Jedwin Mok
Transport Planner & Researcher
Creative Director | cityux.com
Research Lead | infrastoryinsights.com
youtu.be/vAygH6SZg28?si=lY-5…
- I’ve just learned about state-issued baby kits and now extremely pissed off to learn that this is no longer a thing.
- Happy New Year from Taipei! Tonight, major roads are CLOSED as the metro works overtime as the primary mode of transport. 1M+ people will celebrate, with 200K+ at the busiest site. Dodgers stadium can’t host a 50K event without crippling traffic. We got lots to learn… 1/🧵
- As an attendee, everything flows well without car traffic. - 2km^2 of city closed to cars - pedestrians use the entire road width - crowd control by thousands of staff - extra tap points installed in stations These measures work only because Taipei has been preparing for DECADES! 2/
- How do you get 200K+ people out of a tiny area all at once? With Taipei’s metro grid, of course! 3 metro lines, EACH capable of moving 40,000 PPHPD serve 8 different stations (120,000 PPHPD). Car infrastructure taking up the same amount of space would move only ~3000 PPHPD. 3/
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View full threadWithout reform to governance and institutions, we’ll always be too afraid to propose a vision like Taipei or Paris or Istanbul or Hong Kong. This new year, let’s stop being afraid. Demand more from our institutions. Hold politicians accountable. Speak truth to power. Let’s dream big again! 9/9
- If we are EVER to learn from the disastrous Line 6 opening and (incoming) Line 5 disaster, Toronto must objectively reflect on their history & conception. @jrurbanenetwork.bsky.social latest piece does exactly that. These are 2 badly planned, politicized ideas choked by poor delivery & discourse.
- It’s been a depressing few weeks filled with revisionist history… TC supporters point to various excuses - P3! MX! “It was never about speed!” Rob Ford’s cronies act like they had the solution all along. Industry professionals continue the 20+ year gaslighting campaign of low-income communities.
- TC’s promise of road median trams just as fast but 1/10th the price of subways was never possible. No, tunneling the entirety of the Eglinton tram doesn’t fix all problems. And no, spending $200M+/km on a streetcar that doesn’t materially improve conditions for Jane + Finch isn’t an equity win.
- The suburban centres of Sydney are MUST SEE TV! - Masterful urban integration between indoor/outdoor space - Small retail units for street activation & entrepreneurship - Centered on fast & frequent suburban rail We’ve got much to learn from Australia… (📷 Chatswood, Parramatta, Hurstville)
- It’s great that stronger TSP is now a political priority. Unfortunately, our $3B+ tramway will STILL take 46-min to go 10km, slower than the bus. This is due to: - “Vision Zero” speed limits of 35 midblocks, 25 intersections, 15 platforms - speed limits and gradients enforced by unnecessary CBTC
- We’ve blown hundreds of millions on a “high performance” signalling system meant for separated railways, that, on a streetcar, simply imposes a more conservative operating regime. Why? - “Safety never stops so we need the safest signalling ever!” - “LRT is rapid transit, just like the subway!”
- Is system safer if more people choose to drive because we’ve made transit SLOWER? Is Jane & Finch suddenly lifted out of poverty? It’s INDISPUTABLE that the political, myopic, procurement-by-committee project delivery process has yielded high costs and terrible outcomes on Finch West and Eglinton.
- We’ve gotta talk about the Finch West megaramp… There’s no way that the additional excavation required for all that station volume isn’t more expensive than a simple elevator. It’s also such an insult to force anyone with mobility issues to walk 3x the distance!
- Finch West LRT, day one
- Bunching and short turns, just like the streetcar network :)
- Foamer szn
- At $240M/km, Finch West LRT is… - MORE expensive per-km than the Sheppard Subway - 2X the per-km cost of the Montreal REM & underground metros in other developed nations … for a tram that’s SLOWER than a bus in traffic. Let’s not mislead the public; Line 6 should be the 536 Finch West streetcar!
- Trip data for the Finch West LRT is now public and has been analyzed by Steve Munro. The average speed comes in at 13.5km/h. For reference the average speed for on street segments of the ION in Kitchener Waterloo is 18-19km/h. stevemunro.ca/2025/11/28/6...
- Beyond this continent’s disastrous project delivery practices… how do we ever expect the public to continue spending BILLIONS supporting rapid transit expansion when projects we deliver don’t MATERIALLY improve their lives? Simply putting the bus on rails won’t lift Jane & Finch out of poverty!
- Even in its terribly debilitated state GO Expansion still is the infrastructure project with the highest BCR on the continent. Easily a top national priority. In any sane developed country this is a 5-year modernization program. Our incompetent institutions live in fear of doing literally anything
- So glad to be featured in @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social excellent video! High costs in Canada have been accepted as an inevitability - as projects are descoped & cancelled. ION & REM show that another way is possible… …given the humility to abandon our Anglo roots & learn from global best practice.
- “The time [REM] went from ‘doesn’t exist’ to [revenue service] is mind blowing...” A masterpiece from @hudsonyuen.bsky.social featuring @chittimarco.bsky.social & @englishrail.bsky.social. So proud to have played a small part. MUST WATCH for planners who believe the status quo is inevitable
- Some GTFS data for REM was released recently and… holy shit will this project fundamentally change Montreal’s geography. I suspect ridership is underestimated, particularly if feeders are done properly. This is how high impact, low cost transit projects create modal shift folks (📷 via agoramtl)
- Meanwhile in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a city of 783,000…
- Did I mention the Zandvoort F1 Dutch style bike valet??
- The same “progressive” city council that constantly requests additional consultation forgets that their ALREADY BLOATED & EXPENSIVE consultation process yields results overwhelmingly against the vocal minority. Yet council bends over every time. Zero vision, plan, or leadership. Shame!
