Brooke’s Substack

Transit & My Community (Track 1)

TLDR: This post is focused primarily on my recent graduation, travels in the PNW, and the connection between public transit and community-building. If you’re looking for a more hard-hitting discussion of urbanism or my professional life, stay tuned for Track 2, coming soon…

Read more

a year ago · 3 likes · Brooke Moss

I’ve been passionate about trains and public transit for much of my life, although I think that tendency as a kid stemmed from my awe at the big machines (no surprise, then, that I became an engineer). It was only partway through high school that I started to grow my knowledge about the human impacts that well-designed transit networks and livable urban forms can have. Even as a young girl, I already used my bike to get everywhere, so that aspect of urbanism discourse and knowledge came naturally to me. But, although I had grown up riding transit while visiting other places (New Orleans streetcars in particular), it wasn’t until I started as a student at Olin that I truly had access to transit on a semi-regular basis. As my passion for transit gained steam, so too did my connection with fellow transit nerds. It is through a shared interest in transit that I have made and strengthened some of my most valuable personal and professional connections in recent years. And, trying to build community in a new place, I’ve found my love for transit to be a conduit to finding amazing people.

Subscribe now

The T Princesses

One of the more unexpected connections I’ve been able to make through a shared passion for transit happens to be with a pair of local Boston celebrities. In the process of settling into my new home here in Somerville, I’ve had the absolute joy of becoming good friends with Pari Kim and Tina Zhu Xi Caruso. Tina and Pari are a wonderful couple of queer, autistic, transit-loving “T Princesses” who you may recognize from the show Love on the Spectrum (which I haven’t seen yet, oops!). Known by folks around and beyond the city for their love for the MBTA (and for each other), I’m incredibly thankful that this shared love of ours has brought me together with these lovely friends.

Over the past few months, we’ve gotten to…

…check out the New England Railroad Club’s Cape Cod Dinner Train…

(Tina and Pari were cool enough to ride the train from Boston to Bourne and back, while I just indulged in photographing the MBTA’s newly-unveiled heritage locomotive paying homage to the former Boston & Maine Railroad)

…attend an MBTGAY drag show hosted by the wonderful Tilda Watersclear where Pari and I both ended up on stage presenting our very best train facts…

…do some railfanning at South Station with Elphaba and Glinda…

…compete in MBTA drag trivia together…

…and ride the commuter rail’s Fall Rail Ride event together to Applefest at Wachusett Mountain!

Old & New Friends

Not only has transit forged new connections for me, but it has given old connections from back home new meaning. I was recently able to reconnect with Owen, a high school classmate of mine who is now a conductor for Amtrak and based out of Springfield. I haven’t yet been on one of his trains, but I got to meet up with him while he was working, before leaving on my own train, which was a blast!

Over the past few years, I’ve been able to reconnect with Cam, an old rowing teammate of mine and urban planner. Lately, we’ve been chatting about rail advocacy in Western Mass, something close to both of our hearts. I also now live pretty close to my friend Cleo, which has given us the opportunity to renew our bond through a passion for rail and the MBTA. Cleo even joined Pari, Tina, and I for the MBTA drag trivia night and was an invaluable member of our team.

Transit has even made connections for me on my commute! While spending 2 days a week super-commuting by Commuter Rail from Somerville to Lowell for a part-time job the last few months, I became friends with my conductor Chris around our shared love of trains and transit, new and old.

Through Chris, I became a member of an online community of Boston-area transit nerds, where I met Brooke: a Green Line operator who I have an incredible amount of things in common with.

All of this is to say that in a time in my life where I’m searching for new connections and new roots in a new place, a shared love of transit has build all kinds of wonderful bridges for me.

The Profession

In recent months, my passion for and knowledge of transit have taken me places I never would have expected in my wildest dreams.

For the last few years, I’d begun to wonder how I might be able to combine my skillset and education with my passion for transit to find a career in transit. I didn’t feel like my background aligned well enough to go into vehicle engineering, track engineering, transit planning, or any other discipline that I was aware of. That is, until I attended a TransitMatters “Women in Transit” event where I met Ashli Molina. At the time, Ashli was Deputy Director of Bus Technology within the MBTA’s “Technology Innovation Department” (TID). From Ashli and Olin alum Joan Liu ‘09, I began to learn about the incredible interdisciplinary technology work being done within this unique department, work that felt well-aligned to my skillset and interests.

Over the following months, I applied to roles at TID, networked with current and former members of the department, and thought a lot about how to orient myself toward a future in this kind of work. Throughout the summer, I found some wonderful mentors in this space and at the T, including Ryan Mahoney and Kara Bendery-Butler. Through a mutual friend I also connected with Abby Golfo, a service designer for TID, who became an incredible resource and friend.

TransportationCamp New England

In September, I had the opportunity to attend TransportationCamp New England, an annual “unconference” with presentations and discussions led by folks of all backgrounds with an interest in transit. I got to sit in on a number of presentations by TID members, shown below.

Attending TransportationCamp was such an amazing experience for me and really supercharged my motivation to work in this transit technology space. In fact, later that week, I had my second interview for an exciting role at TID, interviewing to work with the very same people who I met and listened to at the unconference. And then… I got the job!

My New Chapter

Over the past four weeks, I’ve jumped headfirst into this new adventure, into my dream job. It has been my mission to become a sponge that absorbs as much information as possible from the brilliant engineers and designers and product managers and everyone I am now surrounded by. This includes Karti, my boss, who was one of the people I watched speak at TransportationCamp! As someone who is so passionate about transit and eternally curious about how the world around me works, I’ve has now been dropped into a job where I can chase these curiosities for a living. That’s pretty awesome. I pride myself on my ability to ask deeply informed questions, and have been able to leverage my preexisting knowledge and curiosity about the T as I settle into my new role.

I was brought on as a Project Manager in the department to work on a modernization project to bring the “countdown clocks” and public address systems that inform riders of arriving trains, PSAs, and more out of the ‘aughts and into the modern day. I’ve had a blast diving into documentation, talking with people from across the organization who will be involved in my project, and getting to explore the MBTA system through this lens.

Connected.

All of this is to say: I’m so thankful for all of the friends I’ve made through my love for transit, the incredible people I get to work with, and the other people in my life who put up with me talking about literally nothing else ever (I’m even told some find it endearing?). Like any city well-served by transit, I feel connected.

Subscribe now

I can’t wait to see where this new life of mine takes me, but I know it will involve a lot of time riding the rails of the MBTA. So when in doubt, that’s where you can find me.

Leave a comment

At this point, I've sort of created a reputation for myself. Get on a train (or many) and see where it takes me. In fact, I have taken to live-posting my train adventures on my Instagram and love to see how invested many of my friends are in the hijinks I get up to.

I love the rhythm of it all. Gazing out the window and watching the world go by. Sometimes the view is familiar (as I write this, I'm sitting on the MBTA Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester Line, which I have ridden many times), and sometimes it's so new and exciting that it moves something within me. During the course of my semester in Europe, I took this "new views" philosophy to heart, spending every possible moment hopping trains across the continent and almost never retracing my steps, almost all of it fully solo.

