climate impact from emissions across eight different factors, including lost food production
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 18/09/2026
Read this thread and share my incandescent fury. Years and years of effort, hundreds of hours of manpower, a ludicrous amount of grassroots organization, all to make rudimentary safety improvements for elementary school kids. This city is so dysfunctional, it's shameful.
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Jordan Gass-Pooré @jgasspoore.hazardpodcast.com · 17/09/2026
In summer 2025, Black New Yorkers died from heat-related illness at 3X the rate of white New Yorkers. Latino residents died at 2X the rate. My latest investigation examines why New Yorkers are struggling to access cooling assistance as the city's heat becomes increasingly deadly.
The Margin's new feature, "Overheating at Home." More New Yorkers now die from summer heat than winter cold, but city and state funding lags behind the changing climate. By Jordan Gass-Poore'and Helina Selemon.
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Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It's pretty damn impressive how much ground Mayor Mamdani has been able to cover after only nine months in office on a wide range of basic quality-of-life issues in NYC. I was reading through the numbers this morning, and they're kinda astonishing. (thread)
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A Philadelphia family just bought their first home with a $10,000 first-time homebuyer grant funded by a group of Quakers It’s part of the congregation’s racial justice plan to redistribute wealth to Black residents in the Germantown area as a form of reparations
inquirer.com
A Philly family bought their first home thanks to reparations from Quakers in Germantown
Green Street Friends Meeting, a Quaker congregation in Germantown, pledged to spend $50,000 a year for 10 years as part of its reparations work. It’s helping Black Philadelphians become homeowners.
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Daniel Moser @dmoser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
Map showing Lower Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Vaccines are humanity’s greatest scientific achievement. Being anti-science has deadly consequences.
nytimes.com
Two Unvaccinated People Died from Measles in Pennsylvania, Officials Say (Gift Article)
The deaths, which one doctor called “extremely rare in the modern era,” were the first in the United States in 2026.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 23/08/2026
"Low-emission zones," where car traffic is restricted, save lives -- especially the lives of children. The empirical evidence is unambiguous. But every attempt to create a new one is met by hysterical opposition filled with lies, because our societies are collectively poisoned by car-brain.
theguardian.com
London’s low emission zone is working – so why are cities around the world so cautious about clean air?
Similar initiatives have been launched from Barcelona to Bogotá, but they have misinformation, political pressure and vested interests stacked against them
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 15/08/2026
Spent all day in Vancouver riding around on a rented e-bike and I gotta say: riding around a city on an electric bike on good protected bike infrastructure is just about the most fun you can have with your pants on.
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Peter Flax @pflax1.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I was on a Torrance Transit bus where the driver was getting trained and when the trainer saw a bike rider on the road ahead, she said "You have to give the biker four feet no matter what. If you don't think you have four feet, you need to wait to pass until you do." Wanted to hug that lady so bad.
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Will Norman @willnorman.co.uk · 08/08/2026
London is quickly becoming a cycling city. Trips have soared to 1.5m a day. Our network of cycleways is now over 400km - and is expanding fast. We're currently extending Cycleway 4 in Greenwich - making the streets safer & enabling more people to switch their trips.
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Laura G Mitchell @lauragmitchell.com · 08/08/2026
Every time I take my mom somewhere in our cargo trike she says the same thing (at some point in the ride): “Wow, you sure do see more on a bike than driving, don’t you?” Today she added “I think I have a glimpse into what my 80s will be like” (me riding her around even more in my bike). 🥰
Laura’s mom sits in the front of her Bunch cargo trike wearing a high viz helmet and rain jacket
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
“In London cyclists now outnumber cars in the City by 2 to 1. Paris, where they now outnumber motorists across the whole city, is catching up with Europe’s traditional bike capitals, Amsterdam & Copenhagen…In Copenhagen, bikes account for almost half of commuter trips to work/school.” @economist.com
economist.com
Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport
Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
If you're a cis person insisting that the prospect of trans children playing youth sports is not only "a problem" but in fact one of the biggest problems we currently face as a nation, I'd be happy to introduce you to literally a million other things that should be worrying you more.
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Justin Zimmerman @jztidecat.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
We taught Miles how to ride a bike today. We also had to deal with an old man mad that we had them practicing in a school parking lot while he drove his monster truck. Once again, kids exist and have a right to take up space. Also, get rid of those damn monster trucks. None of you need that.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
According to anti-cyclist replies, here's evidence that cars and bikes are equally dangerous: 🚗: They kill ~40000 people in the US annually 🚲: I saw a cyclist run a red light 30 years ago
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
The speed limit in any city should be 20 mph.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I was talking to my neighbor when a group of cyclists came by at maybe 25 mph. “That’s so dangerous,” she exclaimed. In the meantime, quite a few drivers came by at 40 mph, and she’s completely unfazed. 🤦🏻‍♂️
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Tab C @drtcombs.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Hey guys. Listen up. We can simultaneously hate cars and car dependency, dedicate our lives to fighting traffic violence, sprawl, and climate change, and sometimes need to have a car available. Stop cancelling your allies because they are dealing with different stuff in their life than you are.
