"A passionately argued and important book." —The Guardian
My book #Straphanger, in which I travel world looking at best (+ worst) in transportation + urbanism, is now available as an e-book—at a nice price.
(New: I'm the rights holder! Buying here directly helps the author—me...)
shorturl.at/oJpZu
"...anomie, one whose ultimate goal is the mall and the
gated community. If you really want to be free in this world, I have come to believe, then whatever you do, don’t buy a car."
That's how I started my book #Straphanger. Nothing I've experienced in the last 15 years has made me change my mind.
Be still my beating heart!
Zohran Mamdani has made every railfan in the world swoon—he's going to be sworn in at the Old City Hall station on New Year's Eve.
I got a private tour when I was researching my book #Straphanger. It's spectacular...
🧵
I got a private tour of the Old City Hall station, opened in 1904, when I was writing #Straphanger. It's amazing.
More here:
www.highspeed.blog/how-the-subw...
Be still my beating heart!
Zohran Mamdani just made every railfan, trainspotter, and #straphanger in the world swoon.
Next he's going to tell us he's re-building the Beach Pneumatic Transit line.
Cover of Straphanger, with the letters written out like a metro map.
I finally got around to reading #Straphanger by Taras Grescoe (@straphanger) and I'm almost mad at myself for taking so long to start it. Beautifully written, with a real love for cities and the human interactions they foment, this is the book I would recommend […]
[Original post on mastodon.xyz]
Meanwhile we are about to finish our first book draft on Shinjuku Station by the end of the year! A non-linear, topological text on the world’s biggest transit hub. Your Shinjuku Station scene featuring Kiyoshi Sakamoto in #Straphanger is legendary!
...though I sure am happy that NYC has a #straphanger mayor, not one that rolls around in a white Bronco.
...though I sure am happy that NYC has a #straphanger mayor, not one that rolls around in a white Bronco.
I'm likin' the vibe in Gotham!
Zohran Mamdani, #Straphanger Mayor of #NYC.
The latest @newyorker.com cover by Edel Rodriguez.
www.newyorker.com/culture/cove...
More "Ghost Station" #Halloween! 🦇🚇
Researching #Straphanger got me access to the abandoned Saint-Martin métro station below the streets of #Paris.
Happy Halloween, lovers of trains (underground + over)! 🎃🚇
Here are some of the world's "ghost stations," abandoned, or never-opened, subway/train platforms.
I got a tour of the Old City Hall Station in #NYC while writing #Straphanger
You can still view it...if you know what train to get on...
🧵
"Sometimes, a shop owner claims his business was ruined because the city removed 4 parking spaces. With surveys, our mayor can say: ‘6,000 more people pass your shop a day thanks to a new bike lane. Are you sure you’re a good businessman?’”
— Jan Gehl of #Copenhagen, quoted in #Straphanger.
Zuck has turned into (probably always was) a disgusting, cowardly pissant, only interested in his nerdiness and technology for technology's sake, with no real, deep, nuanced understanding of the ramifications of his or his companies' actions. He's also a #bootlicker, #straphanger, and a #sycophant.
A color photograph taken in the NYC Subway during a typical evening rush hour. From inside a subway car as it arrives at a station just before the doors open. The eyes of the passengers on the platform are wide-eyed in anticipation of making onto an already crowded subway car. That anticipation is very palpable.
Daily Random #485
An evening rush hour
Fulton Transit Center/Lower Manhattan NYC, 2017
#Straphanger #Commuting #Photography
Photo essays & slideshows
photokenarts.substack.com
Zohran Kwame Mamdani is a #straphanger. (Check out the opening of his latest vid.)
A #straphanger in the Rocky Mountains!
I’m getting around #Banff by bus and bicycle. Roam Transit offers an excellent service, with rides to hot springs and gondolas for just one toonie…
Join me for a #straphanger 's tour of bygone streetcars, locomotives, and sleeper cars.
Here's a bird's-eye view of the largest rail museum...
🚋🧵
Join me for a #straphanger 's tour of bygone streetcars, locomotives, and sleeper cars.
Here's a walk-through of #Montreal Park and Island Railway No 1046, built in 1900...
🚋🧵
From the Q train, Manhattan to Brooklyn, view of the river south. On our bridge is seen a pedestrian crossing by foot, going the other way back towards Manhattan. In the distance is another bridge. View is through two subway doors.
View from subway car crossing the bridge to Brooklyn from Manhattan. Another bridge is seen, through the window of the subway car door.
Subway car view of that carousel in Brooklyn that’s wrapped in glass.
Oh, the places you can go! The things you can see as a pretend tourist, for the three dollar subway ride!
#NYC #MTA #subway #fare #straphanger #bridge #tourist #view #Brooklyn #carousel #Manhattan #Brighton #beach #Coney #island #NewYorkCity #parks #sunny #breezy #kite #flying #boardwalk #ride
In addition to being a #straphanger, Pope Francis was a #railfan.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he was the son of a railway worker in #Argentina.
"In 2015, one of #Italy’s railway unions made him a member – an honour he quietly renewed each year."
#trains #railsky
www.railtech.com/all/2025/04/...
Pope Francis, the most decent, and truly compassionate, pontiff of my lifetime, was a #straphanger.
Here he is, riding transit, when he was Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, on Line A of the Buenos Aires métro.
That's from William Fulton, in his urbanist classic The Reluctant Metropolis. I got to meet him in LA when I was researching #Straphanger.
Here's Bill's heartfelt tribute to another city-thinker, his friend Donald Shoup:
www.cp-dr.com/articles/don...
E-scooters are convenient and fun, but the bus is still more relaxing, accessible, and much less expensive. #StrapHanger
…and one of the stations is designed by starchitect Zaha Hadid, this is one for the #straphanger bucket list.
I've decided to renew my subscription to the hosting platform for my newsletter for the coming year. I've re-named it High Speed, to reflect a new focus on passenger rail around the world. (I'll continue to post about transit, bikes, and "car brain" under the #Straphanger tag.)
I've been wrestling with my conscience over the last few days.
Last year, I left Substack. The site publishes dozens of Nazis + supremacist newsletters.
I moved my #Straphanger newsletter to a new platform.
I also left Twitter/X, because of its far-right turn, + came here.
The problem is...
🧵
I found out before Christmas that the Train de Charlevoix has made its last excursion.
You can read more in my latest #Straphanger dispatch:
www.straphanger.blog/a-ride-on-th...
I write about the history of congestion-relief pricing, which began in Europe, in this #Straphanger dispatch:
www.straphanger.blog/getting-into...
