liam o’connell
@liamoc.bsky.social
city kid thinking about trains • he/him
very cool system, but it’s always seemed a bizarre choice that the rem is not identified as part of the metro system, even moreso now that it’s expanded. i know that rem is legally, technically its own thing but come on: it’s really just more metro!
the biggest section of the REM (and imo the most important phase) opened today, basically extending a highway-median suburban branch into a full-fledged 50 km north-south metro across the montreal region
montreal now has a 119-kilometre metro system with 87 stations, by far the largest in canada!
montreal now has a 119-kilometre metro system with 87 stations, by far the largest in canada!
November 15, 2025 at 10:10 PM
very cool system, but it’s always seemed a bizarre choice that the rem is not identified as part of the metro system, even moreso now that it’s expanded. i know that rem is legally, technically its own thing but come on: it’s really just more metro!
Reposted by liam o’connell
I am continually impressed by Alissa's coverage of LA transportation and also how insane LA's transportation spending is.
LA is building a new $1.5 billion freeway into LAX.
The very same airport where we just spent $2 billion on the people mover — actually, more like $3 billion, plus another $900 million if you count Metro's investment in the LAX station; so let's just say $4 billion — to make cars go away
The very same airport where we just spent $2 billion on the people mover — actually, more like $3 billion, plus another $900 million if you count Metro's investment in the LAX station; so let's just say $4 billion — to make cars go away
Air traffic control
The LAX-pressway must be stopped
www.torched.la
October 24, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I am continually impressed by Alissa's coverage of LA transportation and also how insane LA's transportation spending is.
For decades, everyone has been wondering: would the Pittsburgh Skybus actually have worked? 50 years after the project was canceled, we have the tools* (Subway Builder) to find out.
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
October 20, 2025 at 4:30 AM
For decades, everyone has been wondering: would the Pittsburgh Skybus actually have worked? 50 years after the project was canceled, we have the tools* (Subway Builder) to find out.
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
(*This is, at best, half-serious.)
Reposted by liam o’connell
New Haven’s fascinating parkitecture, part 2
September 15, 2025 at 9:36 PM
New Haven’s fascinating parkitecture, part 2
hakeem jeffries sees his highest political calling as sniping on brooklyn democratic factional battles and new yorkers should have the opportunity to vote to free up his calendar so he can devote more time to that
September 15, 2025 at 12:50 AM
hakeem jeffries sees his highest political calling as sniping on brooklyn democratic factional battles and new yorkers should have the opportunity to vote to free up his calendar so he can devote more time to that
Reposted by liam o’connell
RAN after this driver to take a picture of his incredible vest!!! I want one so bad but he said they’re only available for MTA workers 🏆🚍🏆
September 8, 2025 at 11:12 PM
RAN after this driver to take a picture of his incredible vest!!! I want one so bad but he said they’re only available for MTA workers 🏆🚍🏆
Reposted by liam o’connell
there was a time when Seoul Metro management and local politicians balked at the idea of installing platform screen doors because of its cost. they pointed to the New York City MTA as an example as to why NOT install platform screen doors
![Politicians were divided on feasibility. While some were supportive, many on the city council dismissed a system-wide PSD installation plan based on cost and lack of domestic expertise in installation. PSDs were initially estimated to cost between 2 billion and 3 billion won (approximately US$1.8 million to $2.6 million) per station – and more than 500 billion won for all 250+ Seoul Metro stations.8 If completed, this would increase Seoul Metro’s existing construction debt of 1.6 trillion won by nearly a third. For management, this was repellent. Besides, it was unclear if anyone could build it for that price. Once, the city council asked Seoul Metro staff how many firms in South Korea could even do the installation work; they said one – and a dubious company at that.9
Those against PSDs repeatedly said they were economically “impossible.” Internally, policymakers and bureaucrats in the Seoul Metropolitan Government echoed the sentiment:
Economists and experts ask if there is a need to install platform screen doors considering its huge expenses and lengthy construction periods. If there is an accident, [the Metro] can compensate. … Even in the United States, systems like the New York City subway have not installed one over its 100-year history.10](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:njnk7mrdtdc66v7a7ur6af5k/bafkreie3k435v22hj742p2nwanlo7c2cyxuucaibdvl7l626smp5cgrutq@jpeg)
September 6, 2025 at 4:41 PM
there was a time when Seoul Metro management and local politicians balked at the idea of installing platform screen doors because of its cost. they pointed to the New York City MTA as an example as to why NOT install platform screen doors
Reposted by liam o’connell
Read this eloquent and pained thread from my good friend and colleague @zagush.bsky.social. The pain caused by short-sighted decisions about transit in our society is immense. And as he says, in many cases choices to weaken transit make achieving policy goals literally impossible.
