William Meehan
@meehan.nyc
Software engineer by day, NYC transit and housing advocate by night
He/him 🏳️🌈
He/him 🏳️🌈
Reposted by William Meehan
![4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiby6can6k76yzfmv2czxs4pu2l7zie7bqbrpswi7h3ifmiadkuqvu@jpeg)
Nolan jokes, but the subway legitimately used to have an operator at EVERY DOOR until the 1920s. They were made obsolete by improved railcar tech, just like 2PTO is obsolete now thanks to CCTV monitors and automation
I think it’s important we examine the potential benefits of 3TPO. A guy could keep watch from the back as he reads the papers. Who knows what problems he’d help solve!
November 14, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Nolan jokes, but the subway legitimately used to have an operator at EVERY DOOR until the 1920s. They were made obsolete by improved railcar tech, just like 2PTO is obsolete now thanks to CCTV monitors and automation
Reposted by William Meehan
ETA talked to the NY Times about a bill on Gov Hochul's desk that would mandate two crew on every subway train—something not required by any other metro in the world.
This bill threatens existing service, frequency on the new IBX, and would leave NYC in the past 🧵:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
This bill threatens existing service, frequency on the new IBX, and would leave NYC in the past 🧵:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
Does the Subway Still Need Train Conductors?
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:24 PM
ETA talked to the NY Times about a bill on Gov Hochul's desk that would mandate two crew on every subway train—something not required by any other metro in the world.
This bill threatens existing service, frequency on the new IBX, and would leave NYC in the past 🧵:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
This bill threatens existing service, frequency on the new IBX, and would leave NYC in the past 🧵:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
I swear every red light in NYC nowadays has one of:
1. Gunning it through after the light turns
2. Blocking the box or crosswalk
3. Inching forward into the crosswalk before it turns green
And every single one of those drivers deserves a steep fine at minimum
1. Gunning it through after the light turns
2. Blocking the box or crosswalk
3. Inching forward into the crosswalk before it turns green
And every single one of those drivers deserves a steep fine at minimum
so uhhhhh is anyone going to do anything about the epidemic of drivers just blasting through red lights these days? @timdonnelly.com investigates: nygroove.nyc/why-does-no-...
Society broke down and all, but you really still need to stop at red lights
I can't believe we need to explain this one, but it seems that we really do
nygroove.nyc
November 13, 2025 at 5:39 PM
I swear every red light in NYC nowadays has one of:
1. Gunning it through after the light turns
2. Blocking the box or crosswalk
3. Inching forward into the crosswalk before it turns green
And every single one of those drivers deserves a steep fine at minimum
1. Gunning it through after the light turns
2. Blocking the box or crosswalk
3. Inching forward into the crosswalk before it turns green
And every single one of those drivers deserves a steep fine at minimum
Reposted by William Meehan
I think about this the same way that I think about Zohran targeting waste at the Department of Education in the city. There's a lot of waste that the city does incur, and if you want to run a city well you have to be willing to take it on.
New Marron survey of 400+ subway lines across the world from London to Paris to Shanghai finds just 6% still use two-person train operation, which would be required by a TWU-backed bill.
“It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” says TWU boss Samuelsen
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
“It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” says TWU boss Samuelsen
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
Does the Subway Still Need Train Conductors?
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:42 PM
I think about this the same way that I think about Zohran targeting waste at the Department of Education in the city. There's a lot of waste that the city does incur, and if you want to run a city well you have to be willing to take it on.
Reposted by William Meehan
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
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
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
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
Reposted by William Meehan
Worth pointing out this bill would do more than freeze the MTA on two-person operation for all lines with it — it would require the MTA to hire conductors for all the services that have switched over to OTPO. (Shuttles, late night G, weekend M)
November 13, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Worth pointing out this bill would do more than freeze the MTA on two-person operation for all lines with it — it would require the MTA to hire conductors for all the services that have switched over to OTPO. (Shuttles, late night G, weekend M)
Reposted by William Meehan
New Marron survey of 400+ subway lines across the world from London to Paris to Shanghai finds just 6% still use two-person train operation, which would be required by a TWU-backed bill.
“It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” says TWU boss Samuelsen
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
“It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” says TWU boss Samuelsen
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
Does the Subway Still Need Train Conductors?
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:06 PM
New Marron survey of 400+ subway lines across the world from London to Paris to Shanghai finds just 6% still use two-person train operation, which would be required by a TWU-backed bill.
“It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” says TWU boss Samuelsen
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
“It doesn’t really matter to us what the data shows,” says TWU boss Samuelsen
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
Reposted by William Meehan
richard daley could give mamdani some advice here
Moral of this story is that squatting is legal… if you’re rich enough and famous enough — www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/n...
Adams Makes It Harder for Mamdani to Build Over Elizabeth Street Garden
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:53 AM
richard daley could give mamdani some advice here
Reposted by William Meehan
New: Two NYC transit experts, including a top "Vision Zero" planner in the de Blasio administration, have emerged as early favorites to become mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's Department of Transportation commissioner, per four sources. www.nydailynews.com/2025/11/12/m...