Sad to leave, ready to explore

On May 16th, I graduated from Olin College of Engineering with my bachelors degree in a self-designed Engineering: Robotics for Sustainability concentration. I'm incredibly proud of the work I've done over the past 4 years of my undergrad and grateful for the invaluable things I've learned, the amazing mentors I've had, and the community I've helped to steward. Starting in August I moved to Somerville, where I have been able to thrive in a community of Olin alumni, new friends, and walkable neighborhoods! In fact, there are at least 10 recent Olin alumni within a 2 block radius of my house, so my community is never too far away.

In the interim, I decided I wanted to do something with my time to feed my adventurous soul, my hunger for the steel rails, and sense of connection to my community. Over the course of my time at Olin, I carved out a niche for myself. I found it incredibly rewarding to take on responsibilities that would enable the creativity, well-being, and success of my peers, friends, and colleagues. Whether it be managing spreadsheets to coordinate airport carpools, training students on the library cameras to take better photos of their projects, or acting as a Peer Advocate to provide guidance to my peers regarding healthy relationships and queer identity, I found a version of myself I could be proud of when amongst these amazing people and particularly when doing everything in my power to support them.

Why do I say this now? Isn't this about a train trip or something? (And isn't that what this blog is supposed to be about?)

Subscribe now

I say this because once I graduated, I wanted to rekindle some of the rail-based exploration I found a love for in Europe, but with a bit of a twist. Instead of solely setting out to see new sights, I sought a combination of familiarity and novelty. Instead of setting out alone, I decided to center this trip around my love for my community. I set out to commune with friends, explore their homes through their eyes, and joyride some transit along the way.

Setting Off

The initial inspiration for this trip, in addition to that mentioned above, was that my dear Olin friend, Annika, was going to be having a medical procedure and I felt it would be helpful to fly out to Seattle to assist in her recovery and get some adventuring out of the deal too. As such, I booked a flight from Boston to Seattle (trust me, I considered taking Amtrak all the way) and then decided to book my return flight from Portland, OR for reasons I will explain later on.

What better way to start an adventure like this than by taking the once-daily1 Amtrak Lake Shore Limited between Springfield, MA and Boston, MA? I stayed with an Olin friend in Back Bay, Boston the first night after taking this evening train, bringing the count of “Oliner Hosts” for this trip to 1.

Welcome to Seattle

I arrived in Seattle and had 2 days while Annika was still out of town. So, I decided to take a little detour and spend that time with a different Olin friend in Redmond, on the other side of Lake Washington. Once I arrived at the airport, I took all 3 lines of the airport shuttle (at Annika’s suggestion) and started making my way to Redmond. Sound Transit operates what is currently a 2-line light rail transit system in the region surrounding Seattle, but it is rapidly expanding. In fact, I believe Seattle is currently one of the leading cities in North America when it comes to ambitious transit expansion. I plan to come back and experience more of the system in the future as it expands!

Currently, the 1 Line (shown in green) and the 2 Line (shown in blue) are on opposite sides of Lake Washington, with their connection across a floating bridge (!!!!) to open in early 2026. To get from the airport to Maya’s house in Redmond, I took the 1 Line to downtown Seattle and switched to the Sound Transit 550 bus over the lake. I got to look out the window at the soon-to-open cross-lake LRT connection!! As I was taking photos of the tracks out the bus window, someone next to me tapped on my shoulder and pointed to the opposite window, saying “you know the good view is out that way, the mountain”. Yeah, but I’m really just here for the trains…

I found the Link to be an incredibly pleasant experience overall. It has underground sections, elevated sections, and sections running in street-centered islands. One of the criticisms I’ve seen levied against this system and those LRTs like it is that it is overbuilt — halfway to a metro but with some of the drawbacks of a conventional tram. While I think this criticism is valid, I found it to be efficient at getting me around the city and well-used by locals and visitors alike. It appeared to have priority at lights on the surface-running sections, and they run 4-unit sets on the 1 Line with plenty of capacity (the 2 Line currently runs with 2-unit sets). In most of the time I was riding it, both lines appeared to have ~10 minute peak headways which, while not ideal for a metro, was plenty frequent enough for me to show up at the station without worrying about when the next train would arrive.

After taking the bus across the lake, I switched to the 2 Line, taking its current form end to end from South Bellevue to Downtown Redmond. Once in Redmond, I grabbed a local King Country Metro bus to Maya’s neighborhood and walked to her house. It was pretty special to be able to get all the way out into a suburban neighborhood on the other side of the country solely via transit!!

Maya is a good friend of mine and a coworker on the agricultural robotics research I’ve spent the last 2 years working on at Olin. In fact, the two of us were together again later in the summer in Davis, CA to present our research at the IFAC AGRICONTROL conference. While in Redmond with Maya, I got to spend some quality time with her and her parents, which was a wonderfully chill way to start my trip and rest from my travels.

Adventures with Annika

Two days after my arrival, I retraced my journey from the airport to Redmond, heading back to the airport to intercept Annika as she arrived on a flight with her grandparents. I managed to surprise her in the walkway between the airport terminal and the light rail station, she had no idea I was going to be there!

We had a couple of days to adventure together before Annika’s surgery, which we certainly made the most of. We hit all the classic Seattle spots, and some of her favorites. We rode the monorail to Seattle Center, saw Pike Place Market, and walked along the Seattle waterfront. Side-note: since they buried the Alaskan Way viaduct, the Seattle Waterfront redevelopment seems to have gone extremely well, it was a very pleasant (though touristy) place to be, with admirable pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.

As I mentioned, the original inspiration for visiting Seattle was to support Annika before and after her surgery. It’s very important to me to spend the time, energy, and money I can afford to nurture my community and support those I care for deeply. As such, I felt it was a no-brainer to not only travel to Seattle but attend the surgery itself. We ended up spending 13 hours at the hospital, but the surgery went very smoothly and all that time and energy was absolutely worth it to support my friend in such a stressful process.

Recovery & Going Solo

After surgery, I alternated between caretaking duty and some solo adventures around the city while Annika rested. Honestly it was a really great rhythm for me, somewhere between vacationing in a new place and visiting family in a place I’ve been a million times. I got to take my time throughout my 2 weeks just wandering around the city and then coming back to spend time with my friend.

I spent one afternoon riding both of Seattle’s streetcar lines end-to-end and checking out the King Street Amtrak Station in the process.

I went for a bike ride on an awesome rail trail and then subsequently discovered exactly how hilly Seattle can be when I took a different route back.

I spent a day with Olin friend Dominic playing the at-home version of Jet Lag: The Game’s Hide and Seek. We had an absolute blast chasing each other around Seattle’s transit system and it was a great way to explore new places.

I checked out the public library (in search of a paper transit map, to no avail) and the building is so cool!

I spend some time with my friend Daly from back home. She was my rowing partner back in high school and now attends the University of Washington, so she gave me a tour of the campus. It’s a bit bigger than Olin for sure…

I joined Olin alum Jasmine for her 2 hour commute by bike-ferry-bus-bike from Seattle to a rural area on the other side of Puget Sound. She works for Green Mountain Technologies, a composting technology company that had a collaboration this spring with the course I was a teaching assistant for. This was quite the adventure!

