which behavioral economist is working on explaining why a $9 toll removed 11% of trips? (but time
spent in congestion had no such effect)
spent in congestion had no such effect)
Congestion pricing is an unqualified success in NYC. It would be great to see it expanded to every city with decent public transit options. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Congestion pricing after one year: How life has changed.
How life has changed in the New York area, according to data on traffic, transit and the responses of 600 readers.
www.nytimes.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:46 PM
which behavioral economist is working on explaining why a $9 toll removed 11% of trips? (but time
spent in congestion had no such effect)
spent in congestion had no such effect)
Reposted by Eric Lind
Congestion pricing is an unqualified success in NYC. It would be great to see it expanded to every city with decent public transit options. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Congestion pricing after one year: How life has changed.
How life has changed in the New York area, according to data on traffic, transit and the responses of 600 readers.
www.nytimes.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:23 AM
Congestion pricing is an unqualified success in NYC. It would be great to see it expanded to every city with decent public transit options. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Eric Lind
Finally, for transit to thrive, it has to be useful. Density makes that possible.
More density ➡️ More service ➡️ More riders
That's the winning recipe in Vancouver, where ridership is almost back to pre-Covid levels. Much of the growth is from big suburban developments built atop transit stations.
More density ➡️ More service ➡️ More riders
That's the winning recipe in Vancouver, where ridership is almost back to pre-Covid levels. Much of the growth is from big suburban developments built atop transit stations.
The Secret to Vancouver’s Public Transit Ridership Recovery
The Canadian city’s transit agency, TransLink, bounced back from Covid even as other North American systems have struggled. Its leader explains why riders returned.
www.bloomberg.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Finally, for transit to thrive, it has to be useful. Density makes that possible.
More density ➡️ More service ➡️ More riders
That's the winning recipe in Vancouver, where ridership is almost back to pre-Covid levels. Much of the growth is from big suburban developments built atop transit stations.
More density ➡️ More service ➡️ More riders
That's the winning recipe in Vancouver, where ridership is almost back to pre-Covid levels. Much of the growth is from big suburban developments built atop transit stations.
though 2025 was a great transit year locally! @metrotransitmn.bsky.social opened 3 (!) new high-quality bus lines and used dedicated tax revenue to expand service even though commuter passes haven’t returned
2025 was brutal for US transit. Agencies faced budget deficits, flat ridership, and open hostility from the White House.
I wrote a series of stories outlining ways to help transit endure.
Lesson #1: Whatever you do, don’t cut service. Riders will leave – permanently.
Here are a few others 🧵
I wrote a series of stories outlining ways to help transit endure.
Lesson #1: Whatever you do, don’t cut service. Riders will leave – permanently.
Here are a few others 🧵
The Last Thing US Transit Agencies Should Do Now
Rising costs and widening deficits as pandemic aid runs out are challenging bus and train operators in many cities. But cutting service needs to be a last resort.
www.bloomberg.com
December 27, 2025 at 2:53 PM
though 2025 was a great transit year locally! @metrotransitmn.bsky.social opened 3 (!) new high-quality bus lines and used dedicated tax revenue to expand service even though commuter passes haven’t returned
Reposted by Eric Lind
This situation definitively means the federal government is now funding 0 high-speed rail projects, as it cancelled funding for a Texas project earlier in 2025, and no other projects in the US qualify as high-speed rail.
December 27, 2025 at 9:57 AM
This situation definitively means the federal government is now funding 0 high-speed rail projects, as it cancelled funding for a Texas project earlier in 2025, and no other projects in the US qualify as high-speed rail.
Reposted by Eric Lind
The point I wish got emphasized more is that the big winners from congestion pricing are *people who urgently need to drive*. Because they are ones that travel times really matter for. I always thought that instead of congestion pricing it should be called "free streets" - free from other cars.
this is incredible stuff. most state DOTs would spend tens of billions on highway expansions to try and see numbers like this (that wouldn’t even pan out anyway thanks to induced demand lol)
December 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
The point I wish got emphasized more is that the big winners from congestion pricing are *people who urgently need to drive*. Because they are ones that travel times really matter for. I always thought that instead of congestion pricing it should be called "free streets" - free from other cars.
Reposted by Eric Lind
dad trying to clown me by sending me a "ha ha millennials are old" link and forgetting i'm gen x is such a brutal force multiplier
December 23, 2025 at 2:43 PM
dad trying to clown me by sending me a "ha ha millennials are old" link and forgetting i'm gen x is such a brutal force multiplier
Reposted by Eric Lind
They have made enormous headway. The central issue is that driving isn't _really_ a rule-based process; the rules are codifications of social mores but fundamentally driving around other people is about theory of mind and social negotiation, which ML is largely hopeless at; here's a thing I wrote.
Driving is a social process
Photo by Sangga Rima Roman Selia on Unsplash There is something very strange about automobiles. They are much faster and more dangerous than our brains are...
buttondown.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:19 AM
They have made enormous headway. The central issue is that driving isn't _really_ a rule-based process; the rules are codifications of social mores but fundamentally driving around other people is about theory of mind and social negotiation, which ML is largely hopeless at; here's a thing I wrote.
if AVs drive safely and according to traffic laws, no one will want to ride in them
Cars are now being programmed to violate traffic rules. What could go wrong?
