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jedwinmok.com
Transport Planner & Researcher https://youtu.be/vAygH6SZg28?si=fXwloOQPhGbbudOW
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Last comment: The fact that Jonathan English who has now written up *two* coherent regional rail plans (arguably two more than Metrolinx) and released them to the public isn't running Metrolinx is crazy. I think that neither feature "GO" branding is interesting. urbantoronto.ca/news/2012/07...

Point 2 is the mother of all problems in many Canadian transit projects: the scope is unclear and keeps moving And that's because there is a misunderstanding about what "planning" is for. It should be the process where you recognize the needs, devise scenarios that can meet these needs and pick one

One of the most insightful things I've read in weeks: "How the Anglosphere's Planning Department is YIMBYism’s Main Obstacle" It's telling what gets studied at a site level (shadows), and what doesn't (economic impact, homelessness, etc.) Read here: substack.com/inbox/p...

Finding solutions is good politics. Going for the compromise is classic Toronto mediocrity & status quo. This city will never move. We will drown in car drivers who insist nothing changes.

It's a depressing time in Toronto - a city that once had the continent's most ambitious city-building initiative. This transformation had 3 KEY PILLARS: 1. RapidTO 2. GO Expansion 3. Ontario Line Two pillars have been watered down beyond recognition - DEVASTATING for the region. Here's why: 1/🧵

if you want world class urban mainline, you need to adopt practices of world class urban rail networks. management at MX is too scared to change the operating model that they've grown comfortable in - satisfactory, schedule-padded, "99% on-time" commuter rail. www.thetrillium.ca/news/the-tri...

Sometimes I hate being right. In my thesis I ID'd conservative management as one of the pillars of the iron triangle that underlays the political economy that has mostly prevented us from transitioning to a modern regional rail model in North America. itineranturbanist.wordpress.com/masters-pape...

I think abundance is important because so many government agencies are captured by boomers who are simply incapable of imagining a better world (in this case, operating a frequent regional rail network). And this is in Canada! It’s not just an American issue.

I am increasingly of the view that this is the main problem in project delivery - no-one trained and empowered to give an answer

Halifax mayor's motion to pause bike lane contracts fails 🚲 A win for inclusive and sustainable transportation, but also a frustrating waste of time from someone who ought to know better. Thank you to everyone who spent the weekend speaking out, and to council for making the right call. #BikeHfx

A depressing but unsurprising story of the DB-Metrolinx divorce I don't know who needs to hear this, but if Canadian politicians want to improve in the fields where we aren't a frontrunner (e.g. transit ), they need to get rid of the current class of managers and their backward-looking culture

Zohran YIMBY arc let’s gooooo

Every time we talk about contracting strategies to minimize risk instead of focusing on how agencies don't have the planning expertise to understand what they're ordering ... we're basically debating how best to put pimple cream on a cancer.

If you're reading this, especially if you live in Etobicoke, North York, or Scarborough, please use the link in the quoted post to let your councillor and the Planning and Housing Committee know that you support sixplexes in Toronto.

As a Dutch person, who likes to complain about the state of Dutch rail, imagine calling up DB and having their ideas being a bridge too far. And yes, I've ridden the Go trains and it's an absolute embarrassment. I fear the day I have to again. What a wild read.

I’m asked often why we can’t just hire contractors from best-practice jurisdictions to deliver our projects. You can, but you need a competent public-sector client (an “informed buyer”) who is willing to listen.

“Sources say Deutsche Bahn pushed for ambitious, European-style changes, while some of the Crown agency’s leadership resisted, insistent that things work differently in Canada.” Goddamn it.

Sometimes it feels like rail cost estimation, especially in California, is just throwing darts at a wall. www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...

Sometimes, "banning cars" does not mean banning them outright from a street or a neighbourhood, but rather restricting some of their movements via local and neighbourhood-level circulation arrangements—sometimes quite sophisticated ones.

Yes Pedestrian Streets do work. Pilot complete! h/t @spacing.bsky.social @uoftcities.bsky.social @torontopublicspace.bsky.social #OpenStreets

This is a big nothing burger over some legalese. REM is separate legal entity. Clauses are needed in the contract to make them work with other transit agencies for a cohesive network of feeder buses and metro lines. It's a two way street....

I find the "abundance" debate very 'americo-american' to use a French expression. But I agree that way too often, part of the left fails to recognize that the public sector as it is today in some Western countries is the worst enemy of the cause of a more interventionist government.

Things that make me most pessimistic about urbanism in North America: 1. Gov’t attempts to pause/remove bike infrastructure (TO, HFX, Edmonton) 2. Building code hostility to family-friendly dense housing 3. Transit construction costs 4. Urban NIMBYism making walkable neighbourhoods more exclusive

One of the most consequential transit Youtube videos has just dropped: