@trainspiration.bsky.social
Advocate for transit infrastructure in every neighborhood 🚊🚃🚅 No one should have to live more than a 1/2 mile from a train station
Queens, NY 🌐
Queens, NY 🌐
Fantastic news but really should include a stop at the proposed Sunnyside Station as well!
Amtrak plans first 1-seat train ride between Long Island and mainland U.S. https://gothamist.com/news/amtrak-plans-first-1-seat-train-ride-between-long-island-and-mainland-us
Amtrak plans first 1-seat train ride between Long Island and mainland U.S.
This Long Island Rail Road train at Ronkonkoma could be on track to share the platform with Amtrak.
The route would solve a conundrum that's vexed transportation officials for more than a century. [ more › ]
gothamist.com
June 4, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Fantastic news but really should include a stop at the proposed Sunnyside Station as well!
Reposted
The purpose of American zoning is to make housing more expensive.
It does that by outlawing inexpensive homes like apartments on the overwhelming majority of residential land, which is reserved exclusively for the most expensive kind of housing: detached single family homes.
It does that by outlawing inexpensive homes like apartments on the overwhelming majority of residential land, which is reserved exclusively for the most expensive kind of housing: detached single family homes.
If city council/planners actually planned for affordability, they’d ban mansions, not apartments. They’d have lot size maximums, not lot size minimums. They’d have higher fees per sq ft of mansion, not apartments. They’d charge the rich in mansions more, not everyone else in apartments.
March 31, 2025 at 12:41 AM
The purpose of American zoning is to make housing more expensive.
It does that by outlawing inexpensive homes like apartments on the overwhelming majority of residential land, which is reserved exclusively for the most expensive kind of housing: detached single family homes.
It does that by outlawing inexpensive homes like apartments on the overwhelming majority of residential land, which is reserved exclusively for the most expensive kind of housing: detached single family homes.
If you are wondering what you can do during anxious times—at the local level you can start by communicating with your representatives and attending community meetings to demand more housing and public transit. We cannot afford to be NIMBYs whatsoever at this point.
February 2, 2025 at 11:34 PM
If you are wondering what you can do during anxious times—at the local level you can start by communicating with your representatives and attending community meetings to demand more housing and public transit. We cannot afford to be NIMBYs whatsoever at this point.
This is directly responsible for why we do not have high speed rail in this country.
January 31, 2025 at 11:53 PM
This is directly responsible for why we do not have high speed rail in this country.
Reposted
if anyone lives in Manhattan, please call Councilmember Bottcher’s office at 212-564-7757 and (respectfully!) tell him you support 60 stories of mixed income housing in Gansevoort Square!
Dems truly cannot afford to be NIMBYs in the Trump era
Dems truly cannot afford to be NIMBYs in the Trump era
January 29, 2025 at 2:25 PM
if anyone lives in Manhattan, please call Councilmember Bottcher’s office at 212-564-7757 and (respectfully!) tell him you support 60 stories of mixed income housing in Gansevoort Square!
Dems truly cannot afford to be NIMBYs in the Trump era
Dems truly cannot afford to be NIMBYs in the Trump era
Reposted
You can't be a sanctuary for people without affordable housing 🏘️
We need to fight to protect human rights across the United States and we also need to make great cities and states affordable for those who want to move.
We need to fight to protect human rights across the United States and we also need to make great cities and states affordable for those who want to move.
LGBTQ+ youth flee hateful states: 266,000 young people have moved to more inclusive states - LGBTQ Nation
They don't want to live in states that are legislating away their rights.
www.lgbtqnation.com
January 27, 2025 at 5:46 PM
You can't be a sanctuary for people without affordable housing 🏘️
We need to fight to protect human rights across the United States and we also need to make great cities and states affordable for those who want to move.
We need to fight to protect human rights across the United States and we also need to make great cities and states affordable for those who want to move.
Honest question—why can’t we just use public plots to build thousands of free housing units and finance it with an equal number of market rate units on the same site? This would solve the housing crisis instantaneously.
January 25, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Honest question—why can’t we just use public plots to build thousands of free housing units and finance it with an equal number of market rate units on the same site? This would solve the housing crisis instantaneously.
Through-running at Penn Station is one of the most essential infrastructure projects in the NYC Metropolitan region and possibly the entire East Coast
ICYMI, ETA's response to Amtrak's report.
Amtrak claims through-running isn't possible and pushes its unnecessary Penn Expansion project.
