Matthew
@mathbath.bsky.social
have yourself a wonderful day and don’t forget to eat cookies
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suburban urbanist
mech tech / millwright
avid transit rider
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Toronto📍
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suburban urbanist
mech tech / millwright
avid transit rider
—————————
Toronto📍
Pinned
Matthew
@mathbath.bsky.social
· Sep 22
Town wants your feedback on redesign of Whitby’s historic Brock Street
A survey on the redesign is open online until Thursday, Oct. 9.
www.durhamregion.com
www.durhamregion.com/news/town-wa...
Town of Whitby residents, now’s your chance to give feedback on the redesign of our main street, featuring:
- traffic calming
- public art
- multi-use paths
- more pedestrian crossings
- curb extensions
- street trees
- sidewalk lighting
and more!
Town of Whitby residents, now’s your chance to give feedback on the redesign of our main street, featuring:
- traffic calming
- public art
- multi-use paths
- more pedestrian crossings
- curb extensions
- street trees
- sidewalk lighting
and more!
Reposted by Matthew
I wrote about this too. Why isn’t Ontario hitting the barricades in rage? We’ve so little lake access. Entirely privatized shorelines. You could give the province away to oligarchs & people would be meh. Thx to Fatima for calling this early on.
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
November 10, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I wrote about this too. Why isn’t Ontario hitting the barricades in rage? We’ve so little lake access. Entirely privatized shorelines. You could give the province away to oligarchs & people would be meh. Thx to Fatima for calling this early on.
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
honestly, hell yeah! we’re so back. hot take but I lowkey missed the snow.
two people at spadina carrying sleds down the stairs into the subway, winter in toronto has officially begun ❄️
November 11, 2025 at 12:18 AM
honestly, hell yeah! we’re so back. hot take but I lowkey missed the snow.
Reposted by Matthew
Seven weeks ago, it was 30c and I was swimming in an outdoor pool.
We get it all
We get it all
November 9, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Seven weeks ago, it was 30c and I was swimming in an outdoor pool.
We get it all
We get it all
that’s so real 🔥
Brilliant new ad campaign I just spotted at the Southwark tube station in London.
November 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
that’s so real 🔥
Reposted by Matthew
This breaks some people’s brains.
In most cities, Costco stores fuel sprawl & car dependency.
In Vancouver, our full-sized downtown Costco has residential towers above & a skytrain station next door. LOTS of customers don’t drive to it.
We live a block from it. We call it “the convenience store.”
In most cities, Costco stores fuel sprawl & car dependency.
In Vancouver, our full-sized downtown Costco has residential towers above & a skytrain station next door. LOTS of customers don’t drive to it.
We live a block from it. We call it “the convenience store.”
November 8, 2025 at 3:03 AM
This breaks some people’s brains.
In most cities, Costco stores fuel sprawl & car dependency.
In Vancouver, our full-sized downtown Costco has residential towers above & a skytrain station next door. LOTS of customers don’t drive to it.
We live a block from it. We call it “the convenience store.”
In most cities, Costco stores fuel sprawl & car dependency.
In Vancouver, our full-sized downtown Costco has residential towers above & a skytrain station next door. LOTS of customers don’t drive to it.
We live a block from it. We call it “the convenience store.”
Reposted by Matthew
I rarely have good news to report about this streetcar system, but this intersection is slated for transit lanes and a ban on left turns this year.
hopefully it serves as a model for the rest of our troubled streetcar system!
Things are slowly changing.
hopefully it serves as a model for the rest of our troubled streetcar system!
Things are slowly changing.
November 8, 2025 at 4:40 AM
I rarely have good news to report about this streetcar system, but this intersection is slated for transit lanes and a ban on left turns this year.
hopefully it serves as a model for the rest of our troubled streetcar system!
Things are slowly changing.
hopefully it serves as a model for the rest of our troubled streetcar system!
Things are slowly changing.