Annika and I visited a place called Carkeek Park, which is right on the Sound and has a pedestrian bridge that the Amtrak Cascades and Sounder commuter rail trains pass right underneath. I was lucky enough to catch a Cascades train coming into Seattle from Vancouver, BC!

Before I left Seattle, Annika and I got to attend Seattle Pride in the Park and check out Gas Works Park. They were both awesome adventures and I got some gorgeous earrings from pride!

On the (Rail)road Again

All good things eventually come to an end, and so too did my time in Seattle. Because I always love a little whimsy in my life (and because TRAINS), I decided to book my return flight from Portland, OR so that I could take the Amtrak Cascades. I only gave myself about 32 hours in Portland between the train’s arrival and my flight out, but I made the most of it! This train ride was absolutely gorgeous, though unfortunately I ended up with Amfleet rolling stock instead of the rare Talgo trainsets. Oh well, maybe one day.

Check out these fuselages as we cruised past the Boeing facilities in Washington. These plane bodies come all the way from Kansas to be assembled in Renton and Everett, WA.

The view out the window was spectacular!

Once I arrived in Portland, I set out for a walk. First, I came upon a protest against the US Navy Fleet Week in Portland that I joined for a few minutes. I kept walking and came upon a dragon boat race! At both of these events I had wonderful conversations with strangers who were participating, which was really special.

I kept walking and got to walk over a car-free bridge! There are a pair of inner lanes shared by buses, light rail vehicles, and streetcars, while the outer lanes host cyclists and pedestrians. It was super cool, and shoutout to Aaron Greiner (Olin ‘18) for the tip on this awesome piece of urbanism.

I was able to briefly check out the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, with some impressive steam locomotives on display!

While in Portland, I was also able to reconnect with Abigail, a friend of mine that I met during my study abroad semester in Copenhagen, and her dog Toby! Staying with Abigail brings my total count of “friend stayed with” to 4.

Once I returned to Boston from Portland, I stayed with another Olin friend (Becca) and attended Boston Pride with a few of my most dear friends. We even got to check out the pride train (see cover photo) and receive “Pride in Transit” lanyards, now a treasured possession of mine.

So…. what next?

This trip to the PNW was a valuable reminder of the power of community, the importance of putting in the work to nurture that community, and how public transit can be an essential tool in that process. We are used to talking about public transit’s role in broader community cohesion and quality-of-life, but I’ve found it meaningful to remember what that looks like on an individual level: transit is what allowed me to do all the things I did on this trip, it allowed me to support my people and find support amongst my people.

Though I am sad to have left Olin behind, I’m thriving in my new neighborhood in Somerville, living car-free and able to leverage the MBTA and my bike to stay connected with my existing community and to build relationships with so many cool new people I’ve met here.

You may have noticed this (admittedly quite long) post is titled “Track 1”. A lot more has happened in my life in the past few months than I was able to share in just this post, much of which connects to this same theme of transit & community. So be on the lookout for a second installment soon, including some extremely exciting news about my next adventure. For so many, transit is something that connects and allows community to thrive. In Track 2, I plan to discuss how transit has helped me find my people in even more unique ways.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, questions, or anything else you may like to share with me. Thank you for reading this far, and see you soon!

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Captain's Log #1 - Copenhagen, Denmark

Trains: 0 — Buses: 1

26 March, 12:00

After bidding adieu to my mother, who stayed the weekend with me in Copenhagen, and a couple Olin friends who slept in my apartment on their layover, I have prepared myself for my train adventure. I left my apartment at 11:00, with all of my camera gear, camping gear, and other things for my trip, and took the 31 bus to the Copenhagen Central Station.

Although originally my train booking consisted of 1 train (6 hours) from Copenhagen to Stockholm and 1 train (18 hours) from Stockholm to Narvik, Norway, the train lines have warned me of some disruptions. Instead of a direct train to Stockholm, I have to take a 30-minute train across the Øresund bridge to Malmö before boarding my high-speed train to Stockholm. Instead of being able to take my night train all the way through to Narvik, a previous derailment means that the last 1.5 hours of that trip will be taken by bus. Additionally, we've been told to expect a switch from sleeping carriages to seated carriages around 06:00 tomorrow due indirectly to that derailment.

Captain's Log #2 - Stockholm, Sweden

Trains: 2 — Buses: 1

26 March, 18:00

The train across Øresund to Malmö and the train onward to Stockholm have been mostly uneventful. The "high-speed" train to Stockholm (a tilting train that runs on standard rails) does make me nauseous, something I figured out a few weeks ago while traveling to Stockholm for class. I did chat some with my seat neighbor, she's originally from Hamburg and lives in Bavaria, visiting Sweden for the first time to see her friends. We were both travelling using Eurail/Interrail passes, which became a nice way to meet someone. I've also learned that an Olin friend, Clay, managed to get tickets on the same night train as me, something we discussed a few weeks back. Clay is studying at DIS Stockholm, and had been wanting to travel to somewhere along the same train, but there weren't any tickets at the time. I've just met up with him in the station to wait for our train. It's quite nice to know that I will have a buddy on this 18-hour train, especially since this is an otherwise fully solo adventure.

Captain's Log #3 - ????, Sweden

Trains: 3 — Buses: 1

27 March, 00:15

For this night train from Stockholm to Narvik, I am in a 6-person couchette room, with my bed all the way on top. It's impossible for me to even partially sit up in bed, but my roommates are nice and overall it's pretty comfortable. I managed to fall asleep around 22:00 tonight, but was awoken around midnight by a blaring alarm sound coming from the ceiling right near my head. Who knows how long the alarm was going off before I woke up, but it finally just stopped after 15 minutes or so. We're all quite confused and smell the scent of something burning. The train has been stopped, and they just came over the intercom to tell us there is no fire, but there is some kind of electrical issue causing the delays.

Captain's Log #4 - Örnsköldsvik, Sweden

Trains: 3 — Buses: 1

27 March, 04:45

After being awoken by the alarm, we were told we could fall back asleep because there was no danger to us. Between now and then, I woke up a few times, either to announcements about the delays or to other random things. We've now been woken up at the station here in Örnsköldsvik. While I was asleep, we didn't make much forward progress. In fact, the train was originally scheduled to stop at this station around 01:00, and it is currently 04:45. I've also just learned that my carriage is the one with the electrical issue, so at some point during the night they moved us from near the front of the consist to the very end. We've been given instructions to get off the train (NT94 to Narvik) and wait about an hour for the next one (NT92 to Boden). There is no electricity in my carriage, due to what I have learned was in fact an electrical fire, so I packed my things and climbed down from my bunk in the dark, hoping I didn't forget anything.

