iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Philly could have been doing this instead of sticking with owner-occupied rowhouses ad nauseum. Maybe when we have a new Mayor with a better policy team

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Good day to be in Winooski

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

And a reminder that this super-charged overlay still doesn't zero out parking minimums. Compare with Chicago

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Really fun odd lots episode with Allentown’s Mayor talking about bringing light industry back into urban neighborhoods, from industrial policy and mixed use zoning to urban transportation and childcare to enable people to access urban jobs. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

podcasts.apple.com

How an American City Can Become a Manufacturing Hub

Podcast Episode · Odd Lots · May 7 · 52m

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Worth thinking about the ways American built environment reduces these kinds of low cost developments. Where they exist in Tokyo, they are typically within a 10 minute walk of transit, but off the main commercial street on cheaper land.

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

One SEPTA revenue generation strategy I haven't yet seen proposed: Updating parking rates at regional rail stations to target 85% occupancy at peak. Flat fees across the entire system don't make sense when there is varying demand, and $2 per day is far too low when lots fill.

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Pairing containerization with universal corner daylighting which Council seems poised to adopt is a slam-dunk while also greatly increasing trash pickup efficiency and reducing bus delays

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

I don't know man, the numbers clearly say Lehigh Valley-Philly over New York! It's crazy that advocates would take their chances with Norfolk Southern and subpar service over fighting rail-trail advocates for a dedicated passenger corridor.

O-D Demand mapping for Lehigh Valley passenger rail: 31,000 LV-NYC, 74,000 LV-Philadelphia

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

I wonder if Philly could mitigate its short block lengths by doing something like this for a small number of important bus routes. Some issues in turning cars around in narrow one way streets. So wouldn’t be an option everywhere

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JRUrbaneNetwork @jrurbanenetwork.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Metrolinx, Toronto's regional railway operator pushed back against abandoning large loco hauled 12 car infrequent American styled commuter rail operations as having more frequent shorter electric metro style trains and service would be too many trains for them to manage. :/

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Blair Lorenzo / The Fox and the City @thefoxandthecity.com · 18/03/2026

What an absolute disaster. From a plan for a transformational regional rail system in Toronto to nothing in just a few short years. Almost all from inertia and intransigence. www.thetrillium.ca/news/municip...

thetrillium.ca

Shorter, more frequent GO train plan ‘unlikely to materialize’: leaked document

Metrolinx locked into agreements for trains it no longer needs, draft fleet strategy says

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

This is the most dramatic gas price increase in three decades, and oil prices in Asia are currently 60% higher in Asia and rising. Those prices will eventually come to the US. What is Philly’s plan for transit if gas hits $6-7 per gallon and demand spikes? www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...

nytimes.com

Why This Jump in Gas Prices Feels Different

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Also the Germantown Station development parcel mentioned in the article, that SEPTA wants to see happen, still isn't getting rezoned with the Mayor's bills! CM Bass has stalled it wwww.septa.org/initiatives/...

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5th Square Advocacy @5thsqadvocacy.org · 05/03/2026

These bills are a welcome step toward more housing near transit, but their scope doesn't quite address our massive housing shortage. The entire Broad Street Line, Regional Rail, and trolley network aren't covered, and parking mandates near transit remain intact. 1/

inquirer.com

Mayor Parker backs legislation to boost housing development around SEPTA stations

As part of her effort to build or repair 30,000 homes, the mayor is pushing for more housing near mass transit.

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Aden Y @adenyacobi.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Last month, SEPTA completed its CBTC project to improve safety on the D1 and D2 suburban trolley lines. But the tradeoff is trips take much longer now than in January. I attempt to estimate this tradeoff in my first Substack post! Heres the official thread. 🧵 open.substack.com/pub/adenyaco...

open.substack.com

SEPTA Slow Down on the D Lines: Part 1

And the beginning of a blog...

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Yo, SEPTA, what the actual?!?!?!?!?

