Transit Talk

After a bit of a publishing hiatus we are back to regular recording and publishing, and in this episode we discuss the mysterious nature of Greenland and the fascinating variety of transit modes available. Spoiler: it's not all buses. We are particularly interested in niche countries/territories and the transit available, and hopefully some that can translate as you listen! As always, please let us know your thoughts, feedback, or suggestions. 

GO Transit, the Toronto Commuter System, has recently been running trial trains to London, Ontario, a city 4 hours away from Toronto. This route, if implemented, would be GO Transit's longest route, and one of the longest commuter rail routes anywhere in the world. In this episode, we discuss the merits of such a service, and our own thoughts on whether a route like this would be feasible. 

Mauritania's Iron Ore Train has gained recent notoriety and infamy for passengers hitchhiking in the iron ore train cars to get from the rural towns of Zouerat and Choum to Nouadhibou. The train is not only an economic lifeline for Mauritania, but also a major adventure for anyone attempting to ride it. If you want to know what the experience would be like, you've come to the right place! Neither of us have been on the train yet, but in this episode we hope you get a sense of the experience and the purpose of the train. For this episode the audio level is lower than normal, so you may have to raise the volume level; sorry about that! As always, let us know your comments, feedback, and suggestions! 

Transit Review, where we choose a city and discuss its various transit systems, functionality, and accessibility, quality.

This week: New York City, including the New York City Subway, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and more!

Stay tuned till the end to see what letter grade we give the city's transit system!

Bolivia, despite being one of the world's poorest countries, has managed to build an impressive, inclusive transit system. In this episode, we discuss Bolivia's successes and weaknesses all over the country, looking at rail transit, road transit, and everything in between! As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions. 

Ferries! The often forgotten form of public transit. In this episode, we discuss the longest ferries in the world are, and the complications of such a title. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions!

China's One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR) has some fascinating implications for transit, so we thought it would be great to kick off our discussion of the initiative with a deep dive into Kenya's rail projects. Tune in for our thoughts on the new Mombasa - Nairobi segment, as well as other thoughts on OBOR generally. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions! 

The three major Mexican airlines: Aeromexico, Volaris, and VivaAerobus make up an interesting dynamic within the Mexican aviation market. Following Jiahao's current trip to Mexico with VivaAerobus, we discuss the different airlines' roles in Mexico as well as the implications and future of each. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, and suggestions!

The infrastructure bill in Congress might actually bring a much-needed cash injection to public transit systems around the country, that is, assuming the bill and the associated $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill can get past Joe Manchin, who has argued for a "strategic pause" on federal spending. Listen in for our thoughts! As always, let us know your comments, feedback, and suggestions! 

As the long-standing Italian flag carrier Alitalia is shutting down, we take the time to discuss the history of Alitalia, reasons for its downfall, and the new replacement airline ITA. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions!

We discuss the ins and outs of the Chinese Rail System, particularly looking at the high speed rail network. Listen to find out more about why growth has exploded, but also the impacts of that growth. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions! 

Afghanistan's pretty hot in the new right now for...reasons. But we thought we would take a step back and talk about what transit is like in this Central Asian country, including urban public transport to the rail system and what the future holds for this country.

In this episode, we discuss the implications and benefits of JetBlue's recent service launch to Heathrow from JFK. We answer common questions on whether we think the route will succeed or how JetBlue's product compares to the heavy competition on the route. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions! 

Transit Review, where we choose a city and discuss its various transit systems, functionality, and accessibility, quality.  

This week: Chicago, including the L, Metra, Pace, the South Shore Line, and more!  

Stay tuned till the end to see what letter grade we give the city's transit system!

Why do airlines constantly fail in the Pacific Region? How is Fiji Airways so successful? These are the types of questions we answer in this episode. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions for future content you'd like to see. 

The first episode of Transit Review, where we choose a city and discuss its various transit systems, functionality, accessibility, quality, and more! Stay tuned till the end to see what letter grade we give the city's transit system!  

This week: San Francisco, including the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Caltrain, ACE Train, SMART Train, MUNI streetcars, ferries, busses, and more!

In this episode, we discuss the Boeing NMA, or new midsize aircraft, from what it could look like to who would want to use it. As always, let us know your comments, feedback, or suggestions! Stay tuned for our episode later in the week on Bay Area Transit! 

After a long hiatus, we talk about our recent trips and transit experiences, with Jack's trip to the Northeast and Jiahao's trip to the Bay Area.

In this episode, we discuss the strengths and drawbacks of each airline alliance, as well as our opinions on which is the best. As always, let us know your comments, suggestions, or feedback. 

There are two new Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) in the United States: Avelo Airlines and Breeze Airways. In this episode, we discuss Jack's recent trip on Avelo Airlines from Santa Rosa to Burbank, as well as talk about the future of these airlines in general.

In this episode, we discuss United's recent announcement that they would be purchasing 15 Overture Supersonic jets from Boom Supersonic. Listen to hear what we think! As always, let us know your thoughts, comments, or feedback! 

In this episode, we each describe two great train journeys around the world. Let us know your comments or feedback! 

What city contains the best public transit in the United States? What are some important things to consider with public transit? Comfort? Expansion? In this episode, we share our reasons for what we consider to be factors of good public transit and discuss the various pros and cons of different public transit systems in the United States.

In this episode, we discuss the future of Amtrak given the recent expansion proposals. Let us know your comments, feedback,or suggestions for future comments! Here is the link to the map we reference a lot in the podcast: https://www.npr.org/2021/04/06/984464351/as-biden-pushes-major-rail-investments-rail-amtraks-2035-map-has-people-talking