Captain's Log #5 - Boden, Sweden

Trains: 4 — Buses: 1

27 March, 12:30

After disembarking from the crippled NT94 at 04:45 today, we waited in the station in Örnsköldsvik until the NT92 train arrived at 05:45. This was not a replacement train, but just an existing night train service with a different destination. It took on half of the passengers from our train, while the other half boarded a local train. Even so, the train was packed with passengers from NT94 and existing passengers from NT92, so Clay and I had to spend the next 6 hours sitting in the restaurant car, the only place we could find seats. NT94 was originally supposed to stop here in Boden at around 06:00 on the way to Narvik, but now that we were on NT92 (bound for Luleå, via Boden), we needed to get off at Boden to change trains. We've now boarded NT96, another train bound for Narvik, but this one originated in Luleå. We expect to be on this train for about 5.5 hours, from here to Abisko, Sweden.

At Abisko, Clay will have reached his destination, while I will be changing to a rail-replacement bus for the last 1.5 hours to Narvik. My original itinerary had a 3-hour layover time in Narvik before hopping on a local bus service for 4 hours out to Svolvær, in the Lofoten Islands. However, I was supposed to be arriving in Narvik right about now, and I still have 7 hours to go. As such, I've booked a hostel bed in Narvik for the night and will be catching the next bus tomorrow morning. Oh well.

Captain's Log #6 - Somewhere between Kiruna and Abisko, Sweden

Trains: 5 — Buses: 1

27 March, 19:00

After changing trains in Boden, we have made good progress northward toward Abisko, Clay's final destination and where I am supposed to change to the rail-replacement bus. However, we have spent the last hour and a half stopped at a red signal about 30 minutes short of Abisko. We've been told that there are issues on the track ahead of us (no further details were provided) and the plan is to backtrack for an hour to the previous station, Kiruna. Once in Kiruna, we will switch to our buses, in my case that means about a 2.5 hour bus ride to Narvik. We've also been told that part of the reason we've been stopped so long is that a passenger got off the train while we were stopped, without permission. This train has been full of never-ending excitement for sure!

Captain's Log #7 - Narvik, Norway

Trains: 5 — Buses: 2

27 March, 23:00

It's 11pm and I've finally made it to Narvik, about 11 hours after I was scheduled to arrive here. I've just walked across town with my bags to the hostel, which is connected to the old seafarers' chapel. Half of the people in the hostel are from my train, the hostel manager said it's the most people he's ever had check in at once. Anyway, the plan is to get some much-needed sleep and catch my 10am bus tomorrow out into the Lofoten Islands.

Captain's Log #8 - Svolvær, Norway

Trains: 5 — Buses: 3

28 March, 14:00

I woke up earlier than I planned to at the hostel this morning. I spent a couple hours wandering around Narvik with all of my belongings before going to the bus terminal. I had expected to take the bus yesterday evening, but with all the train shenanigans, the 10am bus today was my backup plan. Over the last 4 hours, we drove through tunnels, over bridges, and around mountains as we made our way out into the Lofoten Islands. To say the view from the bus was beautiful would be a gross understatement. To be quite honest, these views have made all of my trials and tribulations worth it! Now that I have arrived in Svolvær, I can go retrieve my rental car and begin exploring. To be quite honest, I have no plans for things to see or do, and it turns out that I only have 1.5 days here, but I'm sure I will have a great time.

Captain's Log #9 - Vestvågøy, Norway

Trains: 5 — Buses: 3

28 March, 20:30

I've now been in Lofoten for 6 hours or so. It's been somewhat stressful to figure out what I want to do and see in my short time here, although I did research on things to do, I never really made decisions. I picked up my car in Svolvær, then bought a burger and a breakfast muffin (for tomorrow) from a grocery story, since most places are closed for Maundy Thursday. I then got on the road and found a beautiful pull-out to eat my lunch (I had forgotten to eat all day). I kept driving until I found something that looked like a hiking trail and suited up for an adventure. I hiked up between two mountains, and made it partway up each of them before encountering very strong wind coming over the ridge. I was able to watch golden hour from the mountain face, and briefly call Quinn to show them the view. I then made my way back down from my precarious position and back to the car. Once I got back to the car, I tried to unlock the door with the fob but nothing happened. I didn't think anything of it until the car wouldn't start. It turns out that I left my lights on while hiking, oops!! I walked to the nearest house, but they didn't have any jumper cables. I then walked to the next-closest house a half-mile away (right at the trailhead of my hike) and found an extremely kind older gentleman with a beautiful dog outside who was more than happy to help. He told me to hop in the car while he grabbed the cables, and we chatted while driving back to my car and getting it restarted.

He also gave me some suggestions on places to car camp for the night, so I drove around for a while to both charge the battery and find a place. As I write this, I am laying in the back of my little Honda Jazz, debating whether to take photos of the stars or just turn in for the night.

Captain's Log #10 - Ballstad, Norway

Trains: 5 — Buses: 3

29 March, 12:00

Well, I did end up deciding to look up at the stars last night. I decided to take some test shots on my camera through the car window before climbing out of my cozy sleeping bag. It was only once taking these photos that I noticed the Aurora Borealis!! There was no way I was missing out on experiencing the aurora, especially in a place such as this, so I spent some time outside snapping away.

As for sleeping in the car, I learned that my sleeping bag was not warm enough, even with my additional layers. I woke up a few times shivering, and I couldn't feel my feet in the morning. Once I gathered the energy to get out of the sleeping bag, I headed for a hiking trail that I found on AllTrails, on the next island over for a chill morning hike... I ended up climbing a mountain on a whim.

Captain's Log #11 - Henningsvær, Norway

Trains: 5 — Buses: 3

29 March, 18:00

After finishing my wonderful hike, I drove to Henningsvær, a quaint fishing village at the end of a winding road perched between a mountain and the sea. The town was beautiful, and I took the opportunity to just wander around for a while. The one thing I had to see, though, was the soccer field, which seems extremely out-of-place on a rocky outcrop surrounded by water on three sides. In fact, this field was the setting of the opening sequence to "A Scandi Flick", an episode of *The Grand Tour* (for those unfamiliar, *The Grand Tour* consists of 3 old British men travelling the world while doing silly things in cars, and is hosted by the old hosts of *Top Gear*).

I've made the executive decision to forego the car camping tonight and just grab a hotel room in Svolvær, which should make my morning much more straight-forward and keep me from freezing my feet again. I've thoroughly enjoyed my (short) time here in the Lofoten Islands, and I would love to come back here someday, it really is breathtaking.

Captain's Log #12 - Bodø, Norway

Trains: 5 — Buses: 3 — Boats: 1

30 March, 21:00

This morning, I woke up in Svolvær and hopped on the express boat to Bodø, a mainland coastal city south of the Lofoten Islands. The boat ride took about 4 hours and was a comfortable way to take in views of the mountains and fjords, although it was snowing. Once in Bodø, I walked from the boat pier to the train station to find a luggage locker. Since I am not staying the night in Bodø, I wanted to toss my camping gear and big backpack into a locker, freeing me up to explore for the day. Well, dear reader, I then encountered another speed bump in my plans. If you recall, when deboarding the broken train at 4:30am, I had to pack my belongings in the dark, while crammed into the top bunk of three. As it turns out, in my haste, I had lost my credit card, leaving me with Google Pay as my only method of payment for my entire trip. Just my luck that the Bodø train station lockers required me to insert a card. After hemming and hawing for a while, I decided to head to a nearby hotel and ask the receptionist if they could help me out by storing my luggage in their luggage room for the day. To my surprise, they obliged! Unsure how best to thank them for their compassion, I made sure to leave a glowing Google Maps review.