Reposted by Matthew
“We’ve got the power of friendship” - Ernie Clement
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
“We’ve got the power of friendship” - Ernie Clement
Reposted by Matthew
back on wednesday, i was presenting to the infrastructure+environment committee as they were considering moving the transit signal priority phase before the left-turn signal phase on spadina, to speed up streetcar service.
i couldn't resist starting off my presentation with this slide ⚾🤭
i couldn't resist starting off my presentation with this slide ⚾🤭
November 2, 2025 at 12:01 AM
back on wednesday, i was presenting to the infrastructure+environment committee as they were considering moving the transit signal priority phase before the left-turn signal phase on spadina, to speed up streetcar service.
i couldn't resist starting off my presentation with this slide ⚾🤭
i couldn't resist starting off my presentation with this slide ⚾🤭
Reposted by Matthew
I have a mini plan for the future of the O-Train network and its very satisfying. Includes:
-Rail from airport to downtown
-L2 Electrification
-Trans Ottawa River Rail
-Speed Improvements
-Screen Doors and Automation
-0 New tunnels
-Rail from airport to downtown
-L2 Electrification
-Trans Ottawa River Rail
-Speed Improvements
-Screen Doors and Automation
-0 New tunnels
November 6, 2025 at 2:39 AM
I have a mini plan for the future of the O-Train network and its very satisfying. Includes:
-Rail from airport to downtown
-L2 Electrification
-Trans Ottawa River Rail
-Speed Improvements
-Screen Doors and Automation
-0 New tunnels
-Rail from airport to downtown
-L2 Electrification
-Trans Ottawa River Rail
-Speed Improvements
-Screen Doors and Automation
-0 New tunnels
Reposted by Matthew
Filming the awesome infrastructure under construction is bittersweet, knowing that we’re going to get less of it in the next four years. Possibly much less.
November 4, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Filming the awesome infrastructure under construction is bittersweet, knowing that we’re going to get less of it in the next four years. Possibly much less.
Reposted by Matthew
Hyperfixation is a longer term magnetic, sometimes intrusive, draw to a topic, food, or interest over the period of days or weeks, leading us to prioritize it above other things and repeatedly come back again and again.
Where hyperfocus lasts hours, hyperfixation lasts days, weeks, or even months
Where hyperfocus lasts hours, hyperfixation lasts days, weeks, or even months
November 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Hyperfixation is a longer term magnetic, sometimes intrusive, draw to a topic, food, or interest over the period of days or weeks, leading us to prioritize it above other things and repeatedly come back again and again.
Where hyperfocus lasts hours, hyperfixation lasts days, weeks, or even months
Where hyperfocus lasts hours, hyperfixation lasts days, weeks, or even months
Reposted by Matthew
Hyperfixation and hyperfocus are similar processes, but over different time scales, with different impacts.
Hyperfocus is an enrapturing, deep focus that feels like it sucks us in, makes us lose track of time, and forget the rest of the world or even forget our own bodily needs
Hyperfocus is an enrapturing, deep focus that feels like it sucks us in, makes us lose track of time, and forget the rest of the world or even forget our own bodily needs
November 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Hyperfixation and hyperfocus are similar processes, but over different time scales, with different impacts.
Hyperfocus is an enrapturing, deep focus that feels like it sucks us in, makes us lose track of time, and forget the rest of the world or even forget our own bodily needs
Hyperfocus is an enrapturing, deep focus that feels like it sucks us in, makes us lose track of time, and forget the rest of the world or even forget our own bodily needs
Reposted by Matthew
I've done something that I don't do very often. I wrote a short, quick polemic post. It was prompted by a discussion in here.
It's about why I'm still skeptical about ALTO's HSR project and why there is no way around transparency in public projects.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
It's about why I'm still skeptical about ALTO's HSR project and why there is no way around transparency in public projects.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
Why I’m still skeptical about ALTO’s HSR project
A reality check and a plea for transparency.
open.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I've done something that I don't do very often. I wrote a short, quick polemic post. It was prompted by a discussion in here.
It's about why I'm still skeptical about ALTO's HSR project and why there is no way around transparency in public projects.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
It's about why I'm still skeptical about ALTO's HSR project and why there is no way around transparency in public projects.
open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...
Reposted by Matthew
I wish we had the initiative to run different numbers of escalators in the up-and-down direction depend depending on the time of day like so many other cities since we don’t, I’m posting this.
November 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I wish we had the initiative to run different numbers of escalators in the up-and-down direction depend depending on the time of day like so many other cities since we don’t, I’m posting this.
Reposted by Matthew
Europe's on it! No pressure, #Canada. (At least Alto High Speed Rail is in the new budget...)
We’re launching a bold plan to make high-speed rail the fastest, more sustainable way to travel across Europe by 2040.
It’s a concrete timeline to remove bottlenecks, unlock investment, and harmonise rail systems ⬇️
It’s a concrete timeline to remove bottlenecks, unlock investment, and harmonise rail systems ⬇️
November 5, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Europe's on it! No pressure, #Canada. (At least Alto High Speed Rail is in the new budget...)
we need more…not less…of neighbourhood retail. as a young adult, my teen years are in very recent memory. third places like pizza badiali are where people of all ages can come together and be social, form stronger ties with their communities, and feel a sense of belonging…in real life! imagine that!