Our analysis shows the report is incorrect and sufficient improvements can be made within Penn Station's existing footprint.
www.etany.org/penn-station...
Amtrak claims through-running isn't possible and pushes its unnecessary Penn Expansion project.
Our analysis shows the report is incorrect and sufficient improvements can be made within Penn Station's existing footprint.
www.etany.org/penn-station...
Penn Station Can Handle the Load: NY is ready for Through-Running — Effective Transit Alliance New York
Through-running at Penn Station would transform regional rail in NYC, and we have the infrastructure to do it.
However, in a recent report, Amtrak made fundamentally flawed arguments pushing its unne...
www.etany.org
January 16, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Through-running at Penn Station is one of the most essential infrastructure projects in the NYC Metropolitan region and possibly the entire East Coast
Time for some crosstown light rails on some of Manhattan’s major streets—23rd, 34th, 59th, 125th etc. 🚉
January 12, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Time for some crosstown light rails on some of Manhattan’s major streets—23rd, 34th, 59th, 125th etc. 🚉
Incredibly frustrating that the first question asked anytime new transit is proposed is whether ridership projections can support it. That narrow way of thinking fails to consider induced demand, future growth, and also that projected ridership is almost always estimated far too conservatively.
We should build transit for the city we want, not the city we have. I'd rather be prepared for a more abundant future than a constrained present.
January 3, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Incredibly frustrating that the first question asked anytime new transit is proposed is whether ridership projections can support it. That narrow way of thinking fails to consider induced demand, future growth, and also that projected ridership is almost always estimated far too conservatively.
Hoping for many new trains this year 🚅🚃🚊🚝
January 1, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Hoping for many new trains this year 🚅🚃🚊🚝
The reflex even among pro-transit people is to ask if a transit project is too costly. There’s never consideration of the opportunity cost of not building. Imagine if the NYC subways had never been built how many trillions of dollars that would have cost. It is unaffordable not to build transit.
December 9, 2024 at 3:16 PM
The reflex even among pro-transit people is to ask if a transit project is too costly. There’s never consideration of the opportunity cost of not building. Imagine if the NYC subways had never been built how many trillions of dollars that would have cost. It is unaffordable not to build transit.
Whatever Madrid is doing to expand its rail network so quickly must be implemented everywhere else immediately. Madrid expanded its entire network for the same price as single line expansions in other cities. There’s no time to wait or pass the task onto the next generation—this has to be done now.
“Madrid was able to build so much because of one thing: low costs. The 35-mile expansion between 1995 & 1999 cost around $2.8 billion (in 2024 prices).
New York’s 1.5-mile extension of the 7 subway to Hudson Yard cost about the same (adjusted for inflation).”
New York’s 1.5-mile extension of the 7 subway to Hudson Yard cost about the same (adjusted for inflation).”
December 8, 2024 at 5:17 PM
Whatever Madrid is doing to expand its rail network so quickly must be implemented everywhere else immediately. Madrid expanded its entire network for the same price as single line expansions in other cities. There’s no time to wait or pass the task onto the next generation—this has to be done now.
At a time when Amtrak ridership is surging we need to be boldly investing in increased service and EXPANDING ROUTES. It is so critical that we do this at the current juncture.
December 6, 2024 at 10:27 PM
At a time when Amtrak ridership is surging we need to be boldly investing in increased service and EXPANDING ROUTES. It is so critical that we do this at the current juncture.
City of Yes unfortunately does not go nearly far enough to address the housing crisis. 80,000 new housing units over 15 YEARS is not even close to what is truly needed—at least 100,000 new units per year.
Major pro-housing, “City of Yes” zoning changes in NYC.
NYC approves its set of major land-use changes:
—No parking requirements in many areas (pink areas); reduced in yellow areas
—20% density bonus for affordable units
—ADUs in many parts of city
—Increased infill densities
—$5 b for infrastructure & affordable housing
citylimits.org/2024/12/05/w...
—No parking requirements in many areas (pink areas); reduced in yellow areas
—20% density bonus for affordable units
—ADUs in many parts of city
—Increased infill densities
—$5 b for infrastructure & affordable housing
citylimits.org/2024/12/05/w...
December 5, 2024 at 10:08 PM
City of Yes unfortunately does not go nearly far enough to address the housing crisis. 80,000 new housing units over 15 YEARS is not even close to what is truly needed—at least 100,000 new units per year.