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

I can’t help but wonder about the potential urban land-use effects on Allentown if it kept its split rate land tax and became a regional rail hub with service to NYC, Philly, Reading and Scranton.

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Philly is emptying out to get $30/h shoveling in NYC

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Sic Transit PHL @sictransitphl.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

You could probably get the gatearms back, with quiet zones, for not much arm-twisting at all, in the new Dark Blue Delco of today.

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

When are they installing CBTC for cars?

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Are the SEPTA D routes permanently cooked?

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Roger Senserrich @4freedoms.es · 18/02/2026

A rail union bragging about killing improved and expanded rail service is peak American railway union.

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

The BLET, which is threatening to strike the LIRR, claims credit for shanking Metro-North going to Albany as a jobs protection measure for its members. Unmentioned, Amtrak's own deep hostility to the proposal and rear guard action to kill it — after agreeing to it: ble-t.org/news/blet-ef...

ble-t.org

BLET effort helps stop Metro-North expansion, protecting member jobs at Amtrak | Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

The projects I've been most interested in have gradually shifted from zoning and land-use reforms to transportation that enable land-use changes. Excited to see more work emerging in this field, from the Transit Costs Project to this excellent article from Greg

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Greg Shill @gregshill.com · 11/02/2026

✨ introducing… ✨ 🌇 Transportation for the Abundant Society 🚅 "Abundance" says our problem is artificial scarcity—especially housing. But you can’t build your way out if transportation policy still treats traffic flow as sacred. Transportation is the binding constraint. ssrn.com/abstract=538...

Abstract for Transportation for the Abundant Society:

A growing chorus known as the abundance movement seeks to overcome artificial scarcity in the built environment—especially housing. Yet this movement’s signature goal of increasing housing production collides with a central driver of scarcity: development restrictions rooted in traffic concerns. Advocates often assume that building more housing will generate support for needed transportation reform. Experience suggests otherwise. In auto-dependent regions, adding housing without reconfiguring transportation tends to reinforce the logic of restriction. Unlocking abundance’s promised feedback loops requires re-grounding transportation policy in its relationship to land use.

This Article makes two contributions. First, it introduces into legal analysis a core urban-planning framework: transportation accessibility, which evaluates system performance by users’ ability to reach destinations. Though facially modest, anchoring policy in accessibility would depart sharply from a century of practice, with significant implications across state and local government law.

Second, drawing on 13 original interviews with current and former transportation officials, the Article develops a novel account of institutional barriers to reform. Far from the marble corridors and mahogany courtrooms where law is articulated, transportation policy is functionally made in the unglamorous offices of state and local government. We call this institutional crucible—shaped by agency culture and industry convention as well as hard law—“transportation policy linoleum.” It helps explain why proven, seemingly unobjectionable reforms routinely wither. The Article closes with a policy playbook designed to help accessibility break through the linoleum and deliver abundance.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
I. ABUNDANCE AND TRANSPORTATION POLICY 6
A. The Rise of Abundance 7
B. Transportation as a Binding Constraint 10
II. THE PURPOSE OF TRANSPORTATION POLICY 17
A. What Counts as Success? 18
B. From Mobility to Access 20
C. Transportation Policy Spillovers 24
1. Housing affordability 24
2. Climate mitigation 28
3. Roadway safety 29
III. OPERATIONAL BARRIERS TO REFORM 32
A. Network Effects and System Interdependence 33
B. Operational Complexity and Risk 34
IV. LEGAL BARRIERS TO REFORM 36
A. NEPA and the Dawn of Conservation Primacy 36
B. Judges as Planners: California’s CEQA Regime 40
C. Judges as Planners Around the Country 44
1. Minnesota and comprehensive planning 44
2. Washington, D.C. and density review 46
3. Montana and constitutional penumbra 46
V. TRANSPORTATION POLICY LINOLEUM 48
A. Policy “In Books” and “In Action”: 13 Interviews 48
B. Fragmentation and Coordination Failures 49
C. Path Dependence and Institutional Lock-In 53
D. Legal Risk and Defensive Administration 55
VI. A POLICY PLAYBOOK FOR ACCESS 57
A. Behavioral Data as Participation 57
1. Ex ante participation 58
2. Ex post participation 59
B. Realistic Alternatives Modeling 59
C. A More Honest Cost-Benefit Analysis 60
1. Requiring cost-benefit discipline 61
2. Accounting for opportunity costs and externalities 63
CONCLUSION 64

