Jedwin Mok
Transport Planner & Researcher
Creative Director | cityux.com
Research Lead | infrastoryinsights.com
youtu.be/vAygH6SZg28?si=lY-5…
- A ton of interesting stuff in here: The Lenox Ave and Broadway station structures look ~rightly sized. The box looks to be about 20% bigger than the platforms, which is a *huge improvement* from the SAS 1 and SAS 2 designs. They're just massively expensive because they're 100+ feet deep. BUT...
- Preliminary data about NYC Subway's 125th St extension from report released yesterday from @mta.info: www.mta.info/document/196... —Project would attract ~164,000 daily boardings —Stations would be deep to get under existing lines —Project estimated at $7.7 b (2027$) —Earliest revenue service 2032
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- Consultancies know the political environment and institutional processes inside and out. We’ve seen cases in Canada where consultants can negotiate for percentage kickbacks of project budget, which clearly is a perverse incentive
- 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/🧵
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View full threadIn the English-speaking world, we’re afraid to dream big because our incompetence has created a culture of fear. - our construction cost crisis makes basic projects infeasible - our engagement process elevates self-interested stakeholders - risk averse staff coddle politico egos 8/
- NEW PUBLICATION: “Understanding the Drivers of Transit Construction Costs in Canada” The first from me, Balthazar Crane, @chittimarco.bsky.social, and Amer Shalaby. So why are transit projects so expensive in Canada? Here’s what we found: 1/🧵 stateofcitiessummit.ca/files/041224...
- Without 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
- Pulling this off required an incredible feat of long-term planning & engineering: - preserved ROWs for lines & junctions - ‘overbuilt’ stations for their expected final state - weaving, underpinning, & tight tolerances Line colors in this 2007 map are set in preparation for the end state. 6/
- What might’ve looked like a series of short, nonsensical stub lines just 20 years ago now form the basis for one of the best planned metro networks on earth. 200K+ people attending this year’s festivities can use all 3 lines across 8 stations no matter their destination! 7/
- This metro grid facilitates trips from anywhere to anywhere, meaning event attendees don’t really care what line they take. It’s only possible as a result of steady investment and careful planning towards an ambitious vision first dreamt up by consultants in the 1970s. 4/
- Look closely! The secret of the network lies before the primary lines enter into a grid pattern: a series of 4 cross-platform interchanges across 4 high-capacity lines. Each line interacts with every other DESPITE the grid, creating easy directional transfers & distributing the load. 5/
- 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/
- 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)
- Ok it is hilarious that they installed CBTC on a tramway. Who the fuck thought that was the thing to do?
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- Sunnybrook Park is probably one of the biggest blunders in recent NA planning memory and was an entirely political choice
- 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
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- It’s partly because CBTC is enforcing the max speed (red triangle) with a penalty brake. So operators drive +-5kmh under to avoid that, given the constantly fluctuating speed limits on the line
- 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.
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- Tren el insurgente!
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- Truly the completest of complete streets
- 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!
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- True, though remember additional station volume requires additional supporting systems that break
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- The bigger the hole the better the tram
- Finch West LRT, day one
- Bunching and short turns, just like the streetcar network :)
- Foamer szn
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- It’s no secret that Miller was always ideologically opposed to the Relief Line, and only adopted it after significant political pressure. He’s also a fervent opponent of OL West, and believes to this day that one of the most important segments of the line should be cancelled.
- 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!
- 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!
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- Same
- ~$500M/km is in line with recent estimates for surface tramways in eastern Canada, believe it or not
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- Thanks so much for attending Cassie!
- 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.
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- Unfortunately Canada Line / REM are exceptions to the rule rather than the trend. Montreal’s Blue line ext. is $1B+/km & PSE tram is close to 500M/km in planning stage estimates. Vancouver has traditionally cheap but their new extensions are rising in price, Broadway $500M/km, SLS at $275M/km
- “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
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- At this point I’m starting to think this says more about ECLRT than REM 😂
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- I know Main Street Cupertino when I see it. Trying to use quasi-curbless treatments to manufacture an urban pedestrian friendly space but really it’s just a strip mall in a trenchcoat
- 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)
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- Yes. The key difference here of course being the frequency & stops at E/M and McGill.
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- That is absolutely the biggest concern
- 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!
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- Ah. Classic
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- Lives rent free in my head
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- I certainly agree with you on these points. The current wave of capital investment is once in a generation, and has only been possible because the political and institutional stars have aligned. It will certainly be a net positive in the long term
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