Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reece Martin

@rmtransit.bsky.social

17K followers 120 following 3.3K posts

Writer, Learning Enthusiast, Urbanist, Optimist, Traveller, Canadian. Passionate about making the world better. https://cinqpersonnes.substack.com/ https://nextmetro.substack.com/

cinqpersonnes.substack.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · May 17

RMTransit -> Reece Martin

12 150

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 15h

Low cost C02 sensors probably sell SO MANY of them

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 15h

Dangerous intersection near my home, emailed city councillor, will be interesting to see if *anything* comes of this.

7 1 40

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 1d

ERVs are super cool but retrofitting one into an SFH seems like a huge pain in the butt

3 10

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 1d

Let's talk Montreal's transformation: A city that somehow manages to impress me more with every visit.

nextmetro.substack.com/p/montreal-a...

Montreal: A City in Dramatic Transformation.

A City That Somehow Manages to Impress Me More With Every Visit.

nextmetro.substack.com

3 6 58

Reposted by Reece Martin

Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 2d

Montreal’s wonderful REV Saint-Denis (and bike infrastructure in general) featured in The Economist!

Reminds me of this unedited footage I took of rush hour for 30 minutes: youtu.be/3F_B0HtewDU

1 6 62

Reposted by Reece Martin

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 4d

By me this week - the happiest thing I've got to report of late, with a glorious trip over the summer to Montreal

"Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport."

www.economist.com/internationa...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport

Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

www.economist.com

13 180 520

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 2d

More like "got real" about it

Reposted by Reece Martin

Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 2d

Fun fact: despite the enormous land mass, the population-weighted density of Canada — basically the density experienced by the average person — is the same as Denmark and close to the Netherlands.

Canada and Denmark are 3,000 people per km², while the Netherlands is 3,400/km².

Mapping Population Density Across the Globe

Explore the detailed geography of population across the globe with interactive mapping and statistics. Identify global megacity regions and the growth and diversity of urban forms. Data is from the Gl...

luminocity3d.org

7 60 330

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks!

Reposted by Reece Martin

JRUrbaneNetwork @jrurbanenetwork.bsky.social · 4d

When the Greenbelt Plan and associated planning laws was conceived and put into legislation in the early 2000s, broad urban densification was not proposed. It assumed modest overall population growth at "strategic growth areas" (Hence "Places to Grow Act")

1 15

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 3d

Is this a real thing?

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 3d

Question for the handy folks, is there any decent interior paint that isn't filled with polymers?

6 2 11

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Environmental Defence isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty cool

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Pretty cool to be out in Scarberia and have all 3 or 4 buses that pass me on the way to the train station be electric. (Even though the electric buses have been forced on transit agencies for all the wrong reasons.)

1 17

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Also Europe

Nixbora 🔰 @nixbora.bsky.social · 4d

I have family in Greece (not Athens) which is Europe and transit there is pathetic at best!
Very car centric, and most people hate that, but there is no serious political effort to change that.
My understanding is that this reflects most Balkan countries.

3 18

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

To not appreciating nuance? Idk

1 2

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

My latest in Urbantoronto compares the public transport of Chicago and Toronto, the gap is large and widening every year!

urbantoronto.ca/news/2025/10...

Toronto vs Chicago: Transit Moving Masses Through The Metropolises | UrbanToronto

As the two large Great Lakes metropolises, Chicago and Toronto have a great deal in common, but these evolving cities are on different trajectories, so comparing the two is natural. Today we examine the rail and bus lines that move masses through these two great cities, to try to determine how their public transport networks stack up.

urbantoronto.ca

1 1 21

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

It's like American cities and New York!

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Didn't suggest otherwise!

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

A bit annoyed that from what I can tell, nobody at the media scrum asked Doug Ford how streets are supposed to get safer with infrastructure changes if we aren’t allowed to install bike lanes

1 2 59

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

I think a lot of urbanist types do not seem to have a super nuanced view of Europe

16 1 71

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Air quality in Toronto has been immaculate the past few days and it’s really making me appreciate that these days are too uncommon

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Spacing is very cool

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Certainly one I had in mind

Reece Martin @rmtransit.bsky.social · 4d

Anyways, obviously, I appreciate people highlighting major infrastructure projects, but it often feels like it’s just jumping on the bandwagon of a big media story, and I think the media does a mostly horrible job covering transit in Toronto

1 22