Having deposited my luggage, I headed out to find what attractions might be open on the Saturday before Easter. I had wanted to visit Saltstaumen, a nearby fjord with the world's most powerful tidal current (thanks Tom Scott!), but I would not have been able to get back to Bodø by bus. I spent a few hours at the Norwegian Aviation Museum, a wonderful museum covering the history and present of civil and military aviation in Norway, albeit ironic on a trip with pretty much all transit modes *except* planes. I then found an open-air museum with an assortment of historic buildings from fishing settlements in northern Norway. As I write this, I am now back at the Bodø station, ready to board my night train south to Trondheim. While Narvik, where I was a few days ago, is the northernmost point in the Swedish rail network, Bodø is the northernmost point in the Norwegian network, and the two are not connected by rail. Hopefully this night train goes more smoothly than the first one as I begin my journey south, I expect to arrive in Copenhagen 2 days from now.

Captain's Log #13 - Trondheim, Norway

Trains: 6 — Buses: 3 — Boats: 1

31 March, 15:00

Last night's train from Bodø went very smoothly, and the daylight savings time change actually happened while I was asleep on the train. I spent today again wandering around the city, seeing what I could find. I explored a hilltop fortress overlooking the city, took pictures of Trondheim's only tram line, and even found a bike lift to assist up a steep street! When operational during the summer, cyclists can place their foot on the small platform, which is then pulled uphill by a cable embedded in the curb. Given that it was Easter Sunday, not much was actually open, but I feel like I had an enjoyable day. I'm now back at Trondheim's station (where thankfully they have Google Pay-compatible lockers), ready to board my train to Oslo. Due to a washed-out bridge on this train route, we will have to take a short shuttle bus halfway and then get on a second train, but that's not too much of a hassle compared to what I dealt with the other day.

Captain's Log #14 - Oslo, Norway

Trains: 8 — Buses: 5 — Boats: 1

1 April, 10:00

I arrived in Oslo at 10pm last night, and hopped on a bus to Drøbak, a small town along the Oslo Fjord. In true "small world" fashion, my mother's college classmate (who attended DIS, my study abroad program, in 1990) now lives in Drøbak. Although she and my mom have not been in touch in many years, she was gracious enough to invite me into her home and give me a place to stay. I had a much-needed night's sleep and sat with her family for pancakes this morning. Her daughter is a masters student here in Oslo, and offered to give me a tour of the city, so we're about to hop on a quick train to the city center and explore for a few hours before I head back to Copenhagen.

Captain's Log #15 - Copenhagen, Denmark

Trains: 11 — Buses: 6 — Boats: 1 — Trams: 2

1 April, 23:00

I'm home!! I had a wonderful time exploring Oslo today, I got to ride trams, have my own personal tour guide to chat with, and see some sights. It was also quite refreshing to take the day slowly, given all the excitement of this trip. From Oslo, I boarded a train at 2pm to Göteborg, Sweden, where I changed trains to Copenhagen, arriving at 10:30pm. I took the city bus back to my apartment, and holy cow am I exhausted. Overall, I travelled 3500km between 11 trains during this trip, in addition to the 6 buses, 1 boat, 2 trams, and rental car travel in between. Even after all the issues I encountered on my adventure, this has been the experience of a lifetime, and has further galvanized my love for train travel. In fact, I'm now dreaming of some North American rail journeys. All that said, it's now time for me to get some rest in my own bed so I can make it to my 8:30am class tomorrow!

Captain's Log #16 (Addendum) - ????

Trains: 1

12 April, 18:00

Subscribe now

As I sit here finalizing this blog post, I am again on a train. Not 2 weeks after arriving back in Copenhagen, I am embarking on a 7-day, 2300km train journey, this time headed south. Hopefully this trip goes more smoothly than the last, but I'm sure you will hear all about it in a future blog post. Also, please ignore the fact that I still haven't written about my trip to Sweden and Finland over a month ago, writing is hard and I will get to it sometime soon. If you've made it all the way through this narrative, bravo and thank you for following the adventures of a girl who loves trains but doesn't have a clue how to solo travel.

Subscribe now

(Almost) 2 months in Copenhagen

I’m really starting to settle into a rhythm of living in Copenhagen. Certainly there is room for me to get out and explore more of the city, but I’ve been loving my adventures so far! I’ve spent an afternoon in Malmö, Sweden and I’ve visited numerous historic buildings and beautiful locations in Copenhagen.

I’ve also joined a rowing team, the Danske Studenters Roklub (Danish Students’ Rowing Club), making this the first time I’ve trained regularly with a team since way back in 2021. I hope to participate in the “Odense Langdistance” regatta in April with my team, a 6000m race in the format of a sprint race.

Short study tour: Samsø

With my core course (Sustainable Development in Northern Europe), I travelled to the rural Danish island of Samsø for the better part of a week in February. Samsø is the first island in Denmark to be energy self-sufficient and generate all of its electricity from local renewable sources. We visited the Samsø Energy Academy to learn about the sense of community that was such a driving force behind Samsø’s green transition in the last 20 years. We got to visit one of Samsø’s 4 district heating plants, where sources such as solar thermal panels and burning of agricultural straw waste provide hot water and home heating to surrounding villages in an efficient and renewable manner.

We met with the young farmers of Yduns Have to learn about their sustainable agricultural practices and the process of becoming a new farmer. We met with a subsistence farmer who moved from Copenhagen to live a self-sufficient life on Samsø with her young son. We also met with Jørgen Tranberg, an older local farmer who is personally invested in the green transition of Samsø through his longtime ownership of a massive wind turbine on his property. Amazingly, we got to climb this turbine, an experience I will never forget.

Finally, we chatted with Tor Nørretranders, well-known Danish philosopher, about a whole host of topics. In particular, our discussions of community, “multiplexing” in small communities, and the issues and opportunities of “the commons” immediately connected back to my experiences at Olin, and I look forward to bringing his insights back to campus.

I spent my free time on Samsø cycling around as much of the island as I could, and it really reminded me of Downeast Maine, and made me wonder what lessons I might be able to bring back to my community there. The first time I cycled down the shore to watch the sunset, I was hit with a wave of emotion. The smell of the ocean, the rocky coast, the rolling fields, all felt like I was back in Petit Manan.

Overall, this study tour was a whirlwind of 3 days, but an extraordinarily meaningful experience. I would love to return to Samsø someday! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

Long study tour: Stockholm

I actually wrote most of this piece while on another trip, to Stockholm with my class and then onward to Finland by myself. However I figure that trip deserves its own newsletter, so I won’t talk too much about it here. I am writing that newsletter simultaneously with this one, and I hope to send it out in the next week or two.

Boats, but I get paid to do it

For those of you who haven’t seen already, I’ve recently committed to a summer internship with a company called Flux Marine, based in Bristol, RI. Currently, they specialize in electric outboard motors for recreational boats, but are looking to expand into prototype electric propulsion for coastal work boats (including lobster boats) in collaboration with the Island Institute of Rockland, ME. Coincidentally, the Island Institute actually has a relationship with the Samsø Energy Academy, isn’t that crazy? I’m unbelievably excited for this opportunity to apply my engineering skills and passion to a backbone industry of a region I care so much about. Look forward to more updates come summer!

