Today’s Headlines

  • Safety Upgrades for Golden Gate Park (Hoodline)
  • More on State Housing Reform (Curbed)
  • More on Proposed Sidewalk Robot Ban (SFExaminer)
  • Transbay Construction Slips (Socketsite)
  • Self-Driving Uber Crashes (SFExaminer)
  • Cyclist Chased by Man with Chainsaw (SFGate)
  • San Jose Hit and Run (SFGate)
  • Bike/Ped Safety Project for Mill Valley Middle School (MarinIJ)
  • SMART Train Running Full (MarinIJ)
  • Commentary: Bills Could Really Start Helping with Housing (SFChron)
  • Commentary: Court Decision May Open a Crack in Prop. 13 (SFChron)
  • Commentary: No Droids on the Sidewalk (SFExaminer)

Get state headlines at Streetsblog CA, national headlines at Streetsblog USA

  • murphstahoe

    I took SMART this AM. It’s awesome.

    I was on the 9:49 SB train from Airport Station. The parking lot at Airport was full, nominally a good sign. The train was an off peak train but it was fairly full the whole way with riders getting on and off. The train is very comfortable, we’ll see how that progresses if ridership trends upwards – but that’s a “good problem to have” as there is room for expanding to 3 car trains and more train runs.

    There are definitely some induced trips going on – there were a lot of seniors on the train taking trips that probably would not have happened. This is the sort of induced travel I don’t mind – a lot of smiling faces just going to lunch in some other town because they can – people for whom a trip through the narrows in a car just wouldn’t work.

    The bike storage hooks are overengineered and a bit clunky, but whatever.

    Best anecdote – a woman got on in Petaluma, she said she had rented a truck in Petaluma last week to haul stuff. She had taken Uber from Hamilton to get the truck – $35. Today she chose the train to get back home – $5.50 is the full fare and “it’s a LOT faster than Ubering through the narrows”. The train is 5 days old and people are adopting it as if it’s been running forever – the long slog to get it running has built up a lot of publicity. I spoke to conductors and board members and they basically said for a lot of commuters it’s like a switch just flipped – they aren’t “trying it out” – now that the train is running it’s immediately “what they do”

    It really opens up the North Bay in a lot of ways and will be iconic.

  • farazs

    While I am no fan of self-driving Ubers, I’d like to point out that `Self-Driving Uber Crashes’ is a mis-leading headline. It was involved in a crash or collision, which is not the same as saying `it crashed’.

  • dat

    Was Rich Hall onboard telling everyone how awful it was?

  • thielges

    That’s all fine, but how is the beer in the cafe car?

  • murphstahoe

    It’s real, and spectacular.

  • thielges

    Excellent. Please tell us that SMART decided to buy local and serve Pliny out of that tap behind the counter in the cafe car.

  • murphstahoe

    the tap is coffee. They were selling bottles of Lagunitas IPA and PILS

  • thielges

    I think we’re talking about different taps. I was referring to what looks like a kegerator tap to the right of the Buzz cafe employee in this photo form Roger’s article: https://i1.wp.com/sf.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/08/BarCAr.jpg?w=1280&crop=0%2C0px%2C100%2C960px

    Note the 6-packs nearby.

  • murphstahoe

    I asked – the tap is coffee