Alon Levy
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1 November
28 September
From one piece The Origin of Premodern Western Cities 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
Premodern European cities were founded along a spectrum, from the entirely commercial to the entirely political.Their words
There's really a spectrum of city foundations, from the entirely commercial to the entirely political.
The Origin of Premodern Western Citiespedestrianobservations.com
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Their words
But once one gets to the second millennium and cities are more visible to us in economic history, this is no longer the only origin of cities. Some emerge for commercial purposes, and only become sites of royal extraction after they've proven their economic value.
The Origin of Premodern Western Citiespedestrianobservations.com
1 September
From one piece The Country is the Natural Unit of Policy Analysis 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
And yet, life expectancy about two years more than the national average is rather common in rich regions with selective migration, even in European countries with even access to health care, like France and Spain.
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korrents.com
Comparative policy analysis should be done at the level of sovereign countries, not provinces or regions within them.Their words
But it's not meaningfully possible to understand the world at this scale - macroregions are real but analysis of policy, including transportation but also the usual economic and social topics, has to be down at the level of sovereign states first with no illusion that a province in a large country is comparable to a smaller country.
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korrents.com
National politics dominates over regional politics in nearly all first-world democracies.Their words
Politics in virtually all first-world democracies is nationalized.
7 August
From one piece Electrification Costs and Confounders 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
one should never apportion the cost of the RER or Stammstrecke tunnels to the cost of surface electrification
Electrification Costs and Confounderspedestrianobservations.com
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Their words
electrification in Germany is usually bundled with other projects that end up costing that in total
Electrification Costs and Confounderspedestrianobservations.com
30 July
From one piece The Failure of Bus Grids at the Scale of Los Angeles 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
on-street separated lanes don't go at the speed of rapid transit, and the counterexamples you're thinking about right now are either freeways or things that might as well be freeways.
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Their words
But in fact, the scale of buses is rather short, and in a Los Angeles-size city they are hopeless, no matter how much priority they have.
25 July
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Their words
If a subway line or a train station or a similar rail megaproject has an internationally renowned architect in charge, it costs too much and is unlikely to be functional.
Conflict About the FRA Study on Penn Stationpedestrianobservations.com
15 July
From one piece Corridor Zoning is not Transit-Oriented Development 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
the explicit purpose of corridor zoning is to concentrate both air pollution and the perceived social pollution of apartment dwellers in quarantine zones that single-family homeowners can avoid
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Their words
The reason is simple: TOD doesn't care about corridors but about the underlying transit, which is a subway, not a bus stopping every block.
7 July
From one piece Prioritizing Rail Expansion in New England 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
it's more important to invest in trains that can get more riders than just the railfans; taking a line from 0% to 5% modal split is less important than taking it from 20% to 40%
Prioritizing Rail Expansion in New Englandpedestrianobservations.com
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korrents.com
Building out low-speed regional rail to small towns before intercity rail is fast enough is a waste of money.Their words
further investment in regional rail in New England - by which I mean RegionalBahn-style service to small towns like Westerly and Manchester, not core commuter rail service in Boston to be turned into an S-Bahn - is a waste of money in the current situation.
Prioritizing Rail Expansion in New Englandpedestrianobservations.com
30 June
From one piece Quick Note on Ridership Estimation and the STOPS Model 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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korrents.com
A new transit line still benefits riders it diverts from existing lines, not only the new riders it attracts.Their words
Riders diverted from other lines still benefit from the project, especially in a case like QueensLink, where the diverted riders would enjoy an improvement in trip time to Midtown of about 10-15 minutes each way.
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Their words
STOPS is designed for quick-and-dirty calculations and is known to choke on New York.
29 June
From one piece IFP’s Transit Abundance Playbook 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there
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Their words
Standardized systems are important, and there is a systems premium in the US and UK, but it can't be about a regular pipeline because London has that and yet Crossrail engaged in some really dodgy systems decisions that drove costs up.
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Their words
Well, PRC HSR construction costs relative to the amount of tunneling aren't particularly low. France's are lower; Germany's are inconsistent, depending on whether money is wasted on excessive tunneling or on other things.
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Their words
In truth, rather rapid electrification projects, without decade-by-decade continuity, exist outside the UK and are often quite reasonable in their costs, as in Denmark, Israel, and especially India.
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