Reece Martin

A table of contents of every single blog post I’ve written!

(last updated March 18, 2025 – newest posts are marked as 🆕!)

Series

Articles written in a series with similar themes or topics.

The Good and Bad of X Transit

• The Good and the Bad of German Transit

• The Good and Bad of Berlin Transit

• The Good and Bad of Berlin Transit: Pt. 2

• The Good and the Bad of Australian Transit

• The Good and Bad of Berlin Transit: Part 3

Toronto’s Transit Engoodening

• Where will things be in a decade? Toronto’s Transit Engoodening — Part 1: Regional Rail

• Toronto’s Transit Engoodening — Part 2: Light Rail

• Toronto’s Transit Engoodening — Part 3: Subway

• Toronto’s Transit Engoodening — Part 4: What trips will get easier?

• Toronto’s Transit Engoodening — Part 5: Where will we go next?

The Evolution of the REM

• The Evolution of the REM: Series

• The Evolution of the REM: Part 1 — Metro Interconnections

News/Analysis

Articles on current news, or analysis of specific projects/transit systems.

• My thoughts on New York’s lnterborough Express as Light Rail

• Transit isn’t just for going to work.

• Renovate and Refurbish Things, PLEASE!

• The Quebec City Tram is very exciting.

• The IBX Plan and its Potential

• American Transit and Canadian Transit are Different

• Vancouver (And the Pacific Northwest) should invest more in earthquake resilience.

• The Cancellation of HS2 North should be a warning.

• A big metro system with few riders?

• London’s Confusing Railways

• The Logic Missing from LA’s Rapid Transit System

• How better transit might be making Canada worse

• Transit’s Shiny Object Problem.

• I’m Concerned About Brightline West.

• Public Transit and Political Compromise

• Quebec Can’t Build Mass Transit

• A Space Program-Approach to High-Speed Rail

• Cities in Alberta have huge potential, but they need to work on transportation.

• Albertan Cities need to learn from Vancouver’s Transportation and Toronto’s Mistake

• American Cities have a lot to learn from Seattle

• The Less Appreciated Side of Building Great Transit for North America

• Why having few modern railways is going to throw on the brakes for North America.

• The Future of Ottawa’s Trillium Line

• 🆕 Now is the time for Canada to Invest in Transit 🆕

• 🆕 Urban Rail in Africa 🆕

Toronto

• Analyzing Toronto’s new Urban Regional Rail Stations: Unionville

• What is happening with the UP Express?

• A few years of progress for Toronto

• The Eglinton Crosstown is delayed again. What’s wrong with this project?

• Finally, Toronto’s missing link is here!

• Can Toronto’s Airport Express finally truly take off?

• The Complication of Cummer Station and the Case Against It

• Toronto’s Transportation Trade is Very Good

• To build or not to build and a certain streetcar route…

• GO Transit’s big problem: Too much west and not enough east.

• The Problems with the Eglinton Crosstown are just getting started.

• The Biggest Gaps in Toronto’s Regional Rail Plans

• Finally, Toronto has unified transit fares: The good and the bad.

• Metrolinx and Accountability

• A Big Cut to Toronto’s UP Express Service

• The Eglinton East LRT isn’t very good, but…

• Who you compare yourself to matters.

• How many buses does Toronto have?

• Toronto’s Streetcars are Teetering on the Brink.

• Maybe the UP Express was the answer all along.

• 🆕 The Many Problems of “Transit City” 🆕

• 🆕 The Metrolinx Conundrum 🆕

Montreal

• Montreal’s Transit Disaster

• The REM de l’Est Report is here, and it’s not good.

• I’ve taken a ride on the Montreal REM. I’m sad, but optimistic.

• The Ups and Downs of Montreal’s new Transit Plan

Transit Design

More general articles on the design of transit systems.

• How a misplaced transit line can teach us about prioritizing infrastructure projects

• Things I’ve changed my mind about – LCD Screens, Fare Gates, Integrated Transfers

• The difficulty and pitfalls of transport problem solving

• Zurich, the Northern Line, Toronto and some thoughts on a new Regional Rail Project.

• Elevated Highways are NOT like Elevated Transit

• Mass Transit without Regional Rail.

• Regional Rail without Mass Transit.

• The Past Isn’t the Answer to Urban Transport

• Transit should be fast.

• Dumb Mode and Cost Battles.

• Rail or Bus for Orbital Transit Systems

• Transfers are a thing – Pt. 1

• Transfers are a thing – Pt. 2

• Please… space the bus stops out.

• The Transit Chicken-and-Egg Problem

• The Transit Chicken-and-Egg Problem: Redux

• Loading Multipliers and Busy Metros

• The Case for Underground.

• The Future of Transit is Lean(er)

• Regional Rail for Vancouver?

• A Transit Red Flag: What demand?

• Friendly Transit

Station Design

Articles on great station design and other transit station-related technology.

• Analyzing Toronto’s new Urban Regional Rail Stations: King-Liberty

• My least favorite train station?

