The Overhead Wire

I put together a video explainer about how to use our news link archive! We've collected and categorized over 100,000 items since 2013 and I hope folks get a chance to check it out. www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUe...

"A new survey of 1,000 American adults found that the strongest supporters of transgender sports bans are not the people who admire women most: they are the people who hold the most hostile views about women."

!!!!

Mondays Most Read # 1 - Some US transit systems weigh whether to run trains without a human at the controls link.theoverheadwire.com/4wev7 Associated Press

Monday's Most Read # 2 - This Data Center Subsidy Solution Would Fix Everything (bad about corporate subsidies) link.theoverheadwire.com/yw8pb Boondoggle

Monday's Most Read # 3 - Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn link.theoverheadwire.com/dk4cy The Guardian @theguardian.com

Upcycled Bike Car Gate 🚲

I get tears in my eyes when I take a minute to relax and sit back at either Sunset Dunes or JFK Promenade. Just a few short years ago these spaces were filled with nothing but cars. Now they are filled with people of all ages -- joyful people taking a deep breath and slowing down for a minute. 🥹

Onwards…

cal.streetsblog.org/2026/10/06/c...

Robert Reich is a NIMBY so it is completely unsurprising that he is endorsing Chan, the NIMBY candidate in this race

Do you like crayoning transit lines? Use the new annotation feature on Transit Explorer to try out route ideas; you can label them and see their lengths, then export maps. In the US, you can also compare against local data, like population & jobs density! www.thetransportpolitic.com/transitexplo...

YES on RTM, Prop H, and Prop 1 NO on Prop 43 and 45

New @eprinews.bsky.social data shows U.S. grid battery failure rates fell more than 97% from 2016 to 2025, even as cumulative installations grew 250-fold. Batteries now have failure rates comparable to conventional substation transformers. via @canarymedia.com www.canarymedia.com/articles/bat...

This video camera study showed that less than 5% of people on bikes broke traffic laws while riding bikes, yet 66% of people did so while driving. And perhaps even more importantly, if you REALLY want even MORE bike-riders to obey laws, build more protected bike infrastructure. Via @carltonreid.com

Beyond parody.

Talking Headways Podcast: A More Humanized Experience in Honolulu usa.streetsblog.org/2026/10/22/t... via @usa.streetsblog.org and @theoverheadwire.com

"And I still remember when we opened our second segment, this one woman said that she got to work in about 27 minutes when it used to take her an hour and 10. And she was almost in tears... “I get to see my kids two more hours.” Man, that’s powerful stuff we can’t quantify."

New #TalkingHeadways podcast episode! This week we're joined by Jon Nouchi, Director of Transit for Honolulu. We had a great discussion about a whole host of topics including the idea of iconic transit systems, time as a performance metric, humanizing transit systems, and the Skyline rail line.

I think even thought it's about the BQE, there's a great number of questions this piece asks which was should be asking ourselves... "...we should be precise about what constitutes an alternative. A different highway is not necessarily a different transportation system."

RETIRED? Hardly! #CriminalMischief is back — with a very special episode featuring a confrontation with one of NYC's worst people!

This absolutely rules. I don't care if Bluesky isn't Twitter circa 2016; it's a great place to hang out, chat with cool folks, learn new things, and most importantly, not get bombarded with slurs.

Now that both parts are up, here's a short 🧵on my deep dive into why American roads are a sea of SUVs and trucks – and no, it's not just "consumer demand." 🙄 First: the light truck loophole — which was closed recently! But not in a way people are celebrating ...

Wednesday's Most Read # 1 - Gordian Knot: The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway crisis gives New York something rare: an opportunity to rethink a piece of infrastructure before simply replacing it. We should take it. link.theoverheadwire.com/q6jmf Architect's Newspaper

Wednesday's Most Read # 2 - The Cynicism of Trump’s Climate Policy link.theoverheadwire.com/auvyx The Atlantic

Wednesday's Most Read # 3 - Unchecked, Unplanned Suburban Sprawl: Whose Fault Is It? link.theoverheadwire.com/vmjr4 Governing

If conservatives are so concerned about the burden CEQA places on CA High-Speed Rail, why did they carve out HSR from Prop 45? Maybe it has something to do with the numerous CEQA lawsuits filed by GOP-aligned Central Valley landowners against HSR?

This guy was caught on video committing one of the worst road rage incidents I've ever seen, plowing into a group of riders—and then he left the scene. Seriously, fuck the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for framing him as some sort of a victim. You are complicit assholes. www.ajc.com/news/2026/10...

So we are still demolishing buildings in center cities for parking spaces in 2026 I see - link.theoverheadwire.com/whey8

it's a constant talking point among oregon's republicans that rural counties are subsidizing portland's buses ODOT's allocation of STIF keeps funding relatively proportionate - if anything, on the margins many urban areas are helping subsidize transit service in rural parts of the state

Today in Empty Waymo Blocking a Bus full of people.

“Three out of four disabled people don’t drive. Stop using us as an excuse for car dependency.” — Anna Zivarts @nondriver.bsky.social in collaboration with The Urban Truth Collective. Mobility freedom comes from mobility choices. #UrbanTruth

Talked to Adam Millard Ball about when "public participation" gets weaponized (sometimes very explicitly!) to block projects like mosques on parking-related grounds, how the same phenomenon occurs in across all kinds of transportation projects and walkable developments, and how to stop it.

Tuesday's Most Read # 1 - Do You Really Own Your Home? A Tax Revolt Says No. link.theoverheadwire.com/rw7db Politico Magazine @liamjdillon.com

Tuesday's Most Read # 2 - How Miami Turned a Rail Corridor into a City Connector link.theoverheadwire.com/kxbpt Urban Land Institute

Tuesday's Most Read # 3 - Mobilities of care and cognitive labour: Can urban proximity reduce the organisational burden of everyday mobility? link.theoverheadwire.com/g9ac6 Journal of Transport Geography

"In total, approximately 515,000 vehicles drove through the corridor in the same period, meaning that roughly 77% were speeding." Umm seems like the vendor needs to up their game.

Blaise Pascal invented public transit in the 1660s. As the greatest mathematician of his age, he saw the math problem that only transit would solve. I wrote about this amazing story here. humantransit.org/2024/12/one-...

Maddening to hear because they assigned me the task of researching this in California. I did all of the work and documented it in far more detail than you ever find in code development. I got three independent estimates, one of which came from the federal government! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

The federal Highway Trust Fund, which funds road & transit, faces a >$318 billion shortfall by 2036. How can Congress address this? —Cut spending by 40% —Increase the gas tax —Implement new taxes (VMT, registration) —Transfer from the general fund We lay it out: taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/congr...

Reader: California does not, in fact, have a lot of housing! Extremely bad that the co-chair of the state's single stair task group apparently does not understand this!

Loud minority again. 76% said no thanks.

Imagine putting out a report in 2026 which mentions electrification less than a half dozen times and then only to say "Hey, these other commuter railroads are thinking about it for these reasons", then going on to say they want to do those same things without electrifying their operations.

Monday's Most Read # 1 - Metra report envisions future of Chicago-area rail service link.theoverheadwire.com/c3n76 Trains Magazine

Monday's Most Read # 2 - Seattle Social Housing Developer Announces First Construction Project link.theoverheadwire.com/y9kfv The Stranger

Monday's Most Read # 3 - Denver’s new draft plan for Broncos’ Burnham Yard stadium site link.theoverheadwire.com/4e7bp Daily Camera