Transit Fan EXTRAORDINAIRE


 

I, Mark Kavanagh, grew up in Brooklyn, NY, not far from the F-Line on McDonald Avenue. I clearly remember my Mom taking us to the supermarket, Key Foods, by the Ave I station and timed our departure to about the time my Dad would get off the subway from his job in the Financial District in Manhattan. This is where my interest in subways began.

Growing up I really did not get a chance to expand on that interest except by mixing Legos with HO gauge trains to make “elevated trains” in my bedroom.

My first non-NY subway riding was the PATH trains, and the Newark City Subway (using PCCs). 

I was lucky enough to get into jobs that allowed me to travel around the world. The foreign country I have visited the most is Japan, which is a transit fan’s dream. I have also been to Europe and a few other Asian cities. 

People also come to me to ask for directions. Some of my nicknames are Subwaymark, Transitman, and Rand McNalley.

Ktransit.com started as a personal webpage with my ISP on sprynet (remember them) back in the mid-1990s. I’m not exactly sure when the URL for ktransit.com was started, but it must have been around the year 2000. The goal was, and remains, to share my experiences with urban transit, railways, airliners, and dabble in cruise ships, with everyone. I think you will find the quality of my photography has improved immensely over the years, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Ktransit.com is a labor of love. It receives no income other than from Google Adsense. Although I hope to change that so the site is more self-supporting. I have started selling items on Redbubble to help offset the costs of maintaining this site.

in 2017 I have overhauled the look of the website. The front end of the website is now a responsive website with a modern feel. The back end, where all the photos are, remains basically the same, although has been refreshed to a slightly more modern look which is easier for me to update major links. I may push down the responsive site some more over time.

Also in 2017, I am launching a new companion website, touristbytransit.com. The goal of Tourist by Transit is to give people tools to tour cities without the use of rental cars, taxis, or even Uber/Lyft. Public Transit is often cheaper and faster, potentially more healthy, and definitely more “green” than cars. It is hoped this website may turn into travel books, so be sure to visit.

I do other things besides work in the semiconductor industry and this website.

I am a board member and secretary for the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society. We run trolleys at our museum in Brooks, Oregon, and the Willamette Shore Trolley in Lake Oswego, Oregon. 

I am a tenor in the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Trinity Choir in Salem, OR. I also work with the choir director on any trips we do to other cities to perform. This included San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, New York, and in 2018, England.

My other hobby is Geocaching to get me outdoors…

I have 3 adult children and have been married for over 33 years. I love Golden Retrievers, currently, we have 1. 

If you want to get hold of me please use mark@ktransit.com.

Inside a Concorde at The Intrepid Museum in NY
NJ Transit in Hoboken
Shanghai Maglev

In my “Trolley Uniform” on a Veloicepe in Powerland Heritage Park in Brooks, Oregon