ToC continued, plus first bit of text from article:

A central claim of the emerging “abundance agenda” is that in the physical world, more is more: more housing, more clean energy, and more infrastructure to support both. Abundance brings the American promise of plenty into policy, arguing that government should expand capacity—so that individuals can access the good life and society can advance climate goals, scientific discovery, and prosperity. In both its academic and popular expressions, the ideologically diverse movement contends that law has created artificial scarcity and that the remedy is to loosen outdated constraints and rebuild state capacity so government can build and approve major projects—housing, transportation, energy, health—more quickly and reliably.
Abundance draws on a substantial literature diagnosing law-made supply constraints in American public policy. Its core question is pragmatic: how to clear regulatory blockages to enable more building. Scholars have long identified such blockages at the intersection of land use and transportation, from highways to high-speed rail. Yet even improved megaprojects would not meet most Americans’ daily transportation needs. And the connection between transportation policy and abundance remains underdeveloped, even as political interest grows.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 11/02/2026

A developer who sent me an elevator quote for my report a few years ago sent me a new one for another project nearby, and the increase in price is 2-3x the rate of general inflation over the past two years. We're now closing in on $200k for a mid-rise elevator installation :-/

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Very excited to say that the stars have aligned and NYU Marron/Transit Costs Project have landed a grant that will fund a second edition of Momentum, which will apply the high-throughput framework to major regional rail networks beyond the NY area. Our three big new cases: - NJT - SEPTA - METRA

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Aden Y @adenyacobi.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

It’s come to my attention that there is a belief that SEPTA’s Bus Revolution network is not public. That is FALSE. You can find it here (highly recommend desktop btw): platform.remix.com/project/3adf...

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Please God, let the Spring Garden location become an H Mart.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

A pattern we've seen in some of the parts of JC with lower market rents is buildings being built at 6 stories, even when taller buildings are allowed, to save on construction costs. 212 Culver Ave is the latest to reapply at 6 stories (down from 8). Down from 365 apartments to 266.

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

This is why Philly is not an obvious candidate for full-cordon cong. pricing, as the region's existing job sprawl landscape could see induced reverse commuting instead. Instead, radial highway tolling on 76 and 95 gets the benefit of revenue source while moderating highway as opposed to local VMT

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JRUrbaneNetwork @jrurbanenetwork.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Excellent article on the snapshot of global metro expansion that you should give a read. The chart below from the article is the big takeaway.

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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Alto published a few more info in its website ahead of the first round of public consultations that will start next week, and we have an initial idea of the broader corridor they are identifying. en.consultation.altotrain.ca/reinventing-...

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

As promised, here is a great SEPTA Airport Line map and logo when the service first opened in 1985, and a poster from the 90's advertising the half-hourly service!

Transit map of SEPTA Airport high-speed line

Promotional poster of Airport Line: "In Philadelphia, Your Best Flight Begins with A Train Ride"

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Khyber Sen @khyber.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

It'd be much more beneficial to those bus riders to integrate all rail fares within the city at $3. This would cost $50 million/year in 2018 which was before City Ticket cost $30 million of that. So about 50x cheaper than free buses and it'd shave multiple hours of many commutes.

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

The PHL-Reading Corridor ID program has apparently reached Step 3 (prelim engineering) of funding without even a publicly released service development plan. All that is known is 1) they really want a 1-seat ride to NYC no matter now unlikely, 2) Norristown TC might not even be served!

