Josephine Roper @jroper@transportation.social

Got the Shinkansen for one stop back to Nagasaki, as we have JR passes so it’s the same price. 8 minutes vs 24 minutes on the Seaside Liner. Speed doesn’t look that different out the windows but it spends a lot more of the distance in tunnels. Shows how that kind of straightening, and not having stops, contributes to the effective speed of high speed rail. (The driving time would be similar to the slow train).

Sadly, they are building a new freeway next to the train line, instead of perhaps upgrading it from a single track, once an hour service…

On the way back we took the train from Aino to Isahaya, which is basically a glorified bus, 1 car. Apparently the most expensive train to maintain per passenger in the world? Or was it Japan? Latter seems more possible (I have not verified this at all)

A walk in Aino (non train interlude)

Bikes at Isahaya station. Have seen very few locked bikes in Japan!

Apparently I can post photos now, so a thread: Heading to see my cousin’s home on a Regional Rapid Seaside Liner, a good name for a train. 2 cars. Had facing seats like a subway, which seemed a bit unusual for an intercity train (we took it Nagasaki to Isahaya).

Really struggling to post here from Japan. Giving up on pictures of trains for now and describing my new travel mug (because I forgot to pack one and it was making me uncomfortable): it’s a pleasant moss green and the box declares it is “Gender/race neutral”. Well, better than the opposite I guess!

#ClimateDiary spent a lot of time thinking about this trip beforehand. I could list all the ‘good’ reasons - family overseas, work, tying everything into one slow trip. But what does it matter? A little bit lower than standard upper-class Australian hypermobility is not really changing anything. It would be unsustainable if everyone in the world flew overseas every two years. Ofc most of the world’s population never will. So, why me?

Anyway, trying to put things aside and enjoy it now I’m here.

Oh wow it turns out my server had editing all along, just not on the web interface…

In Nagasaki, these red dots count down from the top to show how long pedestrians have to wait (and same on the green).

Obviously I’m lapping up one of the great national public transport systems, JR pass and endless snacks in hand, but it’s the little things too :)

#choralmusic in #Sydney: I'm going to be away for my choir's next performance, but I'm still going to rehearsals because it's one of the best parts of my life... the reasons for living, the ends and not the means.

If you like old, very old music and also very new music, check it out.

https://www.innominata.org/beatusvir/

Personal walking neighbourhoods from some of my survey respondents - WalkSydney followers (blue) and UNSW city planning masters students (pink).

Not a representative sample of Sydney, that's for sure! Got to start somewhere.

Not sure where I'm going with this, just wandering. Maybe a flourishing and diverse micromobility sector actually needs less emphasis on regulating vehicles and more on behaviour, as for cars. Nothing about your vehicle stops you from driving 150km/hr through a pedestrian crossing. Only legal enforcement and social norms, which are currently lagging behind in cities without a cycling history.

Sometimes I feel very out of love with ebikes. That using an #ebike to feel safer in traffic or travel long distances in sprawling suburbs is a necessary but ugly temporary accommodation to poor cycling conditions and car-oriented design.

But hills exist even in a carless state of grace, and are the 'killer app' for ebike-as-bike-but-better, for me. So ebikes really need to be able to handle hills well. And cargo, and cargo on hills.

for example, acceleration limits (with reference to the ground), not power limits. The same power output that can get me up a long steep hill at a moderate speed (like 20km/hr) without sweating, gives acceleration from 0 on the flat that is dangerous in shared spaces with pedestrians. Torque sensing helps with the latter situation but not so much the former (I think, haven't ridden them much).

I change power settings while riding to get the balance I want, but new riders often don't.

Sometimes I go on r/ebikes and get stuck into various #ebike culture wars... Strange as it is to get good ideas on bicycling from the USA, the class system for ebikes makes a lot of sense. Not the specific classes they've chosen (IMO) but understanding that ebikes can have very different characteristics to serve different needs, and they should have different requirements and privileges.

Think we need some technical innovation in controls... (cont)

I’ve got so used to living on a high frequency non-timetabled bus route, it’s great. Today I’m on a normal bus and we’re just sitting here at a stop because it’s running early. Let’s go faster! Let’s go home! But no.