I wrote an op-ed on what I think about the fight for local neighbourhood retail (and the grousing about Badiali's) means for the urban vision of Toronto. Gift link here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
When even the humble corner store is impossible to open in Toronto, it’s a sign of something deeply wrong
We need to accept that Toronto is now a big city.
www.thestar.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
we need more…not less…of neighbourhood retail. as a young adult, my teen years are in very recent memory. third places like pizza badiali are where people of all ages can come together and be social, form stronger ties with their communities, and feel a sense of belonging…in real life! imagine that!
Reposted by Matthew
Dan says it right: this is a city, and we need leaders who will say so.
I wrote an op-ed on what I think about the fight for local neighbourhood retail (and the grousing about Badiali's) means for the urban vision of Toronto. Gift link here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
When even the humble corner store is impossible to open in Toronto, it’s a sign of something deeply wrong
We need to accept that Toronto is now a big city.
www.thestar.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Dan says it right: this is a city, and we need leaders who will say so.
Reposted by Matthew
The oligarchy came out in full force against Zohran Mamdani's fight for a more affordable NYC.
It didn't matter.
Let his victory in the face of Big Money serve as a reminder that people have the power.
It didn't matter.
Let his victory in the face of Big Money serve as a reminder that people have the power.
November 5, 2025 at 2:54 AM
The oligarchy came out in full force against Zohran Mamdani's fight for a more affordable NYC.
It didn't matter.
Let his victory in the face of Big Money serve as a reminder that people have the power.
It didn't matter.
Let his victory in the face of Big Money serve as a reminder that people have the power.
Reposted by Matthew
Three hockey dads with three hockey trucks.
November 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Three hockey dads with three hockey trucks.
wow, well that made my day. let’s get this show on the road! yes to faster streetcars!
Oh! Out of the blue, a motion from chair Myers to conduct a full scale review and scale up of transit signal priority in an attempt to speed up streetcars! You love to see it!!
November 3, 2025 at 11:56 PM
wow, well that made my day. let’s get this show on the road! yes to faster streetcars!
Reposted by Matthew
every now and then, a TTC commissioner actually does something good without needing to be asked 1 billion times by advocates
Oh! Out of the blue, a motion from chair Myers to conduct a full scale review and scale up of transit signal priority in an attempt to speed up streetcars! You love to see it!!
November 3, 2025 at 9:16 PM
every now and then, a TTC commissioner actually does something good without needing to be asked 1 billion times by advocates
Reposted by Matthew
“The Prime Minister of Ontario”
Truly stunning how little these people know about other countries, even neighbouring ones.
Truly stunning how little these people know about other countries, even neighbouring ones.
BREAM: How do trade talks get back on with Canada?
BESSENT: We'll see. This is very serious. The prime minister of Ontario, who I imagine is smarting quite a bit from the Blue Jays loss, spent $75 million interfering in US public policy. A price has got to be paid for this.
BESSENT: We'll see. This is very serious. The prime minister of Ontario, who I imagine is smarting quite a bit from the Blue Jays loss, spent $75 million interfering in US public policy. A price has got to be paid for this.
November 2, 2025 at 9:09 PM
“The Prime Minister of Ontario”
Truly stunning how little these people know about other countries, even neighbouring ones.
Truly stunning how little these people know about other countries, even neighbouring ones.
Reposted by Matthew
This is interesting! The claim that the Terrebonne Street bike lane in Montreal’s NDG neighbourhood “blocked access” to Saint Monica's Church.
The bike lane out front does not remove *access*. What it did was remove *parking right out front*.
What about other parking options? Let’s take a look.
The bike lane out front does not remove *access*. What it did was remove *parking right out front*.
What about other parking options? Let’s take a look.
November 2, 2025 at 11:31 PM
This is interesting! The claim that the Terrebonne Street bike lane in Montreal’s NDG neighbourhood “blocked access” to Saint Monica's Church.
The bike lane out front does not remove *access*. What it did was remove *parking right out front*.
What about other parking options? Let’s take a look.
The bike lane out front does not remove *access*. What it did was remove *parking right out front*.
What about other parking options? Let’s take a look.
Reposted by Matthew
The difference in the time it takes a streetcar in Amsterdam vs. Toronto to clear an intersection after servicing a nearside stop.
October 30, 2025 at 1:32 AM
The difference in the time it takes a streetcar in Amsterdam vs. Toronto to clear an intersection after servicing a nearside stop.