Hayden Clarkin (The Transit Guy)
Transportation engineer and transit advocate producing accessible commentary on rail/bus networks, street design, and walkability.
Midnight Train Lyric Lies: Georgia Has Few Amtrak Trips
“She took the midnight train going anywhere” was an obvious lie Amtrak has a few train trips daily leaving Georgia.
High‑Capacity Transit Delivers Multigenerational Urban Growth
In 15 years, Brooklyn’s Fourth Ave added thousands of homes over a 110-year-old subway line without adding new streets. At what point are we going to realize that building high capacity transit in every city in this country pays off...
Austin's Booming Growth Outpaces Its Single‑track Rail
A freight derailment in Austin highlights the fact that one of the country’s fastest-growing cities, with nearly one million people, sees only two trains a day and is single-tracked. Totally normal country.
Tulsa vs Edinburgh: Cities Show Different Urban Planning Paths
The urban cores of Tulsa and Edinburgh, two cities of equal-ish population. Notice how one isn't full of highway interchanges and parking lots? I was told there was no other way...
Amtrak’s New Routes Thrive—Expand Them Further
Sort of funny that every time that Amtrak operates new rail service, it’s actually very successful? Maybe we should do a lot more of it.
Looking for the Best Food and Fun in Madrid
I’m going to Madrid next week for a Transit Guy surprise. Where should I eat and/or do?
Hypocrisy: Bike Lanes Condemned, Mining Praised in Boundary Waters
So bike lanes and windmills are a “blight”, but mining the Boundary Waters is great?
Amtrak Skips Secaucus, Missing World Cup Revenue
Why is Amtrak not stopping at Secaucus for the World Cup? Seems like a missed revenue and congestion relief opportunity.
Europe’s 36 Daily Madrid‑Barcelona Trains Prove HSR Viable
Going to Madrid next week, there are 36 daily round-trip trains to Barcelona: 3 hours, ~$60. Then you look at Toronto–Montreal and LA–SF with four combined daily trips and wonder why we still debate the need for high-speed rail?
Amtrak Unveils Ambitious 800‑car Long‑distance Fleet Plan
Amtrak released a vision for their new long-distance fleet as they drop an RFP for 800 more cars, and let me tell you, this is exactly how I want to celebrate Tax Day.
Milan's Bike Network Costs a Fraction of a US Highway Interchange
At a cost of $285 million, Milan is building 466 miles of a citywide, grade-separated bike network, representing just 35% of the cost of a single highway interchange in Chicago.
Flat Earthers Hunt Earth's Edge for $50K
Tv idea: it’s like amazing race but we give flat earthers $50k a piece and ask them to find the edge of the earth.
Big Interchanges Belong in Urban Cores, Not Crazy
Don’t ever feel crazy for thinking an interchange like this in a US major city’s urban core is crazy. (Louisville, Smarkreily)
From Near Approval to NIMBY Laughs: Embarcadero Rebuild Unthinkable
NIMBYism is so funny because knocking down the double-decker Embarcadero freeway post-earthquake barely passed in 1991, and yet proposing to rebuild it today would be unheard of and laughable.
Federal Highway Spending Outpaces Gas Tax Revenue by $20B
Last year, the feds spent $20B more on highways than gas taxes/fees actually brought in. Only two states fully fund their roads with user fees, the rest are subsidized. Can’t wait to have the conversation about highway/road spending at some...
Propose Shared Car‑Rail Tunnel Linking Long Island, Connecticut
My most pro-car opinion is that there absolutely should be a shared car/rail tunnel under the Long Island Sound to connect Long Island and Connecticut. Connects LIRR/MNR strategically as well as where car traffic gets bad headed into the city. Am...
Iowa’s $257B Economy Gets Fewer Trains than Swiss Summit Daily
Iowa, an economy with a $257 billion GDP, sees fewer trains in a week than this mountaintop station 6,700 feet above sea level in Switzerland does in a day.
Baltimore Light Rail Land Could Fund Operations 4.5×
A new MTA report showed that there are 839 acres of development potential around Baltimore's Light Rail Line route (8x the size of Disneyland). If those were all developed, it would bring in $260 million in tax revenue, which would...
Cincinnati's Train Station Idle While Stadiums Get Millions
Cincinnati’s Insanely beautiful train station had the capacity to see 216 trains daily, and only sees six now per week. Six. Ohio’s whole budget has a few million for rail, and hundreds of millions for the Cleveland Browns stadium.
Providence Station Renovation Boosts Capacity and Aesthetics
The renovation of the Providence train station looks so good and will greatly expand capacity.
Zoning Rules Flood US Cities, Stifling Unique Design
Nearly every US city and town has hundreds of pages of zoning codes and regulation to make sure no place today ever looks like this.
Transit Projects Overengineered: No Need for Academic Justifications
We have never built a bridge as a response to people swimming across a river. Why the justification for better transit needs a master thesis for every project is beyond me.
East River Tunnel Revamp Shows U.S. Still Builds Wonders
I had the privilege of touring the newly rehabilitated East River Tunnel 1, which took 13 months, on time and on budget, to go from a 115-year-old tunnel to one that’s state of the art. Our country still has the...
Texas: The Obvious Choice for Bullet Train Routes
The award for the most obvious bullet train routes goes to… Texas. (Todd R Jones)
America Excels yet Stalls on Rail, Nuclear, Green Energy
There’s no reality in which this country can do incredible things like this and then fail to build high speed rail, nuclear power and green energy.
Houston's "New Housing" Is Actually Highway Demolition
In downtown Houston, an empty lot next to a light rail station becomes 375 housing units... April Fools! TxDOT actually knocked these apartments down to widen a highway. The top image is the after.
