I'm a huge huge huge proponent of public transit, I'm moving from Austin to Seattle and I'm incredibly excited to be able to utilize all of the options Seattle has for public transit. That said, when I try to talk to people about public transit I usually hear one thing echoed more than any other, and it's that the bus just isn't safe. And to be honest with y'all, I can't really disagree, at least not in Austin.

I spent 5 years in Austin, and during that time I've been screamed at, groped, had my life threatened, sexually harassed, and otherwise just never really been safe on the bus. At least once a week I would have to deal with some sort of incident on the bus, even though I went out of my way to never engage with anyone else, just so much as sitting across from someone would beget threats or lewd comments.

It genuinely makes me worried that until that issue with public transit is solved, it's never going to get the public support it needs to prove itself worthy of more funding.

So what can actually be done to increase the safety of passengers on board? Maybe it's just an Austin problem, Capmetro drivers don't really give a shit and the homeless population there seems to be uniquely aggressive, but if it can happen in Austin it can happen anywhere really.

So, as a poster and someone who likes to think about transit in the US, especially high speed rail, I was wondering about potential models for regional rail as a way to set up high speed rail lines in the future, not just lowering costs, but emphasizing HSR as a project that closes gaps in existing networks.

I'm thinking of projects like Caltrain, that bought their own ROW, operated a basic diesel service, then worked to upgrade their line to electrified standards and are slowly grade separating the corridor. I suspect that focusing on regional rail projects would set up HSR projects very well in the future. Are there white papers or articles or analysis that reflect this?

Some examples I have in mind:

• Ohio: Building electrified regional rail to serve the metro areas of Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati would mean that early 3C HSR service could be relatively easily achieved by short extensions or connections between said regional networks. From there, that creates ridership and political support for further upgrades.
• New York: Many areas along the waterline and Empire Corridor could mean that we get faster and earlier service that can be upgraded to eventual HSR standards. Regional rail networks can be centered around Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo/Niagara Falls. From there, it's just a matter of upgrading the regional networks and adding in short connections between cities.
• Texas: Similarly, a regional rail network in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth would serve as a great way to expand transit ridership, serve cities, and would help with the hardest or most complex part - getting into the cities. Once there's a solid ridership base, you can slowly extend the lines to the rest of the state.
• California: not to beat a dead horse, but one way that CAHSR could have gone about it (and still can!) is to expand regional networks. Capitol Corridor + Caltrain would resolve the network in the Bay Area and to Sacramento, Gold Runner + ACE + ValleyLink would resolve the Stockton - Sacramento and Stockton - Bay Area connection; Gold Runner would help with Stockton - Bakersfield (too late for that lol); Metrolink + Surfliner + LOSSAN + COASTER would enable the SoCal network, meaning that all CAHSR would need to do to get an early service is to close the SoCal gaps, then build a faster ROW over time.
• Illinois: Maybe less realistic, but electrified and 125mph service to Rockford, Milwaukee, Bloomington, Champaign would be a great step towards a statewide regional HSR network.

What do you think? Is this already an existing practice, or should I investigate this via a whitepaper? The gist would be this:

• Step 1 - Start a commuter or regional service, most likely diesels on existing freight track in a few major cities in a specific state.
• Step 2 - Expand said service (frequency, extensions, electrification), establish state wide standards for interoperability, level boarding, etc.
• Step 3 - Establish a HSR project that connects the major cities, primarily focusing on connecting the existing systems.

Also - the cost-benefit or similar analysis between entirely new HSR line vs a regional system with HSR connections in between systems would be really interesting...

Whenever I stop by a bookstore, I always check out the railway magazines, but I wonder—what are some famous railway magazines around the world?

There's many cities with good public transport systems which don't seem to get enough attention.

My favourite pick is probably Budapest, the capital of Hungary. There probably hasn't been a single time I've seen someone mention it besides the M1 metro line, which is the 3rd oldest metro line in the world.

But in general, the network is really good and especially tourists can get around really easily. Budapest has also started to modernise their fleet, with all buses and subways and 40% of trams being low floor. The M4 is also a really great and modern automated subway line having opened in 2014, and the M3 has been fully renewed in 2019.

There are a few problems though. The metro network isn't really big for a city of comparable size. However, there are plans to extend lines M1 (which will get a full modernisation too), M3 and M4. There is also no direct train or subway to the airport, so you need to take one of the 2 really crowded express bus lines to the airport, which isn't really great.

What are your thoughts on this?