Cyrus Hall

Cyrus Hall

@cyrushall.bsky.social

Mass car use is geometrically incompatible with great cities. Transit & bikes are the future. Tech things sometimes.

1.3K followers654 following3.2K posts

Cyrus Hall reposted

Buffy Wicks
@buffywicks.bsky.social

Bay Area residents take 1M+ trips every weekday on our four largest transit systems — to get to work, school & everywhere in between. We can’t let devastating cuts take that away. I’m voting YES on the Regional Transit Measure to keep our region moving. www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea...

sfgate.comRegional: Fate Of Bay Area Public Transit Hinges On Regional Transit MeasureOn Nov. 3, voters in five Bay Area counties will vote on a regional sales tax measure that, if it fails, could prompt local transit agencies to close train stations and cut bus service.
Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

What a frustrating article. The methodology section is "we used agentic AI" and only simulated one small part of the outcome if RTM fails to pass (stations closing). Totally ignored? The loss of 2 BART lines and 70%+ cut in service. The Muni service loss. The Caltrain service loss. Etc, etc.

sfchronicle.comHow much worse could Bay Bridge traffic get if BART closed stations? We modeled itTo better understand how proposed BART cuts could impact regional traffic, the Chronicle teamed up with researchers to simulate three possible scenarios for the morning commute.
Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

Effectively, a for-profit AI lab looking for some promotion did we don't know what, ignored a lot of the outcome if RTM fails to pass, and then the Chron published the results as if they were representative of a well thought-out study. 🤷

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

End of day, the findings are directionally correct: traffic will suck even more if RTM and Prop H fail to pass. That's pretty straight forward and intuitive. But understating the degree to which it will suck is doing voters a disservice.

Cyrus Hall reposted

Dan Nexon
@dhnexon.net

National borders have *never* been containers for politics and political processes. I don't have time to write a full thread, so here are some resources.

brent 🌹🗽@therealbrent.bsky.social

Yes well it does require things like “empathy” and possessing a basic understanding that all of our lives are interconnected

Cyrus Hall reposted

Ian Griffiths
@icgee.bsky.social

Happy Monday! More promising Bay Area transit ridership news - Oct 2026 BART weekend ridership was 97.2% of pre-pandemic levels (vs Oct 2019) - and Sunday ridership is now above 2019 levels at 102.9%! My math below - check for yourself at www.bart.gov/news/article...

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

AI keeps looking like a tool that thrives because it creates new negative externalities for someone else. This is perhaps the most clear in academia, where journals can no longer function and the process of science is seizing up. But it's happen in all sorts of smaller ways too.

404media.coChatGPT Keeps Telling People 404 Media Can Solve Their Tech Support ProblemsBecause big tech doesn't do customer service, we are being inundated with AI-generated emails begging us for help.
Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

The NYT ran a piece yesterday about using AI to DDoS restaurant reservations. Alt sub-header: Get ahead now by causing externalities on everyone else! The sway of "not my problem" ideology has always been a problem in the US. AI turbocharges it.

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

I get tears in my eyes when I take a minute to relax and sit back at either Sunset Dunes or JFK Promenade. Just a few short years ago these spaces were filled with nothing but cars. Now they are filled with people of all ages -- joyful people taking a deep breath and slowing down for a minute. 🥹

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Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

America's Highway Trust Fund spends far more than it brings in in gas and truck taxes, and the US constantly bails the fund out from the federal general fund and by taking out loans. The Bay Area will pay ~$1.3B/year to bail out the fund yet again, starting in 2028. From @maxmautner.com.

maxmautner.comThe Bay Area will pay more to bail out America’s highways than to keep its own trains and buses runningThe gas tax hasn’t covered federal highway costs since 2008, and Congress fills the gap with general taxes. The Bay Area’s share will be ~$1.3 billion a year, more than the $980 million its Nov. 3 tra...
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Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

The Bay Area relies on transit. Yet our tax money is being sucked up by Congress to pay for roads in sprawled out parts of the country that haven't built transit systems. The alternative? Raise the gas tax, or impose a VMT charge that actually covers the cost of operating America's roads.

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

Max's thread here: bsky.app/profile/maxm...

mmautner@maxmautner.com

The Bay Area does 1.3% of America's driving but pays 5.2% of the income taxes Congress now uses to bail out the federal highway fund. On Nov. 3, the same 5 counties vote on a transit tax that would raise less than their share of that bailout. 1/

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

America's Highway Trust Fund spends far more than it brings in in gas and truck taxes, and the US constantly bails the fund out from the federal general fund and by taking out loans. The Bay Area will pay ~$1.3B/year to bail out the fund yet again, starting in 2028. From @maxmautner.com.

maxmautner.comThe Bay Area will pay more to bail out America’s highways than to keep its own trains and buses runningThe gas tax hasn’t covered federal highway costs since 2008, and Congress fills the gap with general taxes. The Bay Area’s share will be ~$1.3 billion a year, more than the $980 million its Nov. 3 tra...
Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

This is significantly more than RTM will invest locally in transit operations. It's also far more than the share of driving that the Bay Area does. 1.3% of American VMT happens in the five RTM counties. Yet 5.2% of the bailout will come from those same five counties.

