California Transit Nerd

Intro: My focus is on regional and intercity transit statewide and ending freeway expansion. Ask don’t assume my position on issue, 99% of the time I’ll happy answer

Interesting to see that the 200 block of routes (200, 210, 211, 216, 231, 239, 251, 281) which operate in Union City, Fremont, Newark ect are running 95%+ of service. Now given 4/7 are 40 min to hourly coverage route dropping trips would be very bad.

Oh, and the cost of the schedule change in 2023? BART staff miraculously figured out how to make the change cost neutral. So to folks that are claim BART is wasteful, that's absolute bullshit. BART staff are incredibly innovative, frequently figuring out how to do more without spending more money.

“a one hour wait for the 57 is outrageous.” This Wednesday 10/28 starting at 5 PM is the AC Transit board meeting where we’ll be taking a look at the first monthly reliability report, item 6 I. actransit.legistar.com/LegislationD...

CA cities that disapprove housing projects are in a world of hurt. New Court of Appeal decision sets up developer lawsuits for damages, at least where state law requires a ministerial permit (SB 35/423, AB 2011, SB 684, and more). Shi v. Palos Verdes. threadreaderapp.com/thread/21141...

This informative chart was shared by staff at last week's Oakland bike/walk commission meeting. The next time someone tells you "protected bike lanes are too expensive", remind them it's probably not the bikeway driving up the project cost, but all of the other non-bike-specific project elements.

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Even if it was 2x FTE salary for state employees that still means that you can get 10 public sector employees or 8 private sector for the same cost. The public sector ones also aren’t going to find gray areas and other areas ways of doing scope creep to increase billing hours

This wasn’t a unique opinion. Most urban planners feel this way. They actually believe they are doing a better job than their international peers because they hold more meetings.

how do you write this?! how do you not realize you are the fucking problem here?! you are the one doing things worse! they are better at this than you!

Really cowardly the way decisionmakers keep avoiding public scrutiny for Metrolink cuts. Hiding service cut scenarios from public records. Cutting off public comment. Brown Act violations at the last Metrolink meeting. And now this.

DART Board Chair Randall Bryant was questioned about incoming CEO Nat Ford today, saying, "We have made our decision based on what we knew at the time and what we know now. [...] We have affirmed Nat Ford as our CEO, and we continue to do that." Ford starts at DART next Monday.

Update on this: NS has now eliminated direct Memphis-Northeast intermodal service. Traffic is once again moving via Atlanta, as it did before the railroad and a coalition of state governments spent hundreds of millions to upgrade the line/associated terminals

Great piece with lots of lessons for SoCal as we face the potential dismantling of Metrolink.

If we don't pass the Regional Transit Measure and let transit die in the most transit-rich part of the state, transit in all of California will be in trouble. No matter where you are, you can help save Bay Area transit via virtual phone banks coming up this week: luma.com/connectbayarea

I’m in Switzerland with Nexus – Tyne and Wear Metro, looking at cost-effective electrification renewals. Much of what makes this work efficient is what the UK sector has been calling for for a long time; it has just been put into practice. A few lessons (1/7) 🧵

Less than half of Metrolink riders are commuters. Less than 1/3 of commuters ride all 5 days a week. So why are Metrolink member agencies slashing weekend service and hell-bent on returning to commuter schedules? calelectricrail.org/metrolink-an...

A private railcar to do a loop around the entire Amtrak network. Maybe 2 but cost to acquire and rebuild a car is 5-7m and Amtrak isn’t exactly cheap to run behind I also can’t imagine 30-40 people I’d want to spend several weeks with.

With the latest MBTA order but not including the 43 extra Airo sets Siemens now has 500 chargers on the books. That surpasses the 475 F40PH made by EMD and at 506 every F40PH made. There was just 227 MPXpress units while 155 F59ph/phi were made

Here’s a higher resolution version for your enjoyment

Building more lanes to reduce congestion is the definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting different results. It's time to stop the insanity.

The original issue was Metro wanted to pay 3% less than was needed to support 2025 service levels. Now that Metrolink has reduced service to cut the budget, Metro is paying what Metrolink is asking for. But we might not be in the situation if Metro hadn't announced the 3% reduction.

This article quotes a sociology professor, a lawyer, and an architect who reject the notion that housing prices are set by supply and demand and do not believe that building more homes reduces rents. It is the housing policy equivalent of platforming climate change deniers.

Feels like Metro is more interested in covering its [fiscal] ass than rolling up its sleeves to make rail service work for L.A. County residents. (I don't think that Metro can solve all Metrolink issues, but their role could be more constructive, instead of sort of kicking Metrolink when its down)

She began reading a prepared statement about our comments. After a sentence or two, Sarah Syed broke in to demand a point of order to insist that this was inappropriate and must stop. Shaw plowed forward over the continued objections. This very much violated board rules and may even be illegal. 2/x

By Waymo's own figures, roughly 44% of its miles carry no passenger. Charge robotaxis a fee for empty miles, highest in busy zones, and spend it on transit and safer streets. Empty cars should pay for the space they use. www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hu...

Michigan just created a new position to coordinate transit and rail. State capacity gets the goods! Why not California? www.trains.com/pro/passenge...

VTA has massive plans for HOT lane expansion including a 2nd lane on a segment of 101 between SR-85 and Morgan Hill with a single lane south of that to CA-25 or the county line. Local officials are trying to push the entire project timeline up under the name of "equity" and hand wave away

Key pt for those who want to cut transit funding because agencies are "inefficient." A big growth in transit costs since 2020 has been security, partly due to pressure from some of the same people who now want that to be evidence of inefficiency. By @idothethinking.bsky.social. Link in 1st reply.

I got reminded of this testing failure today and my only response is should have added more margin Nippon Sharyo The C21 failure has had massive a massive impact on Californias fleet.

This is a huge problem and CA/SoCal leadership being entirely nonchalant about it is incredible discouraging. We've been talking about how these tracks keep falling into the ocean since I was a kid.

Absolutely bleak bus service planned for Central Contra Costa County if RTM fails. County Connection will have to cut 10 of its 22 lines. Nearly all of the remaining lines will have frequencies slashed to 60 minutes. RTM will not just save BART - it’s critical for every agency and community.

I, personally, would not go on the record with a reporter to announce I’m in favor of destroying the playground my kid is currently loving because I drive to work once a week (and the road still wouldn’t go there anyway), but everyone lives their lives differently I guess

Remember how we passed bills that would bar ICE agents from state and local employment as well as ban California law enforcement from doing side jobs for ICE, but then @gavinnewsom.bsky.social vetoed both bills because he's stupid and has terrible political instincts?

We're teaming up with @connectbayarea.bsky.social to get Measure RTM passed this November! We'll be hosting twice weekly phone banking nights at our office, starting Oct 13. We'll teach you all your need to know, just bring your love for transit! BikeEastBay.org/Election2026

So let me get this straight... 4 years after the only rail connection between CA's 2 largest cities closed for over a year, they're only getting around to starting a *study* of realignment, which will be done in 2034. Incredible incompetence here. www.latimes.com/california/s...