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Jennifer Crawford @ournewhomecoach.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
So sad. Australians understand. We’re not looking forward to the upcoming summer.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
You don’t have to dislike cars to realize that car dependency is a really bad thing.
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Alex Papadopoulos @egeasri.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Researchers found that for every 200 EV's added to a California neighborhood, NO₂ air pollution fell by 1.1%. Cleaner air isn't just a goal anymore - it's achievable. #CleanAir #ElectricVehicles #ESG @sciencex.bsky.social @momscleanairforce.org phys.org/news/2026-01...
phys.org
Adoption of electric vehicles tied to real-world reductions in air pollution
When California neighborhoods increased their number of zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV) between 2019 and 2023, they also experienced a reduction in air pollution. For every 200 vehicles added, nitrogen ...
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Short King 👑 @axlxci.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Car accident PTSD is real. I add an extra 5–10 minutes to my morning commute every day just so I don’t have to drive past where my accident happened.
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Caroline Losneck @carolinelosneck.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
So, there are bicycles out there. If you can’t see them, your car might be too big. You might be going too fast. You might be texting or looking at your phone. Please pay attention to bicycles. Another near miss today, and I’m not just scared; I’m pissed. Pay fucking attention!
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Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD @mbonsma.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
A guy in a minivan yelled at us (four people on two bikes), "You're taking up the whole road!" My husband, a quick thinker, yelled back, "How many people you got in there??"
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
China’s main research funding agency will increase its number of prestigious grants for early-career scientists by 50%, equivalent to a budget boost of around US$531 million. Meanwhile, the Trump regime is preventing the US National Science Foundation from funding anyone.
nature.com
China boosts prestigious grants for young scientists — will it ease competition?
The National Natural Science Foundation of China says it will fund an extra 12,000 projects from this year.
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Barbara Gordon @thebookwizard.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Traveling as a temporarily physically disabled person is very eye opening. EVERYONE should be fighting to make places more accessible because it doesn’t take much for any of us to become disabled. Accessibility shouldn’t be an afterthought.
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Momentum Magazine @momentummag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
More People Travel by Bicycle Than by Car in Paris. momentummag.com/more-people-...
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
A single day of extreme heat kills 3,400 people in India; a five-day heatwave kills nearly 30,000. Fossil Fuel burning is making heatwaves more frequent.
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Estimating heatwave-induced excess mortality in India's districts
India is among the world’s most heat-exposed nations, with hundreds of millions of people facing dangerous temperatures each summer and a mortality burden th...
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Cars kill in more ways than one.
theguardian.com
Five Americans die every hour from toxic vehicle emissions, study finds
Research suggests 41,800 premature US deaths in 2024 were attributable to road pollution
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
“Helsinki hasn’t registered a single traffic-related fatality in the past year…Citing data that shows the risk of pedestrian fatality is cut in half by reducing a car’s speed from 40 to 30km/hr, city officials imposed the lower limit in most of Helsinki’s residential areas and city center in 2021.”
politico.eu
Helsinki just went a full year without a single traffic death
The capital city is Finnish’ed with car-related fatalities.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The rise of larger vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks, with their taller hoods and larger blind zones, has contributed to a 75% increase in pedestrian and cyclist deaths since 2009. Until we design better streets and ban these vehicles, people outside these vehicles will keep dying.
nytimes.com
The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s (Gift Article)
The vehicles on American roads have grown larger — and they are killing thousands more pedestrians, a Times investigation found.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Me: Cities would be better for everyone, including drivers, if there was less car-dependency and more safe, viable choices in how to get around. Someone: But I have to drive because [insert reason]. Me: Cities would be better for everyone, including drivers, if there was less car-dependency and…
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
“The world is not going to be saved by big electric SUVs,” says Renault’s chief design officer…”The world is going to be saved by small electric cars. We need them to become as popular as other cars.” More small electric cars, but also fewer cars overall, driven much less thanks to more choices.
theguardian.com
How Europe’s EV makers shrank their product to challenge the bloated SUVs
Smaller, cheaper cars built for narrow city streets are becoming more stylish – but require careful design decisions
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
"These streets weren't made for bikes" says a guy driving a pick-up truck so large it can't fit into a standard parking space
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
“Conclusion: In the case of a crash, SUVs and LTVs cause more severe injuries to pedestrians and cyclists than passenger cars. This effect is larger for fatalities than for KSIs, and the fatality effect is particularly large for children.” Via @bmj.com. injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/32/1...
injuryprevention.bmj.com
Do sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and light truck vehicles (LTVs) cause more severe injuries to pedestrians and cyclists than passenger cars in the case of a crash? A systematic review and meta-analys...
