Sandy Johnston
@sandypsj.bsky.social
Transit geek. Planner. Cat dad. Cubs fan. Deputy Director of Regional Transit Planning at MBTA. Blogging much less than I'd like at www.itineranturbanist.wordpress.com.
Opinions my own.
Opinions my own.
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
EXCLUSIVE: @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social will be sworn in as mayor on midnight on January 1 inside the old abandoned City Hall subway station, saying that he sees the venue as a symbol for the aims of his upcoming administration.
EXCLUSIVE: Mamdani Will Be Sworn In At Abandoned Original City Hall Subway Station
The mayor-elect will kick off a new era by throwing things back to an older one.
buff.ly
December 29, 2025 at 12:01 PM
EXCLUSIVE: @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social will be sworn in as mayor on midnight on January 1 inside the old abandoned City Hall subway station, saying that he sees the venue as a symbol for the aims of his upcoming administration.
Another solid indicator of a past interurban: a power line that's been running next to a road suddenly marching off on a straighter alignment across some fields. Near Palmyra, IL the ROW of the Sterling, Dixon, & Eastern (1904-1925) is still very apparent.
www.google.com/maps/@41.849...
www.google.com/maps/@41.849...
December 29, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Another solid indicator of a past interurban: a power line that's been running next to a road suddenly marching off on a straighter alignment across some fields. Near Palmyra, IL the ROW of the Sterling, Dixon, & Eastern (1904-1925) is still very apparent.
www.google.com/maps/@41.849...
www.google.com/maps/@41.849...
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
🧠: gondolas for ski
🧠🧠: gondolas for urban transit
🧠🧠🧠🤯: gondolas for apples
The gondola connecting the central treatment hub of the largest apple producers consortium in Italy to the underground storage facility.
Opened last November.
🧠🧠: gondolas for urban transit
🧠🧠🧠🤯: gondolas for apples
The gondola connecting the central treatment hub of the largest apple producers consortium in Italy to the underground storage facility.
Opened last November.
December 28, 2025 at 5:04 PM
🧠: gondolas for ski
🧠🧠: gondolas for urban transit
🧠🧠🧠🤯: gondolas for apples
The gondola connecting the central treatment hub of the largest apple producers consortium in Italy to the underground storage facility.
Opened last November.
🧠🧠: gondolas for urban transit
🧠🧠🧠🤯: gondolas for apples
The gondola connecting the central treatment hub of the largest apple producers consortium in Italy to the underground storage facility.
Opened last November.
Stony Brook amphitheatre (IMO one of JP's massively underutilized assets) pretty in the snow
December 28, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Stony Brook amphitheatre (IMO one of JP's massively underutilized assets) pretty in the snow
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
We were talking the other day about the decline of intercity bus in New England but it’s nationwide. In cities you need trains for capacity, at longer distances you need trains for speed, but I do think the liberal focus on rail has hurt intercity buses for the distances & OD pairs they work for.
I've been looking through old state transit reports recently, and was astounded at the fact that in 1976 Washington's intercity bus network carried 30 million passengers, half as many as every transit agency in the state at that time. Spokane had nearly 40 daily one way trips to different cities.
December 28, 2025 at 2:48 PM
We were talking the other day about the decline of intercity bus in New England but it’s nationwide. In cities you need trains for capacity, at longer distances you need trains for speed, but I do think the liberal focus on rail has hurt intercity buses for the distances & OD pairs they work for.
Interesting, CAHSR has dropped their suit over losing federal funding and seems to be signalling they want to make it s fully state project going forward.
www.trains.com/pro/passenge...
www.trains.com/pro/passenge...
California drops suit over cancellation of high-speed rail funding - Trains
SACRAMENTO — California has ended its lawsuit over $4 billion in grant funding cancelled by the Trump administration, Bloomberg reports, deciding it can on longer rely on help for the project from the...
www.trains.com
December 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Interesting, CAHSR has dropped their suit over losing federal funding and seems to be signalling they want to make it s fully state project going forward.
www.trains.com/pro/passenge...
www.trains.com/pro/passenge...
Abandoned small-scale grain elevator+power line stretching into the distance=telltale signs that a Midwestern interurban was Once Here. Here, the Fox & Illinois Union Rwy, outside Morris, IL hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-... www.google.com/maps/@41.430...
