Reece Martin

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16 October

Reece MartinKorrents 16 Oct

From one piece Waymo is coming, and we must act. 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

korrents.com
The cost of driverless vehicle services is likely to eventually become lower than the cost of Uber services.

Their words

Of course, over time, this price difference is likely to flip.

Waymo is coming, and we must act.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
Poor policy regarding driverless vehicles could lead to short-term traffic congestion and chaos.

Their words

Poor policy will lead to a mess in the short term, with vehicles blocking traffic, driving congestion, and creating chaos.

Waymo is coming, and we must act.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
Waymo and driverless vehicles will have significant long-term implications for the transportation system, especially in North America.

self-driving carsAmerica

Their words

Waymo and driverless vehicles have enormous long-term implications for the transportation system, particularly in North America where road capacity is very high.

Waymo is coming, and we must act.thetransitbrief.net

14 October

Reece MartinKorrents 14 Oct

From one piece GTA transit is a mess, and we have only ourselves to blame. 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there

korrents.com
The current state of the transportation system in Toronto reduces productivity.

Their words

the shambolic state of the transportation system, which wastes hundreds of hours of citizens' lives each year, reduces our productivity, and has all kinds of collateral damage is one of, if not the biggest problem staring us down.

thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
The streetcars in Toronto are likely among the slowest in the world.

Their words

The streetcars in Toronto are likely to be the slowest trams anywhere in the world by a fair margin

thetransitbrief.net

9 October

Reece MartinKorrents 9 Oct

From one piece If not high-speed rail, then what? 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

korrents.com
The lack of a single body responsible for connecting interconnected regions is a problem.

Their words

Right now, there isn't a single body responsible for connecting all of these naturally interconnected regions, and that's probably a problem.

If not high-speed rail, then what?thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
Airports should be well-connected to regional and intercity trains due to their complementary nature.

Their words

Airports ought to be well-connected to regional and intercity trains because of how complementary the services can be.

If not high-speed rail, then what?thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
The Quebec City-Windsor corridor must be better connected for Canada to thrive.

Their words

The Quebec City-Windsor corridor indisputably must be better connected if Canada is to thrive.

If not high-speed rail, then what?thetransitbrief.net

31 August

Reece MartinKorrents 31 Aug

From one piece Why transit suddenly costs so much. 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

korrents.com
The high cost of transit projects is often exacerbated by the fact that soft costs, such as planning and engineering, can equal the entire project cost in some locations.

Their words

This is reflected by the fact that soft costs - that is, not heavy construction, but planning and engineering - now sometimes cost as much as the entire project might in a place like Italy or Chile.

Why transit suddenly costs so much.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
The high cost of infrastructure in cities like Toronto or New York is driven by multiplicative factors that compound rather than a single primary cause.

infrastructure

Their words

the problem leading to 5 or 10 times more expensive infrastructure in Toronto or New York is not generally that any one thing is being done ten times worse, but that factors are multiplicative - they compound.

Why transit suddenly costs so much.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
Transit projects in Canada and the English-speaking world cost significantly more than projects in many other developed and developing countries, even when adjusting for inflation and currency values.

inflation

Their words

Transit projects - from subways to bus rapid transit - in Canada, and in the English-speaking world writ large, cost far more than projects in many other developed and developing countries, even when adjusting for inflation and differences in the relative value of currencies and inputs.

Why transit suddenly costs so much.thetransitbrief.net

18 August

Reece MartinKorrents 18 Aug

From one piece Transit-Oriented Nation. 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

korrents.com
Many Canadian cities will have significantly more electric rail in a decade.

Their words

Many Canadian cities will have 10% to 30% more electric rail a decade from now, unlocking far more land for potential TOD.

Transit-Oriented Nation.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
People living in apartments emit significantly fewer greenhouse gases than those in single-family homes.

Their words

While critics sometimes highlight the embodied carbon of concrete, the reality is that people living in apartments emit dramatically fewer greenhouse gases than those dwelling in single-family homes - thanks to dramatically smaller transport emissions and smaller living spaces.

Transit-Oriented Nation.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
Transit-oriented development has become widespread across Canada.

Their words

Transit-oriented development has taken over Canada. What used to be largely limited to Vancouver and Toronto has gone nationwide, while in Toronto and Vancouver it has become ubiquitous.

Transit-Oriented Nation.thetransitbrief.net

15 July

Reece MartinKorrents 15 Jul

From one piece Automate the trains! 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

korrents.com
The lack of modern signalling systems on Canadian mainline railways creates significant safety risks.

Their words

The biggest problem is honestly the lack of any modern signalling system on GO, or for that matter any mainline railway in Canada, which means we have a shocking number of train derailments, constant near misses that could easily become mass casualty events, and a rail system which most developed countries would find unacceptably unsafe.

Automate the trains!thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
The current staffing model for GO trains is highly inefficient.

Their words

The old way that GO ran trains, with a crew taking a train from the suburbs to the city, hanging out for a few hours and parking the train on the most expensive real estate in the country, then driving it back at night, is horrifically inefficient

Automate the trains!thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
Rail automation in Canada could unlock massive transit service expansion and improved speed.

Their words

Rail automation should be much more widespread in Canada, and would unlock a massive expansion in transit service as well as improvements in speed, but this doesn't look how you imagine.

Automate the trains!thetransitbrief.net

25 June

Reece MartinKorrents 25 Jun

From one piece Quality Still Matters in Transit. 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

korrents.com
A model of transit building that adds a new line every couple of years is healthier than one that adds them every couple of decades.

infrastructure

Their words

I've argued in the past that a model of transit building where you add a new line every couple of years is probably a healthier place than one where you do it every couple of decades because it keeps the institutional capacity to build new infrastructure alive and well.

Quality Still Matters in Transit.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
The quality of a transit system is determined more by its ability to connect to important places than by its scale.

Their words

And that's because ultimately what makes it transportation system good is less at scale, but it's ability to connect to important places and cities only have so many important places.

Quality Still Matters in Transit.thetransitbrief.net
korrents.com
Redundancy is an underrated component of great transit networks.

Their words

I've talked about this before, but I think redundancy is a really underrated part of great transit networks. Giving you multiple ways to get from one place to another is important because when you need to shut down for inevitable maintenance, when there are inevitable problems, or when you want to reroute people because of an event or something, having redundancy is what allows you to do that.

Quality Still Matters in Transit.thetransitbrief.net

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