What’s next?

Although both of my study tours are now behind me, there is a bunch of exciting stuff coming up. Some Oliner friends will be passing through Copenhagen en route to spring break, so I get to play the role of tour guide. Additionally, my wacky Norway train trip begins in less than 2 weeks! And last, but certainly not least, “spring” is starting to show some signs of appearing here in Copenhagen. As much as I love the cold, it will be exciting to see the city in a whole different form.

Until next time, friends! (I should stop procrastinating my work by writing this instead)

Subscribe now

Why am I telling you this story now?

Well, as you may have noticed, it is once again spring semester of my junior year, though this time college instead of high school. Not only that, but I have finally made it to Scandinavia. About a week ago, I arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark to begin a semester of study abroad at DIS. In a way, it feels as though I have finally closed the concussion chapter of my life, finally made good on a promise to a version of myself who, 5 years ago, was unsure if my life would ever get back on track…

…and get back on track it has

Before I tell you about Copenhagen and my experiences here so far, this wouldn’t be a Brooke newsletter without unsolicited train thoughts.

Believe it or not, I haven’t done much riding of trains quite yet. This is mostly because I’ve been taking time to explore the city center, mostly on foot and by bike. I have, however, taken the Metro. And boy howdy let me tell you, the Metro is amazing. Although the network is not extensive, it is frequent (my commute has 1-2 minute peak headways during rush hour), is fully automated with platform screen doors (a potential future newsletter topic), and the stations flow quickly with no fare gates.

To this last point, you may be wondering if the Copenhagen Metro is fare-free, but this is actually not the case. Rather, there are various payment schemes, including the Rejsekort pass (a physical pass which is tapped when entering the leaving the Metro) and the Commuter Card (what DIS gives us, allowing infinite travel within the zones between home and school). In the case of the Commuter Card, the card merely resides on my phone. I do not have to tap my phone anywhere, I just walk into the station and onto the train. How does that work, you may ask? Are there hidden scanners? Nope, it all works on the honor system. Sometimes, there are inspectors that check tickets and hand out fines, but most of the time you could risk it without a pass. But people don’t. To me, this is emblematic of the different approach to community here. This honor system and the trust in community and local government underpins Danish society.

In my course Sustainable Development in Northern Europe, we have been discussing Danish politics, and the origin, characteristics, and functioning of the Nordic Model. A central part of this model is the broad responsibility of local administration, which is accountable and proximate to their constituents, leading to high trust in these bodies’ ability to administer extensive social programs. This is not something I will expand on too much in this edition, but I hope to discuss further in the future on this blog.

Okay enough about trains

(just kidding, I can never talk enough about trains, there will be more train discussion later on)

Since arriving in Copenhagen, I have been trying to build a foundation for my life here. I’ve spent time exploring the city center, including attending the coronation (which followed the first abdication of a Danish monarch in 900 years). This was a wonderful glimpse into Danish culture and a warm welcome to the country on my first day here.

I have been attempting to make friends so far, DIS consists of tons of cool people, but a much wider variety of people than Olin. This has been quite overwhelming, but in time I’m sure I will develop some meaningful connections here.

I have been getting to know my flatmates as well. I live in something called a kollegium, a place where students from various universities live together. My apartment consists of myself, 2 other American students studying at DIS (architecture and psychology respectively), a Danish student studying veterinary medicine, and a German student studying at Copenhagen Business School. This is a wonderful way for me to get to know locals and DIS students alike, and is an easy bike ride or Metro ride from the DIS classroom buildings in the city center.

Speaking of bikes, I have rented a 3-speed city bike for the semester. Although it has taken some getting used to, much of my reason for coming to Copenhagen was to experience a city where cycling is an every-person utilitarian activity rather than a sport for lycra-clad athletes and batshit commuters with a death wish like myself. I firmly believe that bike infrastructure and bike culture need to be built for the lowest common denominator, the person who isn’t very comfortable on a bike but just wants to get to work quickly and without driving. If these people feel safe and comfortable biking in your city, you’ve done it right. Just because someone like me *can* bike commute in Springfield, MA doesn’t mean that Springfield is even remotely bikeable.

Sidenote: I just finished a book about how we can design cities for people rather than cars, which centers Springfield as a case study of how not to do it. The book is entitled Confessions of a Recovering Engineer by Charles Marohn (founder of the advocacy organization Strong Towns) and I wholeheartedly enjoy it. If you folks are interested in hearing more of my thoughts on the things I read, let me know and I would be happy to start a media review column on this here blog.

Back to the city bike. Sorry, I got distracted by my passion for bike infrastructure. I decided to go with this very generic bike because I want to experience Copenhagen’s bike infrastructure, cycling norms, and life in the city as a generic lowest common denominator commuter. Not a “cyclist”, just a Copenhagener.

A Copenhagener

So far, I have only started a few of my classes, although I am loving them so far. I will report back once I am further into the semester, but here is what I am taking:

• Sustainable Development in Northern Europe (my core course)

• Getting There: Transportation in Urban Europe

• Strategies for Urban Livability

• Renewable Energy Systems

• Photojournalism

I have spent much of my time here with my camera (although Photojournalism hasn’t yet started), so here I will share with you a gallery of some of my favorites so far. To follow my adventures more regularly, follow my Instagram account dedicated to my travels.

Nordic Traveler

As part of my core course, I will be travelling to the rural island of Samsø, Denmark and to Stockholm, Sweden. I will likely end up with an extra couple days in Stockholm/southern Sweden, so if anyone has recommendations for things to see, I would love to know!

In addition to seeing Samsø with my classmates, I am hoping to embrace the principles of Slow Travel and really get to know Denmark and the other two Scandinavian nations. As such, I’ve been pondering getting my hands on a bikepacking setup once it warms up a bit and spending my weekends bikepacking around Denmark and southern Sweden. I imagine I could take a train a few hours from Copenhagen, bike around for a couple days, and then come back to the city.

In a similar nod to slow, sustainable travel, I have spent the last month or so (including almost all day yesterday, oops) planning a trip to the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway, per the recommendation of the wonderful Maggie Stokes. Although I had originally planned around flying, but I was inspired by DIS’s very own Marie Stougaard’s presentation about sustainable travel that I went back to give rail travel a second consideration for this trip.

If you aren’t familiar with Norwegian geography, the Lofoten Islands are the arcing archipelago jutting out from mainland Norway between Bodø and Narvik (near the top of this map). This region has only 2 train connections to the outside world, which are not connected to each other. Narvik, although part of Norway, is connected to the Swedish rail network, while Bodø is part of the Norwegian rail network.

On March 26th, about an hour after I finish class for the day, I will be boarding a high speed train from Copenhagen to Stockholm, where I will then change to an 18-hour night train known as Vy Nattåg, bound for Narvik. After 24 hours on trains, I plan to spend 3-4 days in Lofoten. Although I have not planned this part of the journey yet, I plan to take buses and boats to get around, and see what kinds of shenanigans I can get up to (including hopefully seeing the Aurora Borealis).