Diagram of SRPRA Reading rail service. Norristown TC station is in yellow as the alignment may stay on the NS freight side, and Phase 2 is a direct trip into New York Penn
https://www.pottsmerc.com/2025/11/10/study-helps-pottstown-prepare-for-return-of-passenger-rail/

Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority – $406,575 to complete Step 3 of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor Identification and Development Program for the rail corridor between Reading and Philadelphia via Pottstown. This phase includes preliminary design, engineering, and environmental documentation, and will allow the project to advance into final design and construction for the restoration of passenger rail service. Local Share Account funds will be used for engineering costs. The total project cost is $8.8 million, with additional funding from the FRA CIDP ($7.01 million, pending), SRPRA county funds ($395,000, committed), and other state funds ($395,000, pending).

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

As far as regional connectivity goes, I wish they’d get dual modes and do a Reading to PHL airport route instead of insisting on a one seat ride to NYC. PHL gets 82k passengers a day, and a fast rail connection without braving I-76 traffic would be really attractive for Berks travelers.

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

I really hope some of the higher frequency intercity stat supported corridors (Empire service, Hartford line, and even Philly to Reading and Allentown) get considered. Also would be on the lookout for NJ transit electrification with Gateway soon to be finished. Raritan Valley Line?

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

SEPTA is spending $20M installing fencing and a concrete barrier to stop people from entering the regional rail ROW at Fern Rock, instead of building a pedestrian bridge so neighborhoods to the east access the transit center. It's a 21 minute walk to access the transit center today.

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

What was likely possible was to upzone Mr. Storage for apartments, entice a developer to buy them out and extract a free waterfront easement, but Councilmember Jones and the RCO would be staunchly opposed, so a pound of taxpayer flesh it is

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

So Mr. Storage gets a near $1M bribe to allow a simple trail easement that was undevelopable to begin with...we need a full trail here but painful to see

The state will provide $947,668 to the Philadelphia Department of Streets to obtain a right-of-way so that it can complete a gap in the Schuylkill River Trail, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office said in a news release. The funding is for the city to acquire rights of way to construct a trail segment between Kelly Drive and Main Street, near the Pencoyd Bridge, according to a Streets Department spokesperson.

Planned Schuylkill River Trail in Wissahickon Gateway in green, Mr. Storage parcel section in dotted red

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Good lord Amtrak, part 2: “‘Facility planning has lagged behind its fleet planning by about 15 years even though the two efforts are closely interconnected,” Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General said in a report.” — apple.news/AVEZFEasvRD2...

apple.news

Amtrak Faces More Delays Rolling Out New Trains — The Wall Street Journal

Failure to upgrade maintenance facilities in time means the railroad will probably have to idle some new trains

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

It's a huge limitation that the River & Glassboro/Camden Lines require a PATCO transfer to get to Philly. However this could be greatly improved if NJT did one thing in its Walter Rand TC rebuild: realign the light rail platform to sit on top of Broadway with a direct platform-platform transfer!

New NJT Walter Rand TC ground floor plan with PATCO Broadway station + platform outlined. River LINE remains south of the TC along MLK requiring a long walk to PATCO.

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

I think Philly has a strong interest in seeing the GCL through run onto PATCO. In the short term it could double frequency between Philly and Camden, making the urban service vastly more useful. Long term it strengthens the case for university city expansion. Sadness about US construction costs

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Isn't this basically the opposite of Canadian transit advocates advice to ALTO: Start with the easiest stretch from Montreal to Ottawa and build incremental improvements?

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NotABot @vturbanist.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Will be really interesting to see what the details of the TOD bill is here. Hoping it's actually allows significant density (at least 5 stories and hopefully no parking minimums), and that the radius is large enough (1000 ft, not just parcels on major streets)

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Ben S @bensh3.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

So glad (and grateful for advocates) that PA bypassed this insanity and is now snowballing towards automated speed enforcement on all major crash hotspots

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JRUrbaneNetwork @jrurbanenetwork.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Just realized that the 50km end to end travel time of the Montreal REM is the same as the 10km end to end travel time of Toronto's Finch W Tramway (55 min).

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

This seems... ambitious

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