December 26, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Abandoned small-scale grain elevator+power line stretching into the distance=telltale signs that a Midwestern interurban was Once Here. Here, the Fox & Illinois Union Rwy, outside Morris, IL hickscarworks.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-... www.google.com/maps/@41.430...
Nerd alert: rail.guide now has a trolley/interurban layer (turn to classic owners view) and it's extremely cool
December 26, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Nerd alert: rail.guide now has a trolley/interurban layer (turn to classic owners view) and it's extremely cool
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
the NSW government has begun to prepare for offering a "minimum viable product" to keep the sleeper service going. What this entails I have no idea. buy.nsw.gov.au/prcOpportuni...
Regional Overnight Sleeper Service - Rolling Stock Technical Advisor Services - IPD-25-21636
Welcome to the buy.nsw Supplier Hub, a place for NSW Government buyers and suppliers to connect.
buy.nsw.gov.au
December 26, 2025 at 6:34 AM
the NSW government has begun to prepare for offering a "minimum viable product" to keep the sleeper service going. What this entails I have no idea. buy.nsw.gov.au/prcOpportuni...
TIL there's an intercity train fight going on among Australia rail advocates similar to what we see here in the US because the new dual-mode fleet replacing the NSW XPTs doesn't have a sleeper.
wongm.com/2025/01/melb...
wongm.com/2025/01/melb...
Why losing the XPT sleeping carriages isn't a big deal - Waking up in Geelong
For the past 30 years there was only been a single passenger service running between Melbourne and Sydney – the NSW operated XPT running twice a day each way, one in daylight, the other running overni...
wongm.com
December 26, 2025 at 4:22 AM
TIL there's an intercity train fight going on among Australia rail advocates similar to what we see here in the US because the new dual-mode fleet replacing the NSW XPTs doesn't have a sleeper.
wongm.com/2025/01/melb...
wongm.com/2025/01/melb...
Christmas Day on the Common
December 25, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Christmas Day on the Common
Opinions on the Inland Rail project connecting Melbourne and Brisbane?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_...
Inland Rail - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 25, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Opinions on the Inland Rail project connecting Melbourne and Brisbane?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_...
Relatively newly arrived Atlas U33B helps test out clearances and troubleshoot electrical issues with the Kato turntable installation.
December 25, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Relatively newly arrived Atlas U33B helps test out clearances and troubleshoot electrical issues with the Kato turntable installation.
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Congrats to us as we paid for post-merger freight activity increases with our own taxes. Impeccable timing
December 24, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Congrats to us as we paid for post-merger freight activity increases with our own taxes. Impeccable timing
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
There's so much eye-opening stuff in the 300MB UP-NS STB filing, but a big one are the two railroads' 2024 traffic density maps, which really show how much more concentrated NS' network is as legacy PRR from Chicago. Almost every new intermodal service will bypass Chicago for southern lanes
December 23, 2025 at 7:59 PM
There's so much eye-opening stuff in the 300MB UP-NS STB filing, but a big one are the two railroads' 2024 traffic density maps, which really show how much more concentrated NS' network is as legacy PRR from Chicago. Almost every new intermodal service will bypass Chicago for southern lanes
Closes tonight! Come work for me!
Big news: I am hiring! We're looking for a Senior Project Coordinator to join the Strategic Transit Planning team at the MBTA and work on regional coordination, long-range strategy, change management, and multimodal planning. www.governmentjobs.com/careers/mbta...
Senior Project Coordinator
The Senior Project Coordinator will be primarily responsible for supporting MBTA’s long-term and strategic planning initiatives, such as Full T Ahead and the MBTA Climate Assessment, including assisti...
www.governmentjobs.com
December 24, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Closes tonight! Come work for me!
South Shore catenary!
December 24, 2025 at 7:59 PM
South Shore catenary!
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Bridgeport peaked at 62 murders in 1990. Between 2011 and 2022, it’s averaged 17 murders per year. This piece discusses how intractably the city seemed stuck at that number.
3 is unbelievably great news
www.ctpost.com/news/article...
3 is unbelievably great news
www.ctpost.com/news/article...
December 24, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Bridgeport peaked at 62 murders in 1990. Between 2011 and 2022, it’s averaged 17 murders per year. This piece discusses how intractably the city seemed stuck at that number.
