Last month, an SF Superior Court judge ruled that this 7-unit project at 1736 Filbert St. in the Marina District must be approved. The ruling overturned the city's determination that the project was not eligible for the State Density Bonus. No word yet on the timing of groundbreaking.

Jake is right. I also wrote about this in my book, more from the political angle. I argue that the streetcar conspiracy was actually a convenient scapegoat for those who wanted to minimize government's role in transit's failure, and the racism of whites who abandoned integrated systems.

Philadelphia Watch Case Company Building, Riverside, NJ

Progressive LA Mayoral Candidate Nithya Raman told Vanity Fair that her main difference with DSA is on housing. www.vanityfair.com/story/nithya...

The other option, expropriating a private club, is more righteous. But it would also be expensive and hard. This option would have to be tied to a larger urban renewal type of scheme that builds a lot of housing on this transit oriented golf course, in addition to the railyard.

The golf course idea makes me nervous. At Lincoln Park, a public park, the yard would need to be done with a green roof that ensures no net loss in recreational area. That sounds expensive and hard. It also commits the project to traveling far west down Geary, rather than south down 19th.

I think the Presidio yard location would be optimal. This would allow a shorter, initial line serving the city's densest neighborhoods, and defer tough decisions about the southern/western alignment. But here, time is of the essence, since the facility is slated for reconstruction soon.

The report also considers railyard locations, another important and difficult consideration for new transit projects. It recommends siting the yard on golf course land or making use of the existing Presidio bus yard.

For reference, these are the downtown alignments SF planners have teased. You can see the connection to a second transbay tube and the wider stop spacing.

I tend to like this one. It's the straightest and simplest. Yes, the Market Street transfer at Powell isn't amazing. But there could potentially be a better transfer via a new underground passage connecting this line, Transbay and Embarcadero stations.

Another big consideration will be the line's downtown alignment. This report considers several options, all of which come with tradeoffs. Where to cross Market Street? Transfers to BART, the Central Subway, and the Transbay Terminal?

One of the main reasons for a city-only subway is that it would make possible automated metro trains, which can run more frequently and be built with smaller, cheaper stations. They also create the possibility for more stations spaced closer together.

Unfortunately, this document does not describe the benefits from the Dekalb Interlocking project. That should also make service on the B/D/N/Q/R lines faster and potentially more frequent, but the MTA hasn't published those projections.

The MTA's Nostrand Junction improvements are expected to reduce travel times on this section of the 2/3 and 4/5 by 45-60 seconds and improve reliability for all of the lines' 1.2 million riders. future.mta.info/documents/el...

There's some truth here: Transit projects cost too much and the urban transportation market is getting more competitive. Withholding transit grant money, as the Trump admin is doing, addresses neither of those things, of course. But what would help? t.co/cZmiMFc6yf

Just attach JP Morgan's private railcar to the end of the Amtrak. Much nicer than a helicopter. uncommonmotors.com/jp-morgans-p...

The SF Planning Commission approved this project yesterday. Here's what the city's planning director had to say about it:

Look at Toronto's bikeshare ridership growth and expansion plans. Clearly there's huge demand.

Interesting data from @micromobilityco.bsky.social's recent bikeshare webinar. 44% of all commute hour Lyft rides in NYC happen on Citibike In DC, it's 24%, and in Boston and Chicago, it's 20%. Bikeshare is now a serious mode of transportation in major cities.

Frequency would be designed to match BART's Dublin/ Pleasanton line: Every 15 minutes on weekdays and between 30 to 40 minutes on weekends. However, operating hours look like they'd be shorter, with service ending at 8:30 pm on weekdays and 8 on weekends.

What the heck is going on with Valley Link, the BART connector line in the far East Bay? Here's some info from the June project meeting. The project has steadily shrunk. The initial segment will terminate in Livermore, without providing service over the Altamont Pass.

Wild chart from the FRA's Penn Station report. Penn's dwell times are an extreme outlier compared to other big city stations. Its platforms are also the narrowest among peer stations, though not dramatically so.

The FRA's Penn Station optimization study has been released. The top line findings: The station can handle between 30 and 32 trains per hour in its existing footprint, up from 24 today. 4 of those trains would be thru-running regional services.

Wouldn't want to read into it too much, but it's interesting to see the full length of the Second Avenue Subway, through midtown and downtown, depicted on this map of future bus priority corridors.

More news from the NYC bus plan: A commitment to give all of Flatbush Avenue BRT-style service by 2030. (Potentially like the center running lanes currently going in on Flatbush). The longer term plan is for 4 more BRT corridors: Utica, Central Brooklyn, Northern Blvd, and Cross-Bronx.

Plans for completing the Atlantic Yards megaproject in Brooklyn are coming together. The next phase is slated to add another 5,600 homes, including 1,242 affordable homes. These would be in slender towers, between 450 and 800 feet tall, leaving room for 8 acres of public open space.

Love this analogy comparing the growth and development of cities to raising kids. It's natural to want to freeze a beautiful moment in time, but ultimately it's unhealthy. www.activewisconsin.org/post/reflect...

One of the few operational details we have about the Penn Station project is that it will include 32% more vertical circulation to platforms. How much will that speed train dwell times or improve train throughput?

Latest report on SF's Geary/ 19th Ave. subway shows two possible alignments through downtown: one on Howard, one on 3rd. It also looks at four transit technologies: BART, electrified regional rail, light rail, and automated light metro. www.sfcta.org/sites/defaul...

Really enjoyed this interview about The Unfinished Metropolis with @terrainorg.bsky.social. It was great to be able to reflect on the most interesting frontiers of urban policy: www.terrain.org/2026/intervi...