Alon (they/them)
@alonlevy.bsky.social
Transit researcher in Berlin. Lived in Tel Aviv, Singapore, the Riviera, New York, Providence, Vancouver, Stockholm, Paris. https://pedestrianobservations.com/ http://patreon.com/alonlevy [email protected] @[email protected]
She also thinks ICE is being too generous to refugees by giving them food in the form of pepper spray.
December 2, 2025 at 2:16 PM
She also thinks ICE is being too generous to refugees by giving them food in the form of pepper spray.
The US has breakdowns of t-km by type of freight - intermodal is huge there.
December 2, 2025 at 1:31 PM
The US has breakdowns of t-km by type of freight - intermodal is huge there.
Neither does the UK! At least Switzerland has the excuse of being tiny. The UK is instead building the non-canceled parts of HS2 at something like 2.5 times the per km cost of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.
December 2, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Neither does the UK! At least Switzerland has the excuse of being tiny. The UK is instead building the non-canceled parts of HS2 at something like 2.5 times the per km cost of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.
The response to Jewish academic success should have been for the WASPs and the euros to adopt more academic values instead of *gestures broadly*. Same thing for gender. 2025 isn't going to turn into 1975 just because some people can't adapt to the new economy.
December 2, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The response to Jewish academic success should have been for the WASPs and the euros to adopt more academic values instead of *gestures broadly*. Same thing for gender. 2025 isn't going to turn into 1975 just because some people can't adapt to the new economy.
I read a planning doc for it a few years ago, I can try hunting down more recent news. @4freedoms.es
December 2, 2025 at 11:48 AM
I read a planning doc for it a few years ago, I can try hunting down more recent news. @4freedoms.es
Ha dicho que si 20 millones de personas necesitan morir por la revolución, valdrá la pena el precio.
December 2, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Ha dicho que si 20 millones de personas necesitan morir por la revolución, valdrá la pena el precio.
Respected mainly by the types of people who are sad the Wall fell. But yes.
December 2, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Respected mainly by the types of people who are sad the Wall fell. But yes.
Yeah, the combo of moderate costs and moderate willingness to build produces a bunch of tunnels even in a Zurich-size city. And then low costs and high willingness to build have given Madrid a 300-km metro system with a third Cercanías through-tunnel under construction.
December 2, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Yeah, the combo of moderate costs and moderate willingness to build produces a bunch of tunnels even in a Zurich-size city. And then low costs and high willingness to build have given Madrid a 300-km metro system with a third Cercanías through-tunnel under construction.
By total spending, not that much - they're just strategic with their tunnels and good at integrating infrastructure with operations planning, rather than piling on the extra city center tracks like HS2 plans to do for Euston. The entirety of NEAT is about comparable to Crossrail, for example.
December 2, 2025 at 9:41 AM
By total spending, not that much - they're just strategic with their tunnels and good at integrating infrastructure with operations planning, rather than piling on the extra city center tracks like HS2 plans to do for Euston. The entirety of NEAT is about comparable to Crossrail, for example.
ZVV is subsidized but not very much - in the 2010s its farebox recovery ratio was 2/3 (as was VBB's, with the U-Bahn breaking even).
December 2, 2025 at 9:28 AM
ZVV is subsidized but not very much - in the 2010s its farebox recovery ratio was 2/3 (as was VBB's, with the U-Bahn breaking even).
>I've had the privilege of editing a few pieces for them over the years
Wait... I thought you were one of the regular editors there, not just a few pieces. (I thought it was you, Samantha, Adam, and Paul.)
Wait... I thought you were one of the regular editors there, not just a few pieces. (I thought it was you, Samantha, Adam, and Paul.)
December 2, 2025 at 4:28 AM
>I've had the privilege of editing a few pieces for them over the years
Wait... I thought you were one of the regular editors there, not just a few pieces. (I thought it was you, Samantha, Adam, and Paul.)
Wait... I thought you were one of the regular editors there, not just a few pieces. (I thought it was you, Samantha, Adam, and Paul.)
(Hell, if you were Jewish and grew up there they'd recruit you to Modiin Givatayim, at least if you perform as well in school as everyone who follows you assumes you do.)
The flip side of an insanely militarized society is that the military is also demystified; officers have prestige but no halo.
The flip side of an insanely militarized society is that the military is also demystified; officers have prestige but no halo.
December 2, 2025 at 4:24 AM
(Hell, if you were Jewish and grew up there they'd recruit you to Modiin Givatayim, at least if you perform as well in school as everyone who follows you assumes you do.)
The flip side of an insanely militarized society is that the military is also demystified; officers have prestige but no halo.
The flip side of an insanely militarized society is that the military is also demystified; officers have prestige but no halo.
>if you ever thought you're not capable of becoming an officer
(All of my peers in Israel were officers in the IDF; academically successful students are steered toward intelligence or development roles that require doing 5-6 years and not just 2-3. It's not actually that hard.)
(All of my peers in Israel were officers in the IDF; academically successful students are steered toward intelligence or development roles that require doing 5-6 years and not just 2-3. It's not actually that hard.)
December 2, 2025 at 4:22 AM
>if you ever thought you're not capable of becoming an officer
(All of my peers in Israel were officers in the IDF; academically successful students are steered toward intelligence or development roles that require doing 5-6 years and not just 2-3. It's not actually that hard.)
(All of my peers in Israel were officers in the IDF; academically successful students are steered toward intelligence or development roles that require doing 5-6 years and not just 2-3. It's not actually that hard.)
FWIW, Norwegian's intercontinental operations used Bangkok as a base in order to be able to pay Thai wages - they didn't use Bulgarians for arbitrage. I think the use of Eastern Europeans for arbitrage is mostly for outsourcing of white-collar office work and maybe some manufacturing.
December 2, 2025 at 4:15 AM
FWIW, Norwegian's intercontinental operations used Bangkok as a base in order to be able to pay Thai wages - they didn't use Bulgarians for arbitrage. I think the use of Eastern Europeans for arbitrage is mostly for outsourcing of white-collar office work and maybe some manufacturing.
(The EU has less inequality than the US. We probably have more inequality between member states than the US does between the 50 states, but the US doesn't lack for a low-income working class; retail wages in Florida are fucking disgusting.)
December 2, 2025 at 4:11 AM
(The EU has less inequality than the US. We probably have more inequality between member states than the US does between the 50 states, but the US doesn't lack for a low-income working class; retail wages in Florida are fucking disgusting.)
Of note, the parts of Europe with an inland geography suitable for inland shipping have modal splits close to American levels - Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Ukraine. But for the most part we have coasts and rivers and canals and not much inland shipping at transcontinental distances.
December 2, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Of note, the parts of Europe with an inland geography suitable for inland shipping have modal splits close to American levels - Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Ukraine. But for the most part we have coasts and rivers and canals and not much inland shipping at transcontinental distances.
Coastal and riverborne shipping, mostly. One paper from ca. 2010 computed that if the US had Europe's geography its rail freight modal split by t-km wouldn't be the 37% it was at the time but 15%. (We're at 7%; the difference is incompatible systems at borders and passenger rail-caused congestion.)
December 2, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Coastal and riverborne shipping, mostly. One paper from ca. 2010 computed that if the US had Europe's geography its rail freight modal split by t-km wouldn't be the 37% it was at the time but 15%. (We're at 7%; the difference is incompatible systems at borders and passenger rail-caused congestion.)
A lot, but this calculation of t-km per route-km also held before the collapse of American coal use this century.
December 2, 2025 at 3:21 AM
A lot, but this calculation of t-km per route-km also held before the collapse of American coal use this century.