Cyrus Hall reposted

John Berry
@aniccia.bsky.social

Apparently, a Waymo robot drove around a stopped ~half in lane Tesla robot to bully a Zoox robot that prob had the right of way to back up: Gibson by Congress, Austin, TX All 3 cos have telops, but did any engage? AV advocates say the best solution is more robots. OP: reddit.CautiousMagazine3591

Cyrus Hall reposted

League of Women Voters of San Francisco
@lwvsf.bsky.social

Proposition D locks regular people out of elections and gives power to whoever can buy their way onto the ballot. San Francisco, vote NO on Prop D!

League of Women Voters of San Francisco@lwvsf.bsky.social

Here's why we recommend you vote ❌ NO on Proposition D in the upcoming San Francisco election! Your vote on these San Francisco propositions matters. To learn more about why we oppose Prop D, go to lwvsf.org/ballot-recom.... Then ❤️ and 🔁 this if you'll #VoteWithTheLeague!

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

(And also that cost structure may make nuclear obsolete with mass renewable + batteries. A lot of the revival talk thrives on weaker regulation, and that should be a non-starter. A question in my mind is which produces less environmental damage: nuclear or mass battery? I don't know.)

Cyrus Hall reposted

Andy Craig
@andycraig.bsky.social

That it'll fail because they lack sufficient consolidation and centralized control does not make it trivial that the president of the United States is trying to steal elections and produce an illegitimate sham Congress. It is open rebellion against the Constitution and morally tantamount to treason.

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

So many hard fought battles over improving Bay Area transit -- and the author of this essay @icgee.bsky.social has been in the middle of many of them -- are paying off. We have to pass RTM and Prop H to protect progress!

streetsblogsf.bsky.social@streetsblogsf.bsky.social

sf.streetsblog.org/2026/10/22/c...

sf.streetsblog.orgCommentary: A Bay Area Public Transit Renaissance is Underway - Streetsblog San FranciscoWith rapidly growing ridership, improving customer satisfaction and long-awaited regional integration moving forward, the future of Bay Area transit is bright — but only if voters pass Measure RTM.

Cyrus Hall reposted

jamelle
@jamellebouie.net

on some level, this is just a form of anti-politics.

Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social

A helpfully clear exchange here Hasan: "So your argument is that [Minnesota ICE protesters] should stay at home because immigration is a salient issue for Donald Trump. Opposing ICE is only going to help Trump. Wait until we win the election in 2028." Yglesias: "Yes that is what I would have said"

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

The DMV must reform and take away the licenses of dangerous drivers. And the state (and counties and cities) must do more to make driving unnecessary for as many people as possible. We've created and normalized an unsafe system, and the system needs to be changed.

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

Casually checked the price of brent crude, as once does, and it's about to pass the highs of May ($114.44). The rest of the world has taken high prices as a sign to speed up decarbonization. The US talks about cutting gas tax, kills wind farms, and climate change is a tertiary political concern.

Cyrus Hall reposted

Anthony Edwards
@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social

San Francisco International Airport, the Bay Bridge, Highways 101, 1 and 37 and other critical California infrastructure are vulnerable to “exceptional” flooding and erosion this winter, according to a report published Monday by UC Davis.

sfchronicle.comThese California highways are most at risk of flooding during El Niño stormsSFO, the Bay Bridge, Highways 101 and other critical infrastructure in California are vulnerable to “exceptional” flooding and erosion this winter, according to a new report.

Cyrus Hall reposted

Rebecca Saltzman
@rebeccaforec.bsky.social

Heading to a Contra Costa Transportation Authority meeting, and I got this iPhone alert telling me traffic is heavy and it would take me 50 minutes to get there driving. Good thing I’m riding BART! 28 minutes and zero traffic. We need to pass RTM so BART will continue to be a convenient option.

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

People who are chronically mad about the progress being made on topic X, seeing it as insufficient, are insufferable. No win is sufficient! Let X be whatever it is you work on.

Cyrus Hall reposted

David Zipper
@davidzipper.bsky.social

Waymo really seems to have a deadheading problem. In California: "Between January 2025 and June 2026, Waymo's deadhead share [of VMT] fell from 53% to 41.9%, yet still exceeds human-driven ride-hailing by more than 50%." More deadheading --> More traffic Preprint: doi.org/10.21203/rs....

Cyrus Hall reposted

Carter Lavin
@carterlavin.bsky.social

Every now and then I write a campaign recap/update where I list out everything I/a campaign did over a certain time period, all the data points etc. And HOLY MOLY has this been a gigantic year of action

Cyrus Hall reposted

Yonah Freemark
@yonahfreemark.com

The federal Highway Trust Fund, which funds road & transit, faces a >$318 billion shortfall by 2036. How can Congress address this? —Cut spending by 40% —Increase the gas tax —Implement new taxes (VMT, registration) —Transfer from the general fund We lay it out: taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/congr...

Cyrus Hall
@cyrushall.bsky.social

Fund the Bus! Vote Yes on RTM (and Prop H in San Francisco)!

AC Transit@rideact.bsky.social

California State Senator @jessearreguin.bsky.social shared how public transit impacted his experience at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social. For many East Bay riders, taking the bus to school is their first introduction to public transit and helps shape their transit experience for years to come.