WE WANT TRAINS! The public is sending a message: Amtrak is setting ridership records, carrying 34.5 million passengers in fiscal year 2024-25, while ticket revenue is $2.764 billion.

Trains

Amtrak sets ridership record in 2025 as capacity constraints continue: Analysis - Trains

WASHINGTON — Amtrak ridership grew 5% in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2025, and revenue surged 11%, as robust Northeast Regional gains of...

Nice detail in #Montréal’s Edouard-Montpetit REM station: natural rock walls. The platforms are 73 metres below the street—height of a 20 storey building. The rock is gabbro, a very hard igneous rock. 100,000 kg of explosives were used to build the station.

I love that new #transit smell! Getting a press tour of #Montréal’s new REM line this morning. Starting at Edouard-Montpetit station. A clean, light, modern édicule (entry kiosk). And there’s parking for my bicycle… 🧵

Meanwhile, in #Egypt: New high-speed trains unveiled. Will run on 3 lines, with top speeds of 250 km/h (155 mph). Morocco already has a high-speed network; Nigeria is building one. (To Be Filed Under: We Can't Have Nice Things Here...Because Why?) https://www.cnn.com/travel/egypt-high-speed-rail-siemens-velaro-desiro-trains-spc

NEW STUDY: Why's the birthrate so damn low? It's because the rent is too damn high! Bombshell U. of #Toronto study identifies rising housing costs as the the primary driver of falling fertility rates. https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/housing-costs-fertility-rate-falling-study/

Here's a public transit model a lot more cities need to know about. It's the #Karlsruhe Stadtbahn. It runs tram-trains, in this metro region of 300,000 in #Germany Outside town, they run as standard commuter trains. Inside town, they operate as trams (streetcars)—no need to change mode. 🧵

Sure, it starts with Mamdani making buses free. Mark my words: pretty soon, all our buses will be driven by pigeons. #socialism

Along with fellow author J.B. Mackinnon, I've put my name on a class action suit against Anthropic and other A.I. companies. We believe they used our books, and those of 1000s of other authors, to train their LLMs, without permission or payment. Mackinnon gives the whole story in @npub1jv64...3guf : https://macleans.ca/longforms/big-tech-v-me/

The default speed limit in urban areas in #Ireland will be lowered to 30 km/h (19 mph) on March 31, 2027.

TheJournal.ie

Local authorities to implement 30km/h speed limits in urban areas ‘where appropriate’ from 2027

Speed limits on roads in built-up and urban areas can only be changed where a majority of the elected members in a local authority vote to do so.