Jon Orcutt
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jonorcutt.bsky.social
Jon Orcutt
@jonorcutt.bsky.social
2.2K followers 550 following 920 posts
NYC transportation - working now w @bikenewyork.bsky.social, @reinventalbany.bsky.social

Alum @TransitCenter.bsky.social @nyc-dot.bsky.social @tstc.bsky.social @TransAlt.org
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Reposted by Jon Orcutt
streetspac.org
"Council Member Mercedes Narcisse (D-Canarsie), for instance, pushed a bill to permit the city [to] issue just one ticket per hour to drivers who park or drive in the bus lane."

What's next? One speeding or red-light ticket per hour? It boggles the mind.
nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/14/c...
Council Members Put Everything But Riders First at 'Bus Oversight' Hearing - Streetsblog New York City
The Council spent its last bus oversight hearing of its term asking the MTA and city to pull back on bus lane enforcement.
nyc.streetsblog.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
cmjengutierrez.bsky.social
The IBX is here! The MTA wants your feedback on what should be studied in the project’s Environmental Impact Statement.

Below are the public meeting dates:
November 19 - 6-8 PM: Trinity Lutheran Church
November 25 - 6-8 PM: Brooklyn Public Library

RSVP at bit.ly/ibxnov
November 14, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
sorathecyclist.bsky.social
Also even when this was proposed systems as old as/even older than NYC were already starting to implement OPTO en masse, including the Tube. This was outdated even then and now just looks bitterly archaic.
November 13, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
streetspac.org
"Running a red is different. It’s a threat powered by gasoline, thousands of pounds of metal, a heavy foot and a desire to cheat the system, even for a microsecond. It’s an active threat. People die."

Take a few minutes to read this @timdonnelly.com piece on all-too-commonplace red-light running.
November 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
jonorcutt.bsky.social
It's good people are mad about this and calling it out. But stand and watch traffic for 30 minutes at any NYC corner for the past 30 years and you'd see all manner of dangerous, batshit stuff going on
November 13, 2025 at 3:14 PM
jonorcutt.bsky.social
Backstory to this is that the Legislature approved a bill in June that was written in the 1990s (!!) requiring additional staffing of subway trains
November 13, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
reinventalbany.bsky.social
Report: 94% of World’s Transit Lines Operated by One Person

Hochul Should Veto Bill Requiring Two

See our statement on the new, important report out from NYU Marron's Transit Costs Project

buff.ly/Umk9Dc0
Report: 94% of World’s Subways Operated by One Person. Hochul Should Veto Bill Requiring Two - Reinvent Albany
NYU Marron Center Report Shows 94% of the World’s Subway Systems Use One Person – Or Are Automated   Gov. Hochul Must Veto Wasteful, Politically-Motivated Bill Requiring Two Train Operators   An…
reinventalbany.org
November 13, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
egoldwyn.bsky.social
We dropped a new report re: train operations, everyone’s favorite topic. There’s some backstory that we will get too. But, the basic takeaway is modern train systems have moved away from two-person train ops. New York should, too! transitcosts.com/Train_Operat...
transitcosts.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:44 PM
jonorcutt.bsky.social
Deeply reactionary, cars-first approach to federal transportation spending is very much at stake in the midterms @usa.streetsblog.org
usa.streetsblog.org Streetsblog USA @usa.streetsblog.org · 2d
Advocates were incensed when House T&I chairman Sam Graves dismissed walking and biking projects as not "traditional infrastructure," and vowed to exclude them from the next major federal infrastructure bill. And now, some are organizing against him.
House T&I Chair Vows ‘No Money for Bikes or Walking’ in Fed Transportation Bill — Streetsblog USA
The outlook for active transportation won't be good if advocates don't stand up.
buff.ly
November 13, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
marcelmoran.com
Get you a mayor that gushes about grade-separated bike lanes when traveling the world!
wutrain.bsky.social Michelle Wu 吳弭 @wutrain.bsky.social · 2d
I like these sidewalk-level bike lanes that also have separation from pedestrian space on the sidewalk with pretty materials like cobblestone and/or trees.
November 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
shabazzstuart.bsky.social
For perspective, the distance between the IBX and the G is greater than the width of Manhattan (2.3 miles)
railmag.bsky.social RAIL Magazine @railmag.bsky.social · 2d
As some NIMBY opposition to NYC’s IBX project heats up, some are claiming it just duplicates the G train. As @shabazzstuart.bsky.social notes, it’s not really the same thing, at all…
November 12, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
etany.org
By learning from other countries and adopting international best practices, California High Speed Rail was able to cut its costs by $14 billion and cut 70% of tunnels.