• Reconfiguring Operations at Canada’s Largest Rail Station

• All the places we need better GO – TTC Integration

• I hate the lack of platform screen doors here, and that’s just the start…

• The nicest new railway station in North America is coming to Toronto, and nobody is talking about it: Exhibition Station

• Is Contactless the Worldwide-Integrated transit card?

• Another Very Good North American Railway Station: East Harbour

• Making Subway Systems Accessible to All

Transit Technology

Articles on transit modes and how they are best used.

• I don’t like riding my local bus, but it doesn’t have to be this way

• Electric Buses are awesome

• The case for thinking small, the potential benefits of light rail – and why we don’t see them.

• Do Hydrogen trains ever make any sense?

• New Subway Trains for Toronto!

• High Floor LRT is not “obsolete”.

• A Standard Metro Train for America

• Why train journeys are different from bus journeys

• Ridesharing has been good for urbanism.

• People Movers can be a good solution.

• Buses can be amazing.

• A Rapid Bus Line and a Taste of Bliss.

• Where are all the subways?

• More People Movers

Building Transit

Articles on transit construction and realization of transit plans.

• How transit plans go from concept to reality, and how they should

• High costs are killing US transit projects.

• Bad Faith Planning and Its Impact on Transit

• Fighting Bad Faith Planning

• A National Approach to Transit

• Building Transit on a Plan is Powerful

Transit Policy

Articles on the operation on transit systems.

• We dramatically undervalue night transit

• Announcements are important.

• Special edition transit cards are good, and transit agencies should go beyond the basics sometimes.

• The weird case of the GO Stouffville Line

• Schedule your transit for all day use.

• Superfrequency

• We should steal more transit ideas: Vancouver Edition

• The O-Train has its problems, but…

• On free fares and Washington DC

• Transit Services are Complementary

• The usefulness of transit is still unpredictable.

• Free Fares and Washington DC – Redux

• Do we need to advertise transit?

Crayoning

Wishful thinking on the transit networks our cities could have.

• A Transit Proposal for Toronto – the Don Line.

• What if the Spadina streetcar *was* rapid transit?

• Guelph, Waterloo, and Tram Trains

• What could a long term vision for a REM network in Montreal look like?

• How to make Montreal’s Metro perfect.

Transit-Oriented Development

Articles on development near transit.

• How We Should Think About Transit-Oriented Development

• A transit superhub lying in wait? Bloor-Dundas West

• 5 Places in Toronto That Should Have More Density

Advocacy

Transit advocacy and how we can better raise awareness for our transit networks.

• If you aren’t a planner or an engineer, can you help the transit and urbanism conversation?

• Why I Do What I Do: The Educational Benefits of Making Transit Content

• Transit Agencies Should Leverage Their Supporters

• The “Not From Here” Problem for Transit Advocacy

• Imperfect Progress is Still Progress

• When pedantry gets in the way of good transport.

• American High Speed Rail advocates should be cost advocates.

• News coverage of transit is broken.

• Transit Terminology Really Matters

• North American Media is Bad on Transit and Urbanism

• Everyone Thinks Their Transit is the Worst

• Learning About Cities Around The World is a Great Antidote to Transit Cynicism

• Baselines are Very Important for Evaluating Transit — Media on Transit

• If you like transit, you need to use it.

Urbanism

General urbanism and city design-related articles.

• More Parks that Integrate Transit Please!

• Smoky skies and a realization about building less.

• Canals: the pleasure of unimpeded urban strolls

Cycling

Articles on cycling and active transport.

• A network to last: Rail and bike urbanism

• Cycling is a breath of fresh air for transit supporters.

Cars

Articles on cars, roads, and everything else.

• A Personal Update and When it’s okay to use Cars

• My new apartment doesn’t have parking! What do I do?

• Making the 401 (and highways in general) less terrible.

• The Manhattan congestion charge will be transformational for public transit. But something is still missing.

• Canadian Cities Should Do Congestion Pricing

YouTube/Meta

Meta articles on YouTube & content creation.

• What am I even doing? My approach to YouTube.

• The Frustrations of a Toronto Transit YouTuber

• A Personal Reflection on 2022

• The Big Problem that lets me do so many things.

• A New Beginning and the Best Holiday Gift

Off-Topic

Off-topic articles on new topics that may or may not be transit-related.

• Off Topic: What I learned writing over 1 million words in 3 years.

• Google Maps’ decline and untapped potential.

• Off Topic: Tech Companies Should Build Better Batteries

• Off Topic: Let people take their pictures.

• Off Topic: The Sleepstack.

• Off Topic: My Goals for 2024

• Off Topic: Getting my brain back into technology.

• Off Topic: January is already over, Progress toward goals?

• Off-Topic: Apple Vision Pro, EVs, and the early adopter tax.

• Off Topic: 2024 Goals Midyear Review — How I improved my Health, and what I am noticing!

• Off Topic: Why I’ve Been Blogging Less, and Why I’ll Be Blogging More

• 🆕 Off-Topic: My Goals for 2025 🆕

Book Reviews

Articles talking about books I’m currently reading!

• A Subway Trip Around the World