I've watched every minute of the recorded oral comments & read the hundreds of written submissions to
@ripta.com in response to the painful service reductions and segment and outright eliminations on the table. This 🧵 is strictly my own and is not an official RIPTA statement.
@ripta.com in response to the painful service reductions and segment and outright eliminations on the table. This 🧵 is strictly my own and is not an official RIPTA statement.
August 7, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Read this eloquent and pained thread from my good friend and colleague @zagush.bsky.social. The pain caused by short-sighted decisions about transit in our society is immense. And as he says, in many cases choices to weaken transit make achieving policy goals literally impossible.
Reposted by liam o’connell
7) Pittsburgh: the second rail tunnel should connect the East and West Busways via Liberty Ave/former Wabash bridge alignment. Also capturing South Hills branch and a new one to Oakland/Hazelwood @struthious.bsky.social
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?...
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?...
August 4, 2025 at 2:43 PM
7) Pittsburgh: the second rail tunnel should connect the East and West Busways via Liberty Ave/former Wabash bridge alignment. Also capturing South Hills branch and a new one to Oakland/Hazelwood @struthious.bsky.social
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?...
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?...
Reposted by liam o’connell
A lot has happened to PATH in the past 25 years -- 9/11, major construction work, COVID, etc. But consistent across all of these events have been ensuing reductions in off-pk service levels: since 2005, the number of PATH trips crossing the Hudson on Saturdays has fallen by *50%*
July 27, 2025 at 4:19 PM
A lot has happened to PATH in the past 25 years -- 9/11, major construction work, COVID, etc. But consistent across all of these events have been ensuing reductions in off-pk service levels: since 2005, the number of PATH trips crossing the Hudson on Saturdays has fallen by *50%*
Reposted by liam o’connell
Free bus proponents have this default resignation over any possible efficiencies from buses in subway deserts, stemming from a general distrust of the transit agency. A mentality driven from austerity and not abundance. As someone who works in transit to make it better, this is hugely depressing!
the MTA has a huge equity issue - the subway doesn't go everywhere - and free buses are one way to address that. transit nerd urbanists tend to skip the equity issue entirely and will tell you to increase bus service on high density routes - for efficiency
July 9, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Free bus proponents have this default resignation over any possible efficiencies from buses in subway deserts, stemming from a general distrust of the transit agency. A mentality driven from austerity and not abundance. As someone who works in transit to make it better, this is hugely depressing!
Reposted by liam o’connell
the republican party is a modern day Slave Power and the only way forward for this country is to sweep it into the ash heap of history
July 3, 2025 at 7:16 PM
the republican party is a modern day Slave Power and the only way forward for this country is to sweep it into the ash heap of history
Reposted by liam o’connell
Sigh. Transit advocates have been asking for *years* for more resources to make buses better: Countdown clocks, car cameras, more service, accessibility training, sheltered bus stops, TPS, and so on. Free fares was never it and we're no closer to getting what we've BEEN asking for w/ this attitude.
June 26, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Sigh. Transit advocates have been asking for *years* for more resources to make buses better: Countdown clocks, car cameras, more service, accessibility training, sheltered bus stops, TPS, and so on. Free fares was never it and we're no closer to getting what we've BEEN asking for w/ this attitude.
“A mayor who sucks shit” was a four-year sociological experiment conducted by CUNY. The study has now concluded. Thank you for your participation.
June 25, 2025 at 1:40 AM
“A mayor who sucks shit” was a four-year sociological experiment conducted by CUNY. The study has now concluded. Thank you for your participation.
Reposted by liam o’connell
We at the Daily News have been working without a contract for three years. Haven't had raises in more than five. We have no newsroom. No parental leave. We were issued laptops that can't hold a charge. All this while our owners at Alden Global Capital continue to turn a profit.
Over 120 former @nydailynews.com journalists have signed a new petition demanding that our bosses at New York’s Hometown Paper recognize our value and agree to a fair contract: nyguild.org/post/id-121-...