3 is unbelievably great news
www.ctpost.com/news/article...
3 is unbelievably great news
www.ctpost.com/news/article...
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Key quote: "higher-density development may be *less feasible*, requiring higher rents than the local market may bear to make a project financeable. This results from the fact that higher construction costs for taller buildings dilute the benefit of increased density"
There's broad agreement that transit-oriented development—TOD—is good. But the financing isn't always in place to make it feasible.
In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, we investigate factors that make TOD financially feasible, and point to opportunities for states to move the needle.
In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, we investigate factors that make TOD financially feasible, and point to opportunities for states to move the needle.
The Financial Feasibility of Transit-Oriented Development
Our stylized analysis illuminates challenges facing TOD, including inadequate market rents in some areas and high construction costs, issues that may be aggr…
www.urban.org
December 23, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Key quote: "higher-density development may be *less feasible*, requiring higher rents than the local market may bear to make a project financeable. This results from the fact that higher construction costs for taller buildings dilute the benefit of increased density"
Another opportunity with my team! We're looking for summer interns for this coming summer. I can guarantee the work will be cool--there's a TON to do. www.governmentjobs.com/careers/mbta...
Policy & Strategic Planning (PSP) Intern (Graduate Students)
The Policy & Strategic Planning (PSP) Intern will be part of a team that develops new policy for the MBTA while also planning for the organization’s future needs. The team comprises five divisions: Tr...
www.governmentjobs.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Another opportunity with my team! We're looking for summer interns for this coming summer. I can guarantee the work will be cool--there's a TON to do. www.governmentjobs.com/careers/mbta...
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Reading the UP/NS merger app alongside CP/KCS, you really get a sense for how railroad managements' read of the pax rail environment differs now vs 2021
In 2021, "expansion of psgr svc" made an appearance in the CEO's statement. Now? Just procedural assurances that the merger won't break anything
In 2021, "expansion of psgr svc" made an appearance in the CEO's statement. Now? Just procedural assurances that the merger won't break anything
December 20, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reading the UP/NS merger app alongside CP/KCS, you really get a sense for how railroad managements' read of the pax rail environment differs now vs 2021
In 2021, "expansion of psgr svc" made an appearance in the CEO's statement. Now? Just procedural assurances that the merger won't break anything
In 2021, "expansion of psgr svc" made an appearance in the CEO's statement. Now? Just procedural assurances that the merger won't break anything
Sunday evening reminder: I'm hiring! Job posting closes Christmas Eve, so if you're interested, get your application in now. I promise the work is meaningful and mostly fun :-)
Big news: I am hiring! We're looking for a Senior Project Coordinator to join the Strategic Transit Planning team at the MBTA and work on regional coordination, long-range strategy, change management, and multimodal planning. www.governmentjobs.com/careers/mbta...
Senior Project Coordinator
The Senior Project Coordinator will be primarily responsible for supporting MBTA’s long-term and strategic planning initiatives, such as Full T Ahead and the MBTA Climate Assessment, including assisti...
www.governmentjobs.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Sunday evening reminder: I'm hiring! Job posting closes Christmas Eve, so if you're interested, get your application in now. I promise the work is meaningful and mostly fun :-)
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Massachusetts has named the 12 new snowplows thanks to elementary school kids. My favorites are "Flake Maye" and "Sleet Caroline." www.mass.gov/news/massdot...
www.mass.gov
December 21, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Massachusetts has named the 12 new snowplows thanks to elementary school kids. My favorites are "Flake Maye" and "Sleet Caroline." www.mass.gov/news/massdot...
🕎🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️
December 22, 2025 at 1:01 AM
🕎🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️
Reposted by Sandy Johnston
Think the marriage of convenience between the Israeli right and the historically antisemitic global far-right has been bad for Diaspora Jews? Wait until you see the divorce.
Kelly said the Republican party, especially the youth, are changing their opinion about Israel
That there was a time when you weren't allowed to question Israel and she's sick of it
That she doesn't think Israel killed Kirk but she supports Candace Owens asking those questions
That there was a time when you weren't allowed to question Israel and she's sick of it
That she doesn't think Israel killed Kirk but she supports Candace Owens asking those questions
December 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Think the marriage of convenience between the Israeli right and the historically antisemitic global far-right has been bad for Diaspora Jews? Wait until you see the divorce.