Interim California HSR Slows LA Link to Two Hours
California HSR just released an interim plan to connect Los Angeles once the SF-to-Central Valley alignment is finished, rather than waiting to complete 28 miles of tunnels. The catch? The interim connection takes nearly 2 hours via existing Metrolink tracks,...
Akron to Replace Unused Freeway with 4,500 Homes
Akron just released its plan to demolish its hardly used inter freeway belt to make room for 4,500 homes and re-stitch the street grid. Please please please make this happen.
Madison‑Milwaukee Rail Link: Hiawatha West Essential
Connecting Madison and Milwaukee via rail is painfully obvious. The Hiawatha West service is a must, and I am glad Amtrak is working to get it across the line over the next few years. Thoughts?
Nashville's Rail Falls Short of Stuttgart's Benchmark
Metro Nashville and Stuttgart, Germany are nearly the same size. Stuttgart’s central station runs 560 train departures a day. Nashville runs 4. Stuttgart sees 180 trains for every train Nashville sees. We don’t need to be Stuttgart, but we do...
Walkable City Saved Me $9,600 versus Car
In 2025, I spent $1,962 on public transit, Citi Bike, and rideshare. With AAA estimating the annual cost of car ownership at $11,577, that means I saved $9,615 by living in a walkable city with great transit. Car dependency is...
Barcelona Shows Public Housing Can Be Beautifully Designed
If Barcelona can build public housing as beautiful as this, so can we. MBM Arquitectes and 4RQ Arquitectura
Insurance Error Leads to $622 Bill Despite Appeal
My health insurance accidentally coded my annual physical incorrectly, and now I have a $622 bill, and they have rejected my appeal even though they know it's in error. What a wonderful healthcare system we have 😚
Residents Oppose New Homes Near Tube, Question Double Standards
A community outside of London, served by the Tube with a train every 7 minutes, opposing 150 more homes directly next to the station begs the question: would they have supported their home being built under the same logic? (Duncan...
Anne Hidalgo's 12-Year Paris Transformation Sets Urban Standard
Let’s take a moment to appreciate what Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris actually did: she spent 12 years reshaping one of the world’s most iconic cities from the ground up, 600 miles of bike lanes, hundreds of car-free streets, and...
Providence Shines After Capped Corridor, River Relocation
Objectively, my hometown of Providence looks far better with the Northeast Corridor capped, the moving of the river and it not being a giant parking lot.
Office Parks Waste Land: 1.8 Sq Mi per 850k Sq Ft
Beyond being soulless, sprawling office parks are a land efficiency disaster. Only 47% of this site is actually developed, meaning you need 1.8 sq miles of land for every 850k sq ft of usable space.
Baltimore's Light Rail Replaced by Bus After 25‑Year Delay
After 25 years of planning, Baltimore will most likely get a bus instead of a light rail line that was already approved and shovel ready in 2015 because Governor Hogan cancelled the project to shift money to road projects. This...
Lindau’s Trains Outpace All of Texas Combined
The island of Lindau, Germany (pop. 3,000), sees 115 train departures per day. The entire state of Texas and all of its cities combined, by comparison, sees 56 daily Amtrak departures.
High‑speed Rail Would Slash NYC‑Toronto Travel by Nine Hours
High speed rail can connect NYC and Toronto in 3 hours and 20 minutes, which would be 9 hours faster than it currently takes by train today.
Downtown Brooklyn Office Converts to 1,200 Homes, 300 Affordable
An underutilized office building in Downtown Brooklyn will become 1200 homes (300 permanently affordable), with a new subway entrance. More of this, please.
More Lanes Won’t Solve Traffic, Size Matters
Tokyo has a metro area of 40 million people with four lane freeways, and Austin has a metro area of 2.5 million and is widening the highway downtown to 20 lanes. But sure, one more lane will fix it.
Minnesota DOT Rejects Bold Boulevard, Transit Solution
Minnesota’s DOT has the ability to fill in a sunken highway through the Twin Cities with a large boulevard and transit, yet to them it’s a nonstarter. When does this country start thinking big?
Choosing Between Apocalypse and High‑Speed Rail Is Nonsense
Spend our tax dollars to "trigger the end times" or build high speed rail. Truly, an impossible choice.
Draft CA HSR Plan Slashes $105B Cost via Existing Rail
CA HSR just released its draft business plan, which proposes using existing rail, removing 26 miles of tunneling in exchange for upgrading and electrifying existing Metrolink infrastructure. The new plan would save $105 billion, compared to the current full-build estimate...
Subway Beats Lyft: $3, Faster, Better Value
Lyft - $47 NYC Subway - $3 and gets there one minute faster Thank god for pickup transit
Mayor Secures Trump Funding for 12,000 Rail Yard Homes
It’s now confirmed that Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke with Donald Trump about securing federal funding to build 12,000 homes on the Sunnyside Rail Yard, which is owned by Amtrak. The project feels like a no-brainer, but it’s never penciled out...
Oxford Street Goes Car-Free, Boosting Business and Pedestrians
The mayor of London just approved the pedestrianization of 3,000 feet of Oxford Street. Making very busy commercial corridors in urban cores car-free is actually a great policy for business and for pedestrians.
Hong Kong Disneyland’s Rail Moves 40,000 Guests Daily
Disney World and Disneyland are connected by a handful of bus routes, while Hong Kong Disneyland is connected by the Disneyland Resort Line, a 2.4-mile rail line that connects guests from the park entrance to the rest of the rail...
Streets Cleared to Asphalt Within 30 Minutes
30 mins post snowfall and some streets are already at asphalt. Mayor Mamdani I wasn’t familiar with your game.