We've been waiting for a significant service disruption to happen on a shared segment of the 1 and 2 line with a real shortage of crossovers. And here it is.

The US Spends More Time and Money Building Transit Than Most Countries. Inefficient Community Engagement May Help Explain Why. Public participation remains essential, and policymakers can take steps to ensure engagement processes reflect the entire community’s needs without increasin…

Transit construction costs in the US keep rising, and projects keep taking longer and longer to build.

One possible explanation? Ineffective, inefficient community engagement processes, we argue @urbaninstitute.bsky.social ⏬

I actually just got done touring this...it's really nice.

But historical grit aside, are there any precedents for a pro-transit tax revolt?

Sound Transit car-tab tax can stay, high court rules Sound Transit may continue to collect its car-tab taxes despite the passage of tax-cutting Initiative 776, the state Supreme Court ruled this morning.

There's no federal test ahead. Sound Transit knocked down I-776 through Washington state courts in 2006, which maintains the full tax base 1999-2028. After that, drivers will see a 3/11ths lowering of car tab tax. State courts later tossed tax cut I-976. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

In a sense, Ballardites have been paying 27 years not just 10 years. To pile on, you might also add 3 years for the unbuilt monorail.

Only half of Charlotte light rail passengers pay. The transit agency will spend millions restoring fare enforcement. www.transittalent.com/articles/ind...

Portland celebrates the return of downtown’s elk statue landmark The city removed the 120-year-old statue in 2020, after protesters started fires that damaged its base.

The city removed the 120-year-old statue in 2020, after protesters started fires that damaged its base.

"Brace for occasional one-road weekend car bans"

Hall of fame FT correction

Interesting stuff. Are there any published staff reports about this audit?

A starfield filled with thousands of stars and shining clouds of dust. The Milky Way\u2019s elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Spanning more than 100,000 light-years, Earth is located along one of the galaxy\u2019s spiral arms, about halfway from the center. Credit: NASA

OH. MY. GOD.

THIS IS THE MILKY WAY SHOT BY THE ARTEMIS II CREW. LOOK AT ALL THOSE STARS!!!!

Correction: I should have said the problem affected three stops. A fourth center-street stop was okay.

19 months and $650,000 later, steel plates plucked from popular Seattle bus route Construction flaws at three bus stops on King County Metro's RapidRide G Line were fixed recently by the city.

A smart follow-up story by @nickdeshais.bsky.social: Seattle's useful G Line, which carries 6,600 daily passengers between downtown and busy First Hill, lost $650k to fix a 1-inch mismatch between pavement levels and four bus stops. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Vancouver: The Grid Thickens — Human Transit Vancouver, Canada is a great transit city not just because it pioneered driverless rapid transit, or because of its commitment (somewhat enforced by geography) to a dense and walkable urban form.  It’...

Vancouver, Canada: The public transit grid is thickening! humantransit.org/2026/04/vanc...

“It stings because we failed the streetcar as much as the streetcar failed us. DC was simply not ready to do this… the DC Streetcar… taught us that if we want strong transit, we must care enough to actually make transit strong. We are still here, dreaming.”

Pretty much.

For sure - on opening day I sat next to people who scooted across the aisle at Mercer Island Station, when seats opened up on the Mt. Rainier side of the train.

Highland Park Bikelash Presents Early Test for Katie Wilson's SDOT A safety project along a busy four-lane road in West Seattle would be a catalyst project for neighborhood accessibility. But it's run into significant push back from residents wary of losing a lane of...

Highland Park Bikelash Presents Early Test for Katie Wilson's SDOT www.theurbanist.org/highland-par...

If I'm going to spend four to six hours with your thoughts, it's never a bad idea to spend $20 on a paperback rather than fry the eyeballs or mold my schedule around when my e-device has enough battery power.

“Sakura” in Japan.
Cherry blossoms symbolize the fleeting nature of life, mortality, renewal, and spring in Japanese culture. ☺️

TT: ThaoThao
Yodo station, Kyoto

You could bike 40 mph down Highland Park, but sooner or later you're going to be wounded.

How Canada Is Beating the US in the Public Transportation Race From Montreal’s REM to Kitchener-Waterloo’s Ion, Canadian cities are delivering faster, cheaper, and more effective transit—revealing what happens when planning, funding, and politics align.

US public transit advocates: don't just envy Europe. Start by envying Canada.

www.mironline.ca/how-canada-i...

Sound Transit's board and CEO Dow Constantine have drafted new performance goals that place a welcome emphasis on 2026 reliability gains, an angle often short-shrifted in past CEO goals. From this week's motion:

You're ahead of me on this issue, but didn't the county already predict that they would postpone full electrification, to keep their $$ options open for full service?

The cleaning regimen is pretty good....but also, Sound Transit has a history of extra scrubbing right before a big day, such as this Saturday's grand opening of the unique cross-Lake Washington line that's been featured in campaigns since 1970.

Toronto has the slowest streetcars in the world. Here’s a sensible short-term plan to speed them up.

fast-track.to/wp-content/u...

There's no need to cut existing service, and little pressure to ponder it until late 2030s. They're sitting on $8b in assets, accumulating for whenever leadership decides which future projects go forward, what's trimmed, and whether federal government, new bond debt, etc. can produce more cash.

ST3 cannot be delivered on time, so Sound Transit is considering light rail cuts Sound Transit will celebrate opening a light rail connection across Lake Washington later this month, but behind the excitement, the agency faces a brutal financial future. Sound Transit can't deliver...

www.kuow.org/stories/st3-...

San Francisco schools, leaders reel from Cesar Chavez sexual abuse allegations The late labor leader was accused by multiple women of abusing them when they were children. Longtime ally Dolores Huerta said she was raped.

Name streets after animals and plants and landscapes.

Or take a tip from Bogotá and Salt Lake: just give all the streets sequential numbers so people will always know where they are.

Sooner or later, most human heroes will disappoint you.

sfstandard.com/2026/03/18/c...