amtrak Archives - The Handbuilt City

Business & Economics Culture & Language Transit infrastructure Travel Infrastructure

The Three-Martini Greyhound: The Future of Corporate Travel?

July 19, 2021July 16, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, amtrak michigan, corporate travel, flying, greyhound, in-flight wifi, intercity buses, intercity trains, new normal, optimization, productivity, reopening, surplus value, the dog, travel, tsa, tsa precheck, wolverine service

In June, my partner took a three-day business trip– her first since before the pandemic hit- to Chicago. I threw

Business & Economics Public transit Transit infrastructure Government

Cato Needs To Re-Toole Their Bad Takes On Infrastructure

February 17, 2021February 17, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments alstom, amtrak, amtrak capex, Amtrak NEC, bad ideas, batman, batman meme, capital expenditures, cato institute, farebox recovery ratio, federal spending, freight, FRR, government bad, government spending, gridlock, high-speed rail, inflation, intermodal, intermodal transit, libertarian, libertarianism, manufacturing, milkshakes, moore's law, multimodal, northeast corridor, northeast corridor tunnel, public transit, randal o'toole, randall o'toole, real clear policy, small government, train, trains, transit

The Cato Institute’s Randal O’Toole has a really terrible take on transportation investment that grossly misrepresents how money and economic efficiency work.

Detroit Public transit Michigan Transit infrastructure

What If We Can’t Wait? Public-Private Partnership Solutions for Infrastructure

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, Amtrak NEC, augean stables, austerity, ben stupka, brooks patterson, BRT, bus, chicago parking meters, dave coulter, Detroit, economic development, FRR, l. brooks patterson, macomb county, MBA, mba capstone, megan owens, metro detroit, michigan, mikel oglesby, mobility infrastructure, new york fear city, oakland county, philanthropic capital, PPP, private sector, public sector, public transit, public-private partnership, regional infrastructure, regional planning, regional transit, regional transit authority, robert moses, RTA, ryan friedrichs, stephanie farmer, transit, transit infrastructure, transportation, transportation riders united, TRU, why is macomb county awful

The RTA is planning on returning in 2022– again- to revisit a ballot measure to fund regional infrastructure investment in Southeast Michigan. Can we wait for 2022? Should we explore alternatives in the meantime?

Policy Urban Planning Public transit Transit infrastructure

A Biden Presidency: Full Speed Ahead On Transit?

November 9, 2020November 8, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, high-speed rail, infrastructure, infrastructure funding, mass transit, midwest high-speed rail, public transit, rail, rail infrastructure, trains, transit, transit infrastructure

Republicans have tried time and again to defund Amtrak, which receives about a tenth of one percent of the funding directed to car infrastructure every year. Will a new Democratic administration be able to (finally) push for modernizing our transit infrastructure?

Public transit Michigan Transit infrastructure

RTA Bus vs. a Train Between Ann Arbor and Detroit? (Part 2)

February 11, 2020February 11, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, ann arbor, canadian national, canadian pacific, class i railroads, conrail, DDOT, Detroit, farebox recovery ratio, hiawatha, I-75, m-10, marc magliari, mike hicks, milwaukee, rail, RTA, southeast michigan, university of michigan

One of my readers observed that she was a bit bummed out by the “yeah, but it simply can’t work

Companies Have Spent $16 Billion On Autonomous Vehicles

February 5, 2020February 5, 2020 Nat Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, autonomous vehicles, fixed-route transit, Ford, GM, lyft, mobility, Mobility Corridor, public transit, Tesla, TNC, Uber, Waymo

Handbuilt co-conspirator Tom Van Heeke (GM) shared this with me via a tweet on the subject this morning– that companies

Urban Planning Transit infrastructure Environment

On The Banks of the Mighty Maumee

August 29, 2019August 29, 2019 Nat Zorach 0 Comments amtrak, economic development, gary, green stormwater infrastructure, GSI, habitat loss, habitat restoration, johnstown, manifest destiny, maumee river, native landscaping, ohio, parks, prairie grasses, public space, rail infrastructure, stormwater management, tallgrass prairie, toledo, trains, youngstown

In anticipation of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s imminent assumption of her role as supreme socialist ruler of the cosmos, in which she