I ❤️ HK. Just got back from a trip there, Macau, Guangzhou & Xiamen. Retail is like 100x the US.

Blocked. I ❤️ Hong Kong

Just returning from a trip to Asia - downtown sidewalks are so packed you can barely walk down the streets.

View of Hong Kong (Tsuen Wan) from hotel window.

View of Hong Kong (Tsuen Wan) from hotel window.

View of Hong Kong (Tsuen Wan) from hotel window.

I am now Hong Konging. Ask me anything.

In case anyone takes this too seriously, it is a subtweet of the actual obvious next cross-link connection:

Puttin' some tracks on the 520 bridge.

With a Wilderness Peak mountaintop elevation of 1,590' the Cougar Mountain station could be the world's deepest subway station, plus save hikers the uphill climbing.

Map of the proposed Seattle Sound Transit 5 Light Rail route: Fauntleroy to South Mercer Island to Cougar Mountain.

Now that @sound-transit.bsky.social has proven it can run light rail over floating bridges, we can turn our attention to the next obvious cross-lake connection. I present the 5 Line: Fauntleroy to Cougar Mountain via South Mercer Island.

Photo of the area Bike Map at the Judkins Park Link light rail station in Seattle.

I love how this area Bike Map at the Judkins Park light rail station doens't show I-5 and to a casual look I-90 is a bike trail. #MaptheWorldYouWant

This is exactly why the Tacoma Dome extension extended from 2030 to 2035.

Or better yet, bring back the Tiny House Village here. @mayorofseattle.bsky.social

Seattle Link elevated rail station (Kent-Des Moines on the 1 Line), parallel to Pacific Hwy. S. and bridging over a side street.

What works for elevated in Vancouver and Seattle is running alongside or parallel to a suburban arterial. This doesn't work in urban settings with continuous buildings up to the street.

Doesn't fit in Metro bus bike racks?

The tradeoff with the Junction Station is that ever extending the line south will be more difficult, including bulldozing a row of midrise apartments along 41st. But lots of money can be saved initially.

This would be very difficult to implement. Rainier Valley has a incomplete street grid so there are lots of dead-end streets and driveways accessible only from one side of MLK.

Saw the piece about late-night Yemeni coffe shops:

The other chain Qamaria opened a shop near Marymoor Village link open til 11pm.

Yes! I gave up on going into the office Wednesdays because of this am peak garbage truck delay.

Our Man for Tehran The U.S.- and Israel-backed campaign positioning Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah, for regime change in Iran.

www.bostonreview.net/articles/our...

This is Lincoln Park and C Line erasure.

This post about Los Angeles doesn't bode well for Sound Transit Stride BRT Line S3, which last I heard, planned to use BYD electric bendy-buses on SR 522 from Shoreline to Bothell.

Is King County Metro going to have trouble with Open Payments next week?

Seattle Link light rail station arrival screen, showing a 2 Line in 1 minute and a 1 Line in 5 minutes.

I love to see it, 4 minute combined service!

But this Siemens northbound 2 Line has all the onboard screens stuck at "ID/Chinatown" despite being at Capitol Hill.

FTA National Transit Database data for all of 2025 has been released. Here are the top ridership urban areas, including all agencies and modes: Some are strongly up year-to-year (NY, DC, Seattle), some are sadly down (LA, Baltimore, Minneapolis).

And by in a few weeks, I mean today. FTA has released the 2025 full year data!

Wow, my Bluesky post featured on a City Nerd video! 🎉
All this data is based on 2024 data, but the FTA will release full year 2025 data any week now. I will update my rankings - some cities have continued to recover post-Covid, while others have stagnated.

North America's Best Transit Cities: A Countdown YouTube video by Ray Delahanty | CityNerd

Wow, my Bluesky post featured on a City Nerd video! 🎉
All this data is based on 2024 data, but the FTA will release full year 2025 data any week now. I will update my rankings - some cities have continued to recover post-Covid, while others have stagnated.

youtu.be/17upoRCn01s?...

Any idea how many Gilligs are going into revenue service next week?

This is the same day as the @sound-transit.bsky.social Crosslake Line 2 opening. Make sure any march doesn't interfere with bus routes, as 100,000s could be using transit to access the Link opening.

Secretary Noem, your administration now openly authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter people's homes without a judicial warrant.

That is blatantly unconstitutional – ICE cannot authorize itself to break into people’s homes.

If ICE attempts such unconstitutional measures in Washington...

Image of a postcard for the King Conservation District Board of Supervisor Election, with QR code.

In happier news today, I just voted online in a completely secure and official election for King County Conservation District.

If you live in Seattle, you can too!

The 3 FWLE stations together had about 5,000 average weekday boardings, so responsible for an increased 1 Line ridership of approximately 10,000/day. Not too bad for a partial first month in winter.