Samuel Santaella
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samuelsantaella.bsky.social
Samuel Santaella
@samuelsantaella.bsky.social
Lifelong outer-borough #NYC resident. 10 years demanding better ways to not drive.

Expect posts about NYC transit, modernizing regional rail, #bikeNYC, dangerous streets, undoing car supremacy, and climate change overall.

🌐 nycstreetsutures.wordpress.com
Pinned
Utrecht

(Photo credit: @bicycledutch.bsky.social)
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
Riders going over the Pulaski have basically doubled since the pandemic, proof that if you build it (McGuinness, 11th) they will come.
November 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
Very nice to see police in an accessible location (instead of a walled off district office behind barriers and storefront)

But we should also be having a conversation about why MTA has not filled so many vacant retail spaces across the system...rents too high or is MTA a bad landlord?
November 26, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
While NY is considering mandating two-person trains, the DC Metro not only already operates with one person, but recently reactivated its automatic train operation system.

Now, continuing to follow best practices, Metro has announced plans to move towards driverless trains.

tinyurl.com/yft73mru
November 26, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
Wonder what has caused such a dramatic jump in these 100 series/NY buses from Essex County.
November 25, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
There are thousands of New Yorkers who sleep in shelters or the subway system right now who could rent an SRO if they were more plentiful
Relegalize SROs. Relegalize single stair buildings to enable larger, family sized homes. Legalize townhomes everywhere. Legalize ADUs everywhere. Legalize apartment buildings in more places. Yes to all the homes.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/n...
The ‘New’ Solution for the N.Y.C. Housing Crisis: Single-Room Apartments
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:20 PM
MTA has started to pay the price for procrastinating on the three-station pilot for platform screen doors, first announced in 2022. ny1.com/nyc/brooklyn...
MTA ordered to pay $81.7 million to woman struck by subway in Brooklyn
The jury determined that the MTA had failed to install safety barriers or other protective devices.
ny1.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
PATH's proposed 'significant' service increase is actually just a restoration and reshuffling of the service levels they were operating pre-pandemic.

Even playing out all of the proposed service boosts through 2027, PATH will still be operating 2.6% less service hours than they were in 2019.
November 24, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
just learned we won an award for our blog post about Tom Holland and stormwater management.

remember, when you see an article about stormwater management, you repost it. i don’t make the rules.
What Tom Holland’s historic lip-sync showcase taught us about stormwater management
Grab your umbrella and your tights.
neorsd.medium.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
Regardless of global agreements, climate resilience is ultimately built in neighbourhoods with the people who live and work in them. For towns across the Netherlands, that requires a collaborative regreening effort between the municipality and community. #ActionStartsHere @mayors4climate.bsky.social
November 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
If you think cyclists or “zombie” phone staring pedestrians are distracted you do not want to see what drivers have been up to in their cars the last century.
November 22, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
Rails to trails
🚫 Pits trains vs bikes and pedestrians

Highways to bikeways
✅ gets rid of cars
November 22, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
I think entirely too much about how California’s climate plan explicitly says that converting to EVs is not nearly enough to meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets so we need to reduce VMT 25% by 2030, and then we do basically nothing to try to achieve that goal
November 22, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
They line up perfectly.
November 22, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
One way I know bikes aren't dangerous to pedestrians is when I'm biking and have the light, and someone is jaywalking, they'll keep going and not even break their stride.

Meanwhile, when I'm driving, they'll back up to the sidewalk or speed up to cross the street.
November 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM
The entrance to the 3-storey bike parking garage at Utrecht Central holding 12,500 bicycles. It’s free for the first 24 hours, linked to the station, and used by tens of thousands every day. This is what happens when a country treats bikes as real transport infrastructure, not an afterthought.
November 22, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
Free transit idea for @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social that’s easier, cheaper to implement, has fewer weird what-ifs, and doesn’t involve the state:

Buy management control of Citibike, expand it citywide (finally), and make that fare-free for residents.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/n...
Hochul Raises Doubts About Mamdani’s Free Bus Proposal
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
For centuries, cities have been planned by and for able-bodied, gainfully-employed men.

Feminist urban planning isn’t proposing the opposite, but a model that considers all stages of human life, from infancy to old age, without giving greater importance to the productive-work stage.

bit.ly/49uev9N
November 22, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
I donated to @coachbalto.bsky.social at @bikebusworld.bsky.social and got these cool stickers. But I ❤️ Sam’s icon in this one! I wish there was one for me with a camera!!
November 22, 2025 at 12:32 AM
One of my regrets is waiting too long to buy a Brita pitcher.

But hey, I have one now lol
Before choosing bottled water over tap water, remember it takes more than 10X the water that a bottle of water holds to make the plastic bottle and transport the water. And that’s before considering the fuel and GHGs, the 1000 year bottle life, and the RIDICULOUS amount of $ we’re paying for water.
November 22, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
Please call @nycspeakeradams.bsky.social and your local council Member TODAY and ask that the Universal Daylighting Bill be brought to an immediate vote to save lives.

Speaker Adams: 212-482-6371
Lookup your Council Member: council.nyc.gov/districts/
Universal daylighting:
"Currently, most intersections in the city allow parking up to the crosswalk, blocking the view for pedestrians crossing the street...

While a majority of City Council members have signed on as co-sponsors, the measure has been stuck in limbo for months."
Here are all the major bills still before the New York City Council
Airbnb, universal daylighting, street vendors and more.
www.cityandstateny.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Samuel Santaella
The new ADA exit/entrance at Church Ave (BQ) is a remarkable accomplishment. It's modern, well designed and built on-top of one of the oldest stations in the system. This really should be the standard.
November 21, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Woah, we got housing here before we got the Motor Parkway East?!

Would be great if, alongside housing, the Greenway through Kissena Park can be connected with the Long Island Greenway (the Empire State Trail extension) before GTA VI.

www.motorparkwayeast.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Context: housing
One way to understand it as a national crisis is the economy depends in part on geographic mobility. The most expensive places are also the most productive, so pricing people out of those markets hurts everyone.
November 21, 2025 at 4:44 PM
That's what, 100 blocks/5 miles in 20 minutes? Without having to pedal out of a red light?

#CyclingIsTransportation
This is a BIG deal, because it is the continuation of by far the largest GREEN WAVE in the city. (lights are timed for us at 15mph, not the normal of 25 for cars.) You'll soon be able to go over 100 blocks without stopping for a red light. Honestly all lights in the city should be timed this way
November 20, 2025 at 10:07 PM