This is a big lesson for transit projects both in NY & around the US: start by learning from other countries.

tinyurl.com/mvsmfxa2
Ian Choudri: Yes. When I came on board, like we looked at six or seven different areas of improvements and one of that was engineering of how we are building it comparable to the European and Japanese systems. And came to realize that as engineers, all the folks that were in the team being very conservative. They were going, "Let’s build it not that steep." And so we are going to do it as flat as we can. While that’s fun if you are in the desert, if you are going through Tehachapi or Pacheco Pass, you quickly realize you can't stay flat. So the decision was made to make it a little higher, because Europe is doing it, Japan has been doing it. Let’s not reinvent. That eliminated about 70 percent of the tunnels that we had to do. And that’s billions of dollars. Ian Choudri: I don’t blame anyone. These were not intentional mistakes. This was a lack of checking because we don’t have another high speed rail in this country. So we were using highway bridges or freight rail design concepts, which is all we know. And so we fixed it. It took us four months to realize that this is a big mistake and improve the cost structure. When we put our plan out, we said we saved $14 billion by optimizing cost by changing design standards and criteria, bringing them up to par with the European and the Japanese.
November 11, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
bikenewyork.bsky.social
“the city we live in: Pointless enforcement of bikes, no enforcement of cars, and weak design of the bike network” @nyc.streetsblog.org nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/11/11/d...
Drivers Run Red Light, But Cops Ticket Cyclists at Dangerous Delancey Intersection - Streetsblog New York City
Drivers are zooming onto and off the Williamsburg Bridge in Lower Manhattan by running red lights. But cops are targeting cyclists instead.
nyc.streetsblog.org
November 11, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
johnpfaff.bsky.social
On this Veterans Day, more than any before, let us remember the valiant service of Black, Hispanic, Navajo, Japanese and other non-white Americans who fought bravely for the ideals of a country that failed to live up to them, and whose legacy a racist GOP is desperately trying to erase.
November 11, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
fundtransitnow.bsky.social
Say it louder for the people in the back!

Or don’t – with less honking and quieter streets, you don’t really have to.

www.nbcnewyork.com/video/on-air...
Ten months in, congestion pricing in NYC is working, MTA says
Congestion pricing has been in effect in Manhattan for 11 months and counting. The MTA says traffic is down — and revenue is up. But President Trump is still threatening to terminate the plan. NBC 4 N...
www.nbcnewyork.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
nyc.streetsblog.org
EXCLUSIVE: Memo to incoming Mayor Mamdani from former DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman: Get the best people and make sure they toss the dead wood:
buff.ly
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
atrupar.com
Bernie Sanders: "What this Senate is about to do is make a horrific situation even worse. So let's be clear what this vote is about. If this vote succeeds, over 20 million Americans are gonna see at least a doubling in their premiums in the ACA."
November 10, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
joshuajfriedman.com
“I think it’s a terrible mistake,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren says of the deal. “People want us to stand and fight for health care, and that's what I believe.” (via Igor Bobic, HuffPo) x.com/igorbobic/st...
November 10, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
kathyparkprice.bsky.social
Help keep Freedom Drive car-free and safe for kids in Forest Park in Queens. We need fewer, not more cars in parks.

Sign the parent-led petition below and speak up at the CB9 Hearing: Nov 13, 7:15 PM at Queens Borough Hall.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
November 7, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
thedailyshow.com
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
November 7, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
davidho.bsky.social
The US is the world's largest oil and gas producer. Yet, "China is now making more money from exporting green technology than America makes from exporting fossil fuels."
China’s clean-energy revolution will reshape markets and politics
The world’s biggest manufacturer now has an interest in the world decarbonising
www.economist.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:05 AM
jonorcutt.bsky.social
Prescient on major U.S. military move into the Middle East
cooperlund.online Cooper Lund @cooperlund.online · 8d
I don’t know how to feel about how the plot of Three Days of the Condor is just “what if the CIA shot up my old office and only I survived”
November 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
jonorcutt.bsky.social
This cafe inherited a curb cut & has made nice use of the non-curb space
November 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
bradheath.bsky.social
The AP tracked down details of some of the people killed in President Trump's military strikes on drug smugglers he describes as narco-terrorists.

They were, with one exception, not high-level criminals. One was a fisherman. One was a bus driver; another a taxi driver.

apnews.com/article/trum...
November 7, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Jon Orcutt
theguardian.com
Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’
Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’
Critics of New York City’s mayor-elect have said his pledges of free bus service and universal childcare are unrealistic, but in Europe it’s a given
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:22 PM