We need to streamline the planning/building of transit projects to the point they can be delivered within one governor’s 4 to 8 year term.
December 4, 2024 at 11:19 PM
We need to streamline the planning/building of transit projects to the point they can be delivered within one governor’s 4 to 8 year term.
Reposted
NYC mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie proposes building 70,000 units per year & 700,000 units over a decade, a bit less than the city built in the 1920s—and a bit more than the city built in the 50 years between 1970 & 2020.
In 2023, NYC permitted 32,000 units.
In 2023, NYC permitted 32,000 units.
December 3, 2024 at 2:01 PM
NYC mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie proposes building 70,000 units per year & 700,000 units over a decade, a bit less than the city built in the 1920s—and a bit more than the city built in the 50 years between 1970 & 2020.
In 2023, NYC permitted 32,000 units.
In 2023, NYC permitted 32,000 units.
A new subway in Thessaloniki (Greece’s second largest city) has opened!
Also it’s been said time and again but it is WAY too expensive to build basic transit infrastructure in the U.S.
Also it’s been said time and again but it is WAY too expensive to build basic transit infrastructure in the U.S.
Thessaloniki is very close to opening its brand new metro/subway system, 20 miles for $2.5b, $125m/mi.
Driverless with up to 40 trains per hour, platform screen doors.
The Red Line Extension in Chicago, which is entirely above ground, is expected to cost $3.6b for 5 miles.
Driverless with up to 40 trains per hour, platform screen doors.
The Red Line Extension in Chicago, which is entirely above ground, is expected to cost $3.6b for 5 miles.
December 3, 2024 at 1:38 PM
A new subway in Thessaloniki (Greece’s second largest city) has opened!
Also it’s been said time and again but it is WAY too expensive to build basic transit infrastructure in the U.S.
Also it’s been said time and again but it is WAY too expensive to build basic transit infrastructure in the U.S.
Legitimate question—why can’t we build this sort of rail on every highway either in the median or periphery? The right-of-ways exist. There never seems to be a proper reason why this cannot be done.
For no reason at all, here's 30 minutes of JFK AirTrain and Van Wyck traffic in 17.3 seconds
December 1, 2024 at 4:45 PM
Legitimate question—why can’t we build this sort of rail on every highway either in the median or periphery? The right-of-ways exist. There never seems to be a proper reason why this cannot be done.
This parking minimum map makes it extremely clear that New York should’ve been seriously expanding rail transit over the last several decades—would have made it much easier for the areas in blue to realize parking minimums aren’t at all necessary.
City of Yes passed the council committees today. Here's a map showing parts of NYC where parking mandates will be eliminated (red), "significantly" reduced (yellow), & preserved (blue). And here's a Council graphic showing how parking mandates won't apply to some housing types most affected by them.
November 30, 2024 at 4:16 PM
This parking minimum map makes it extremely clear that New York should’ve been seriously expanding rail transit over the last several decades—would have made it much easier for the areas in blue to realize parking minimums aren’t at all necessary.
Today YIMBY stands for Yes In My BellY
November 28, 2024 at 2:17 PM
Today YIMBY stands for Yes In My BellY
This and a 4 day weekend
November 27, 2024 at 4:27 PM
This and a 4 day weekend
Not saying this hello kitty bullet train is a need (would be nice) but at least ONE high speed rail train please!
November 27, 2024 at 2:55 PM
Not saying this hello kitty bullet train is a need (would be nice) but at least ONE high speed rail train please!
Baffling that there is still no high speed rail between Albany and NYC. Albany should have HSR routes to NYC, Boston, Buffalo, and Montreal at the very least
Amtrak services between Albany and New York City will be restored next week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday. www.dailygazette.com/news/amtrak-...
Full Amtrak service between Albany and NYC to be restored
Amtrak services between Albany and New York City will be restored next week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday.
www.dailygazette.com
November 26, 2024 at 2:36 PM
Baffling that there is still no high speed rail between Albany and NYC. Albany should have HSR routes to NYC, Boston, Buffalo, and Montreal at the very least
There is zero justification for mandatory parking minimums anywhere in NYC
In 2016, NYC waived parking mandates for affordable and senior housing near transit. RPA found that it resulted in a 36% annual increase in housing units created.
Here are the changes that got City of Yes approved
The City Council’s zoning and land use panels voted in favor of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity after diluting the plan.
therealdeal.com
November 26, 2024 at 1:21 AM
There is zero justification for mandatory parking minimums anywhere in NYC