On March 30th, I plan to take a ferry or express boat to get from the islands down to Bodø, where I will board a night train bound for Trondheim in central Norway. With the days getting longer, I hope to have spectacular views from the train at dusk and dawn. Although I couldn’t get the train schedules to line up quite right (due to a washed out bridge on the next leg of the journey), the bright side is that I will be able to spend about 7-8 hours in Trondheim in the middle of the day, where I’m sure I will find some cool things.

Next, I board an evening train from Trondheim to Oslo, where I arrive at 10pm and will stay the night. The next day, I will wake up in Oslo and spend most of the day exploring before boarding a train at 2pm, bound for Gothenburg, Sweden, where I will change trains and then arrive in Copenhagen at 10:30pm that night, just in time to get some sleep before my 8:30am class the next morning.

Subscribe now

Slut (the end)

Anyway, this newsletter turned into a bit of a long-winded one, but I hope you understand how many thoughts are running around my brain right now. I’m also in the midst of trying to finalize my plans for this summer, with one promising offer in hand and interviews on the books with quite a few compelling companies and organizations.

As for this newsletter, stay tuned for future thoughts on trains, bikes, Scandinavia, and more as I enter this new chapter of my life. And all of you back home, I would love to stay connected, but don’t try to text me. If you don’t know where else to find me, use my American phone number in Whatsapp.

And thus I have finally closed the door on the concussion chapter of my life. It has been painful, and I have lost a lot, but it has also been an incredibly formative period of my life.

It’s been a while since I’ve managed to write one of these. From a keyboard on the fritz to general overwhelm in the evenings, I haven’t been able to sit down and write. However, I have been collecting a plethora of photos and ideas in my recent Boston adventures that I would love to share. So here goes nothing!

I want to spend this edition mostly discussing some things I have learned about the past and future of rail in Massachusetts, hope you enjoy!

Regional Rail

I find myself frequently lamenting the shortcomings of the MBTA’s Commuter Rail system. 1-hour peak headways on weekdays, 2 HOURS on weekends, diesel locomotives, no late-night running, and more appear to hold this system back.

The first thing to think about is the name. Commuter Rail. This system isn’t equitable, it’s built for the 9-5 commuter (disregarding the fact that the frequencies are bad enough that white-collar workers are much more likely to just drive). What if we had a regional rail system that was built to serve all of our communities? A modern, electrified, frequent service that could become the backbone of Eastern Massachusetts, and even expand further to the West. It could connect Massachusetts’ third largest city with its two biggest and make Massachusetts one of the best connected states in the nation.

For more discussion of the benefits of Regional Rail for Massachusetts, please read this amazing report from the folks at TransitMatters.

Here are a few highlights of the report (apologies for the screenshots):

Here is a recent photo I took of major renovations being made to the platform at Worcester Union Station, creating a brand new dual-track platform. I really hope this leads to increased service on the Framingham/Worcester Line!

I’m 110% sure that I will come back and discuss this topic in further detail in the future, so keep an eye out for that.

Green Line

[Note: Currently, the Green Line B Branch is closed right near my apartment for a complete track overhaul. Lookout for a discussion of this projects in an upcoming edition.]

If you ride any of the Green Line branches in Boston, you’ll notice the two varieties of rolling stock that the MBTA runs on this line. As shown in the photo below (not my photo), the MBTA runs Type 7 and Type 8 rolling stock, almost always paired together, as the Type 7s do not have accessible low floors, and one low floor is required per unit.

Before the Type 7s, the MBTA ran PCC streetcars, which you can a couple of parked on a siding underground in the Boylston station on the B/C/D branch corridor.

[Aside 1, PCC Streetcars: The MBTA does still actually run PCC streetcars, built in the 1940s, on the Mattapan High-Speed Line, which is ostensibly an extension of the Red Line, and which I have been intending to go ride.]

[Aside 2, Boylston Station: While riding the Green Line recently with my grandfather, we discussed a long-shuttered branch of the old Boston central subway, which diverged from the current Green Line tunnel at Boylston. I have since done some research and discovered this to be the Pleasant St. Incline, opened in 1897 and closed in 1961. I believe that the siding where the PCC streetcars are parked was once the platform for this branch.]

In the last few years, the MBTA has started adding new Type 9 rolling stock. These new units are intended to support increased operation on the Green Line Extension (GLX) through Somerville, and actually don’t replace any of the existing fleet. In addition, once the planned Type 10 comes to fruition later in this decade to replace the Type 7 and 8 units, the Type 9s will be moved to the Mattapan line to replace the ancient PCC streetcars.

I still haven’t managed to actually time my commute to be able to ride one of the Type 9 units, although the TransitMatters Train Tracker has come in handy for me to find them and see if I can make it happen!

Tidbits

Beacon Park Yard

If you’ve driven through I-90 into Boston, you’ve probably encountered the tight turn in the highway near BU, with a large plot of land off to your right. In fact, this used to be a CSX freight yard (and a number of preceding railroad entities), and has largely been unused as of late. Many of the sidings have been removed. However since I took this photo, I noticed a few new sidings being constructed. I suspect this is connected to the MBTA’s plan to make the Beacon Park Yard into a new layover for the Framingham/Worcester line, as well as the construction of a new station known as West Station. However, these plans have been on and off over the last decade, so I’m not quite certain what the new work is connected to.

[Aside: Notice that this West Station appears on the aforementioned TransitMatters Regional Rail report.]

Blue Line

Before this summer, I had never ridden the Blue Line before, but I have found it to be a great way to get to Logan Airport. Once of the cool things I’ve noticed about this line is that it uses both third-rail power and pantograph power. When it comes above ground near Airport station, the pantographs extend skyward to make contact with the catenary wires while the third rail dead-ends as the train leaves the station. I think it’s pretty cool to see full high-floor heavy rail stock running above-ground with pantograph power!

Pride in Transit!

I thought it was pretty great to see pride imagery while waiting for my train. It matches my gay MBTA sticker on my laptop!

Footnote

If you have made it this far, I commend your dedication. This week was really just me nerding out about trains. Please do feel free to comment on this post or write to me at newsletter@brookem.dev and let me know what you did or didn’t like about this edition. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you soon!

With money still left in the grant that funded the project, we were encouraged to apply to the OCEANS conference, an IEEE conference focused on the discipline of Oceanic Engineering. We had the incredible opportunity to write and present a paper about our project at the 2023 iteration of the conference, hosted in Limerick, Ireland. This edition of the newsletter will be a story of our time in Ireland and some things I took away from the trip, please enjoy!

Up, up, and away!

It’s been 8 years since I crossed the Atlantic, and nearly as long since I’ve been abroad, so this trip consisted of many new-to-me experiences. In addition, the three team members who were able to attend did not include our faculty advisor, leaving us to our own devices for the trip. Despite some nerves, I was determined to make the most of the adventure.