Mamdani eyeing DOT veterans, including ‘Vision Zero’ czar, for Transportation commissioner
Ryan Russo and Nivardo Lopez, two veterans of the department with deep experience in street redesign efforts, are being eyed by Mamdani’s team as potential picks for DOT commissioner, the fou…
www.nydailynews.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:49 PM
New: Two NYC transit experts, including a top "Vision Zero" planner in the de Blasio administration, have emerged as early favorites to become mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's Department of Transportation commissioner, per four sources. www.nydailynews.com/2025/11/12/m...
Reposted by William Meehan
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
November 12, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
Tbh they should go further and eliminate the nickel too. The penny costs 3.69¢ to mint, and the nickel costs 13.78¢ (~2.76× face value).
This gets a little weird because you can't make 5¢ or 15¢ with just dimes and quarters, but there are ways to work around that.
This gets a little weird because you can't make 5¢ or 15¢ with just dimes and quarters, but there are ways to work around that.
The US Mint has said that it will end the production of the penny, its lowest denomination coin, in cost-saving move
November 12, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Tbh they should go further and eliminate the nickel too. The penny costs 3.69¢ to mint, and the nickel costs 13.78¢ (~2.76× face value).
This gets a little weird because you can't make 5¢ or 15¢ with just dimes and quarters, but there are ways to work around that.
This gets a little weird because you can't make 5¢ or 15¢ with just dimes and quarters, but there are ways to work around that.
Reposted by William Meehan
For perspective, the distance between the IBX and the G is greater than the width of Manhattan (2.3 miles)
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
For perspective, the distance between the IBX and the G is greater than the width of Manhattan (2.3 miles)
Reposted by William Meehan
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
This is a big lesson for transit projects both in NY & around the US: start by learning from other countries.
tinyurl.com/mvsmfxa2
November 11, 2025 at 10:29 PM
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
This is a big lesson for transit projects both in NY & around the US: start by learning from other countries.
tinyurl.com/mvsmfxa2
Reposted by William Meehan
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
November 11, 2025 at 1:42 AM
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
Reposted by William Meehan
I am not a crazy ideologue. I just think that the richest society in human history has a moral responsibility to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, treat the sick, and house the homeless. If doing that requires forcing comfortably-housed people to accept neighborhood change, I'm ok with that.
Probably the key part of this piece. It comes down to the following: "What does prioritizing millionaire homeowners’ aversion to change over the needs of the poor and unhoused do to our souls?"
November 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
I am not a crazy ideologue. I just think that the richest society in human history has a moral responsibility to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, treat the sick, and house the homeless. If doing that requires forcing comfortably-housed people to accept neighborhood change, I'm ok with that.
Reposted by William Meehan
Reposted by William Meehan
Low-income seniors to get long-promised housing on city-owned land if Mamdani makes good on campaign promise.
Elizabeth Street Garden will be evicted if Mamdani makes good on campaign promise https://gothamist.com/news/elizabeth-street-garden-will-be-evicted-if-mamdani-makes-good-on-campaign-promise
Elizabeth Street Garden will be evicted if Mamdani makes good on campaign promise
Elizabeth Street Garden in Little Italy.
Mayor Eric Adams halted an eviction order for the garden's operators back in June. But Zohran Mamdani has vowed to boot them from the city-owned lot to make way for a new affordable housing development. [ more › ]
gothamist.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Low-income seniors to get long-promised housing on city-owned land if Mamdani makes good on campaign promise.
NIMBYs gonna NIMBY. Maybe if you don't want to live near the train, don't buy a house in New York City?
"'When we bought our house here, we knew it was a two-fare zone. We didn’t want to live near a subway station.'" -- www.amny.com/nyc-transit/...
Off track: Queens residents say “We don’t need it!” to IBX light-rail plan
Queens residents attended a public meeting about the IBX light rail plan, raising concerns about overcrowding, development and other issues.
www.amny.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:12 PM
NIMBYs gonna NIMBY. Maybe if you don't want to live near the train, don't buy a house in New York City?
AOC 2028, Lander 2030
November 10, 2025 at 2:54 AM
AOC 2028, Lander 2030
Reposted by William Meehan
Reposted by William Meehan
Reposted by William Meehan
Our new piece on the importance of transit connectivity in Boston #mapoli - it's long past time to connect the Red and Blue Lines. commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/the-...
The Red-Blue Connector: A half-mile of subway that benefits an entire region - CommonWealth Beacon
It’s easy to look at the short length of the proposed Red-Blue Connector – less than half a mile – and mistake it for a project with small impact. Nothing could be further from the truth.
commonwealthbeacon.org
November 8, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Our new piece on the importance of transit connectivity in Boston #mapoli - it's long past time to connect the Red and Blue Lines. commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/the-...
It's giving "you never asked me if I'm THAT Bill de Blasio"
What makes the Four Seasons situation so perfect is that the landscaping company clearly knew that the Trump campaign made a mistake and had no intention of correcting them when they called. Like at no point did they stop the campaign from booking a presser in their parking lot
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 PM
It's giving "you never asked me if I'm THAT Bill de Blasio"
Reposted by William Meehan
I got bad news: Sound Transit is subject to tariffs
November 7, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I got bad news: Sound Transit is subject to tariffs