Me, in @fastcompany.com. (no paywall)
🧵
Me, in @fastcompany.com. (no paywall)
🧵
Tesla’s ‘Mad Max mode’ points to a big problem for self-driving cars
Mad Max mode exposes a risk for AV innovation. To stay competitive, computer-powered cars are emulating human drivers.
www.fastcompany.com
December 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM
if AVs drive safely and according to traffic laws, no one will want to ride in them
Reposted by Eric Lind
Matt Yglesias has a "Democrats should support more fossil fuel production" OpEd in the Times today, which criticizes me for saying that energy policy should try to uphold the goals of the Paris Agreement.
December 18, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Matt Yglesias has a "Democrats should support more fossil fuel production" OpEd in the Times today, which criticizes me for saying that energy policy should try to uphold the goals of the Paris Agreement.
had it with navigating snow and ice on the sidewalk while streets ate bare asphalt? join the Vehicular Walking movement
December 16, 2025 at 3:16 AM
had it with navigating snow and ice on the sidewalk while streets ate bare asphalt? join the Vehicular Walking movement
Reposted by Eric Lind
We've got to figure out how to break this self fulfilling doom loop - projected car traffic volumes requiring us to maintain lane capacity for future traffic volumes that materialize because we've maintained lane capacity
Op-Ed: It’s Time to Imagine a Safer, More Connected Rainier Avenue » The Urbanist
# Rainier Avenue has too many cars traveling at dangerous speeds, but conventional planning practices make it hard to change that and design a future where Rainier Avenue thrives. Let's stop making ha...
www.theurbanist.org
December 16, 2025 at 1:26 AM
We've got to figure out how to break this self fulfilling doom loop - projected car traffic volumes requiring us to maintain lane capacity for future traffic volumes that materialize because we've maintained lane capacity
Reposted by Eric Lind
I was thrilled to meet with Mayor Michelle Wu (@mayorwu.boston.gov) today at Boston City Hall. I can't think of anyone better to learn from about what it takes to be an effective, progressive big-city mayor.
December 15, 2025 at 10:04 PM
I was thrilled to meet with Mayor Michelle Wu (@mayorwu.boston.gov) today at Boston City Hall. I can't think of anyone better to learn from about what it takes to be an effective, progressive big-city mayor.
Reposted by Eric Lind
Free public registration is now open for the Crossroads Convening on Transportation Equity and Justice, 1/15/26 at the MLK Library in DC.
Registration is free. We've got three sessions across four tracks. Confirmed speakers include Robert Bullard, Anna Zivarts, Naomi Doerner, and Gretchen Goldman.
Registration is free. We've got three sessions across four tracks. Confirmed speakers include Robert Bullard, Anna Zivarts, Naomi Doerner, and Gretchen Goldman.
Crossroads: A Transportation Equity and Justice Convening
Join the Union of Concerned Scientists and our transportation partners for a one-day event to discuss transportation equity and justice. Thursday, January 15, 2026, 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET, at the Ma...
secure.ucs.org
December 12, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Free public registration is now open for the Crossroads Convening on Transportation Equity and Justice, 1/15/26 at the MLK Library in DC.
Registration is free. We've got three sessions across four tracks. Confirmed speakers include Robert Bullard, Anna Zivarts, Naomi Doerner, and Gretchen Goldman.
Registration is free. We've got three sessions across four tracks. Confirmed speakers include Robert Bullard, Anna Zivarts, Naomi Doerner, and Gretchen Goldman.
Reposted by Eric Lind
My daughter’s school bus was delayed this morning because armed ICE agents, some masked, were in the middle of 15th Ave in Cedar Riverside. So why wouldn’t ICE just get out of the way when the bus came? Perhaps they were busy harassing Somali-Americans, who are overwhelmingly citizens. But... (1/4)
December 11, 2025 at 2:06 PM
My daughter’s school bus was delayed this morning because armed ICE agents, some masked, were in the middle of 15th Ave in Cedar Riverside. So why wouldn’t ICE just get out of the way when the bus came? Perhaps they were busy harassing Somali-Americans, who are overwhelmingly citizens. But... (1/4)
Reposted by Eric Lind
Nobody should call these "erroneous" arrests. It's not happening by accident. Flooding cities with poorly trained ICE thugs to harass and racially profile is the entire point.
December 10, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Nobody should call these "erroneous" arrests. It's not happening by accident. Flooding cities with poorly trained ICE thugs to harass and racially profile is the entire point.
submitting my FOIA for my big hit piece on which Met Council members use the regional sewer system that they oversee
December 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
submitting my FOIA for my big hit piece on which Met Council members use the regional sewer system that they oversee
an afternoon snow reveals like nothing else which transportation is “resilient” and which is a hidden burden
Thank you to everyone out operating and maintaining our @metrotransitmn.bsky.social transit system—my commute home was quick, safe, and stress-free in spite of the snow.
December 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
an afternoon snow reveals like nothing else which transportation is “resilient” and which is a hidden burden
every snow is a gift
December 10, 2025 at 12:24 AM
every snow is a gift
new pedestrian volume sampling method just dropped
someone from the town came by to fix the sidewalk the water company had torn up, they poured the cement, smoothed it, moved on to the next one and within like three minutes someone had full on walked through it
December 9, 2025 at 3:52 AM
new pedestrian volume sampling method just dropped