I started by taking the Green Line and Blue Line from my apartment to the airport, which was a remarkably pleasant journey, especially when compared to the slog of getting to Logan from Olin. Although I didn’t sleep much on our red-eye direct flight to Shannon, we had a full day ahead of us to find our way to the University of Limerick campus and get acclimated. We were also greeted with this beautiful sunrise when we arrived at the airport.

Despite my best efforts to plan our bus journey before leaving the US, we were left to navigate the Bus Éireann system without cell service for the duration of our trip. The bus network was remarkably robust for a mid-size city, although the frequencies left something to be desired. I wonder whether the complete-ness of the network can be attributed to the nationalized nature of Irish buses. It was wonderful to not have to deal with disparate regional and municipal transportation agencies during our journeys.

According to some signs I saw, Limerick is Ireland’s experiment in retrofitting cities for alternate forms of transit. We encountered good bike lanes, bus lanes, and ample pedestrian infrastructure. However, even on the narrow Irish roads, drivers drove quite quickly.

Exploring

One day, we decided to take the University’s bike-share bikes on an adventure. Along the way, we climbed a derelict bridge, found some tractors, met a local man who led us up to the top of castle ruins, and encountered more than our fair share of stinging nettle.

On-Campus Exploring

The University of Limerick campus has a large river running right through the middle, with a super cool pedestrian bridge all the way across!

Also note me reading The 99% Invisible City’s* Landscapes chapter while looking out at rolling hills and fields of cows.

*I plan to write a newsletter about this book in the future, stay tuned!

Conferencing

As this was my first ever conference, I vowed to spend as much of my time and energy as I could to absorb the experience. I was able to chat with brilliant people about topics I know about, and topics I’ve never heard of in my life. I was able to hear about technologies and projects that are related to last summer’s OCAP project, relevant to my work this summer with Aloft Systems, and awe-inspiring to the tiny Brooke all those years ago who dreamed of becoming an oceanographer.

Fin.

All in all, the OCEANS trip was an experience I will never forget, and I am already looking for conferences to attend next year (look out OCEANS 24 Halifax). I know this newsletter was a bit less cohesive than the last one, but I suppose that’s what happens when I just brain-dump about my life instead of discussing something specific. Thank you for putting up with this issue, and thank you for supporting this newsletter!

Footnote: I’m sure I will discuss this here in the future, but attending this conference definitely gave me some deeper experiences in being transgender in academia and professional settings. Once I spend some more time processing, expect to see that pop up here eventually.

The Status Quo

I fancy myself a bike commuter. I grew up riding the streets of Longmeadow to get to school, all the way from elementary to high school. I even wrote about it last year. But in Longmeadow, as in Needham, cycling is a niche form of transport, a discipline set aside for those “who can’t afford a car” and the spandex-clad “sport cyclists.” In these suburban places where everything is separated from everything else by 40 mph stroads and miles of homogeneous single-family residential houses, cycling (as a means of transit) feels demoralizing. Sure, someone like me who is comfortable with the dangers will do it, but that makes me the minority. It’s important when designing our communities to understand that we must design for those most vulnerable among us. Until parents are comfortable with their children utilizing these spaces, they aren’t safe enough.

As many of you know, I am spending the summer living in Allston and commuting to the Autodesk Technology Center in the Boston Seaport. After the end of the spring semester, though, I spent a few days back home in Longmeadow. I was immediately struck by the stifling nature of the way my hometown is designed, so much so that I started looking into running for town Planning Board (I’ve since decided to wait, but this is a story for another day). The need to use a car to get anywhere meaningful, even to see my friends, is heartbreaking.

A Change in Perspective

Once I got settled into my apartment in Allston, I started to explore the neighborhood. A Green Line stop less than a block away; a bagel bakery a short walk away (if you know, you know); restaurants of every cuisine imaginable right around the corner.

And then, I started riding to the office. I’m so used to fighting for the bare minimum cycling infrastructure (…dead-end painted bicycle gutters), I was floored my first day riding down Commonwealth Ave. I spend much of my time learning from my favorite online creators about what makes genuinely good bicycle infrastructure, but I’ve never actually experienced it for myself. For the first time, I could actually see these concepts I have learned so much about, put into practice. I’m not going to pretend Boston’s cycling environment is perfect, it certainly has a LOT of room for improvement, but it’s orders of magnitude better than what I’m used to.

Infrastructure!

Now that I’ve gotten all that out of the way, here are some of the design concepts I have noticed being put into practice in Boston, explained through my eyes (or rather, phone camera).

Grade-Separated Bike Lanes

A grade-separated bike lane is one which is vertically distinct from the roadway. While visibly distinct from the sidewalk to minimize pedestrian-cyclist conflict, the raised nature of the lane lends protection to cyclists, removing them from a contested roadway and giving a dedicated thoroughfare. As shown below, this particular lane also takes the initiative to jog behind bus shelters, allowing pedestrians to cross the lane safely, and removing cyclists from the curb conflict that can sometimes ensue as buses pull up to their stops.

Protected Bike Lanes

In a protected bike lane, some barrier is placed between moving vehicles and bikes. In many cases, this is a row of parked cars. Compared to the traditional layout where bikes are squished between driving and parked cars, this arrangement removes conflicts with arriving and departing vehicles and allows the parked cars to actually act as a barrier for the cyclists. In both examples, there is an additional no-man’s-land between the parked vehicles and the bikes, reducing the likelihood of cyclists being doored.

Not all protected lanes are perfect. Namely, when the “protection” consists of breakaway bollards such as those in the image below, determined drivers are still able to park in the bike lane, and out-of-control cars have nothing to stop them from taking out a cyclist or two.

Pedestrianized Areas

I will admit, biking through places like this isn’t amazing, but that’s because it’s so good for pedestrians! Any place that is reclaimed from cars is a win in my book, and I’d much rather slowly make my way through a crowd than get mowed down by an oversized pickup truck.

Shared Bike-Bus Lanes

These combined bike-bus lanes have a few benefits that I have noticed. They condense general traffic down to one travel lane (turn lanes not-withstanding), creating a slower and more predictable flow of traffic (see also: traffic calming). They allow buses to have a lane to themselves. As a wise man once asked, “do your buses get stuck in traffic?” They also mean bikes have a full-width lane allowing a much larger buffer from the travel lane, without having to construct fancier bike lanes as described above.

Bike Signals

Separate signals for bikes allow cyclists to avoid being mowed down by drivers making right turns. Also the signals are pretty.

Nothing is Perfect

No matter how you build your infrastructure, it can never be perfect, as evidenced by the pictures below. But by designing with the most vulnerable among us as our target demographic, we can make our communities places where we actually want to be, where everyone can feel comfortable and safe traveling to their job, grocery store, social engagements, and more. Designing livable places that aren’t strangled by car-dependence is possible.

Next issue, I plan to discuss my recent trip to Ireland and the conference I attended there, but be on the lookout for more urbanism discussion in the following newsletter, as I hope to share my recent thoughts on trains!

Appendix: My Boston 311 Reports

Boston 311 is an app where you can report things like roadkill, broken street lamps, and more to the city. In addition, you can report illegal parking, such as vehicles parked in the bike lane! Here are some photos of my recent reports.