This Northern train has thankfully had a makeover since I last took the route 10+ years ago. Seats are comfortable now and there is USB power available.

Excellent experience taking public transport from Golcar to Saltaire today. We went bus-train-bus via Huddersfield and Bradford.

Transit in the UK makes it clear to me just how much there is to improve in Mauritius. Thankfully much is low-hanging fruit, e.g. better signage, card payments etc.

Spectacular and strange skies here above the Pennines this morning. Very atmospheric.

Stoked (pun intended) to receive @garethdennis.bsky.social's How The Railways Will Fix The Future from my brother today. A few pages in and I'm hooked!

4. Mobile/card payment would be more convenient but having a conductor taking cash payments does work well to eliminate boarding delays.
5. Bus stops are ok and have nice details (cutaway to see arrivals, painted cornices), but info missing. Some have e-ink displays but these were not working...

6/

My takeaways for increasing ridership:

1. Better info needed, especially online and at bus stations. Must be clear which bus to take, where to find it.
2. More express options, esp. in the north, would make buses more competitive as a mode
3. Gare du Nord must be safer, more accessible
...

5/

The bus was less comfortable than the first, and slow due to the number of stops. Total journey: 56 mins (scheduled as 45)—much longer than the 30 mins promised by my original plan of route #22.

Again we relied on open windows for cooling, which was less effective in the sun-drenched north... 4/

A police officer helpfully directed me but it took another 10 mins being sold different routes by the various independent operators before I chose #159 which blocked my planned #22 so would presumably leave first.

Navigating the station felt unsafe, like game of "stay out of the blind spots"... 3/

10 mins later, after a brisk walk on the uneven pavements (very poor accessibility) and past the old market of Port Louis, I arrived at Gare du Nord.

Finding the right bus was a challenge: I could identify no stand numbers, find no destination board, nor any other sources visual information... 2/

Good experience travelling from Belle Etoile to Port Louis on bus route 2. Journey of 18 min with light traffic until the city centre.

Short wait, reasonably comfortable, good ventilation, price of MUR30 (~$0.65) ok. Closer to home than the metro.

The 2nd leg to Labourdonnais was much worse...🧵 1/

This is progressing well after a few evenings of work. Simple interface with GPS tracking progress along the route is implemented and working nicely. Next up, a platform view for departure times and then I need to figure out a backend for crowd-sourced live info.

Oxfordshire County Council seems to have their priorities right (image borrowed from the linked article).

Here's a new pedestrian-friendly development in Moka, on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Large boulevard with two single lanes on cobblestones. Street dining, underground parking. It's linked with paths to nearby residential areas. Much better than the typical experience for pedestrians here.

Jupiter (top of the photo, slightly right of centre) is looking stunning tonight. It's easy to see three of its moons* through my fairly basic binoculars.

*Ganymede, Callisto and Io. An online tool tells me that Europa is hidden behind the planet for the next 40 minutes or so.

Another day, another #Bluesky over #Mauritius. Stark contrast to the snowy pics my mum just sent from Yorkshire. Both wonderful in their own ways.