Questions In the case of a road traffic crash, do sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and light truck vehicles (LTVs) cause more severe injuries to pedestrians and cyclists than passenger cars? Does any ef...
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Bread and Rosie @rosiemund.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
The idea that cyclists are less law-abiding than drivers has been discredited everywhere it's ever been studied but also it's a deeply weird argument: if it were true, it'd still mean legal driving is statistically far more dangerous than illegal cycling? This isn't a good argument for cars?
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Ian@collapseaphorisms @collapseaphorisms.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Oh look, New Zealand’s all-time June temperature record was broken today, with Bromley, Christchurch reaching 26°C (78.8°F) in the middle of winter — around 15°C above normal. #collapse
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Nick Langley @nicklangley.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
#SUVs: The psychopath's choice. “Buying whatever vehicle we like, and driving it wherever and whenever we please without having to think about the consequences for other people, has become normalised and ingrained across our society over decades." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
SUV buyers undeterred by warnings of risk to pedestrians, UK study finds
Exclusive: Research suggests financial penalties necessary if number of large vehicles on roads is to be reduced
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Jennifer Crawford @ournewhomecoach.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Always was always will be. Never was monocultural.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Re-upping this key thread on electric vehicles and better cities.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Don’t forget what REALLY “drives” a lot of regional growth and infrastructure politics. It’s pretty much this. Great drawing via Ian Lockwood.
Cartoon by Ian Lockwood. A man in a vehicle with the words “regional travel demand” on it is talking to a man and his daughter on the sidewalk named “City.” He says “Hey City! I choose to exercise my freedom and reside out in the suburbs. Now, I want to drive fast through here without delay. So, I demand that public taxes be spent to widen your roads and lower your safety, health and quality of life. Fair deal? Want to shake on it, pal?“
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Xavier Harmony @transitharmony.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
🚨 New paper! 🚨 Does talking about transportation help local election candidates win? 🗳️ Analysing candidates for local office across the United States, I found that transportation issues could be used as a strategic electoral advantage in local elections. Read the article: doi.org/10.1177/1078...
Title and abstract for a new academic journal article called "Are Transportation Issues Important in Local Elections?" just published in Urban Affairs Review.
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Jennifer Crawford @ournewhomecoach.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Imagine if we funded them properly what we could achieve. #Auspol.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Vaccines are humanity's greatest scientific achievement.
bbc.co.uk
Cervical cancer deaths fall to zero in young women given HPV vaccine
A new study finds that hundreds of lives have been saved since school-age girls were offered the HPV jab in 2008.
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PJ @pjvelez.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
“We don’t have room in America” Bro all I see is parking lots and suburbs surrounded by terrible useless grass lots.
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Adam Tranter @adamtranter.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Your regular reminder that cities aren’t loud. Cars are loud.
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Naththan @nathanpittman.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Today I learned that apparently yank tanks pay twice as much to use Melbourne's toll roads. Bourman is right - this is an injustice! We should be charging them five or six times as much.
theage.com.au
These polluting behemoths pay more on toll roads than cars. A campaign says that’s unfair
The increasing popularity of giant utes is prompting a parliamentary inquiry to consider reducing the amount they are charged to use Melbourne’s toll roads.
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Elf M. Sternberg @elfsternberg.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
We have no idea just how far behind the United States will be in 2028. We'll have nothing: no national science infrastructure, no agricultural progress, no medical progress. The oligarch class has decided to hollow America out in a hedge fund takeover. We are being robbed of our future.
theverge.com
BYD to install thousands of 5-minute EV chargers across Europe
It wants to build 3,000 chargers across the continent by 2027.
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road.cc @roadcc.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
“A driver overtook us with a really close pass. His passenger threw a cup of McDonald’s Coke out the window, totally unprovoked. How dare we be on his road and hold him up for two seconds. People just seem to be so angry with cyclists all the time, any excuse to cut them up and they’ll take it”
road.cc
“Drivers kill five people every day. Cyclists hardly kill anybody”: Police chiefs accused of ignoring “massive imbalance” as new campaign brands road safety “a shared duty” and officers crack down on ...
A new police campaign focused on cycling and motorcycling, which claims that road safety is a “shared” responsibility, has been criticised by cyclists who say it “ignores the massive imbalance in risk...
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