June 11, 2025 at 1:24 PM
We at the Daily News have been working without a contract for three years. Haven't had raises in more than five. We have no newsroom. No parental leave. We were issued laptops that can't hold a charge. All this while our owners at Alden Global Capital continue to turn a profit.
Reposted by liam o’connell
It's interesting to contrast South Wales Metro Project's priorities (electrification and basic stations accessibility) with Ottawa's Trillium line modernization (faregates and architectural features).
June 7, 2025 at 6:54 PM
It's interesting to contrast South Wales Metro Project's priorities (electrification and basic stations accessibility) with Ottawa's Trillium line modernization (faregates and architectural features).
Reposted by liam o’connell
new S(ubstack)-Bahn post: in the 1960s, Paris saw major ridership drops in its Metro and buses and rising deficits. so did every major French city. the head urban planner of Paris warned of a transit "catastrophe."
how did France rescue its public transit?
www.substack-bahn.net/p/how-france...
how did France rescue its public transit?
www.substack-bahn.net/p/how-france...
How France Saved its Public Transit from Catastrophe
One simple trick to revive a system in death spiral
www.substack-bahn.net
May 25, 2025 at 3:58 PM
new S(ubstack)-Bahn post: in the 1960s, Paris saw major ridership drops in its Metro and buses and rising deficits. so did every major French city. the head urban planner of Paris warned of a transit "catastrophe."
how did France rescue its public transit?
www.substack-bahn.net/p/how-france...
how did France rescue its public transit?
www.substack-bahn.net/p/how-france...
Reposted by liam o’connell
Did the Federal DOT just accidentally file a letter containing legal advice from the DOJ, instead of a letter addressed to the Judge, in the MTA v Duffy case?
April 24, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Did the Federal DOT just accidentally file a letter containing legal advice from the DOJ, instead of a letter addressed to the Judge, in the MTA v Duffy case?
Reposted by liam o’connell
"Down with the BRT, long live the bus."
I've just published an unusually polemical, argumentative post on my Substack explaining why I think Bus Rapid Transit is a failed planning concept.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
I've just published an unusually polemical, argumentative post on my Substack explaining why I think Bus Rapid Transit is a failed planning concept.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
Down with the BRT, long live the Bus
Why Bus Rapid Transit is a failed planning concept
open.substack.com
April 10, 2025 at 11:23 PM
"Down with the BRT, long live the bus."
I've just published an unusually polemical, argumentative post on my Substack explaining why I think Bus Rapid Transit is a failed planning concept.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
I've just published an unusually polemical, argumentative post on my Substack explaining why I think Bus Rapid Transit is a failed planning concept.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
Pittsburgh’s transit system is stronger than you might expect—it powers a >10% transit mode share that outperforms many bigger cities with lots more infrastructure. Cuts like this are a huge, totally needless step backward. And transit systems often struggle to recover from these kinds of events.
Facing relatively flat state funding, the end of pandemic aid and lagging ridership, Pittsburgh Regional Transit is contemplating dramatic change: cuts to bus and T service and fare hikes.
www.publicsource.org
March 19, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Pittsburgh’s transit system is stronger than you might expect—it powers a >10% transit mode share that outperforms many bigger cities with lots more infrastructure. Cuts like this are a huge, totally needless step backward. And transit systems often struggle to recover from these kinds of events.
Reposted by liam o’connell
My new interview in NY Mag about rising pedestrian deaths in the US—and potential ways to try to reduce the death toll: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/why-pedestrian-deaths-are-skyrocketing-in-america.html
Why Pedestrian Deaths Are Skyrocketing in America
Transportation expert Yonah Freemark on all the reasons the U.S. is such a deadly road-safety outlier.
nymag.com
June 26, 2023 at 8:51 PM
My new interview in NY Mag about rising pedestrian deaths in the US—and potential ways to try to reduce the death toll: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/why-pedestrian-deaths-are-skyrocketing-in-america.html
Reposted by liam o’connell
The most photogenic side of the Pirelli Tire Building / 1968 / Architect – Marcel Breuer and Robert F. Gatje /r/brutalism
July 3, 2023 at 1:32 PM
The most photogenic side of the Pirelli Tire Building / 1968 / Architect – Marcel Breuer and Robert F. Gatje /r/brutalism
ok let’s start things off here with nyc’s premier urban canyon
July 1, 2023 at 8:03 PM
ok let’s start things off here with nyc’s premier urban canyon