The Armchair Urbanist Goes After BART to San Jose Extension
For some time now, Streetsblog and Bay Area transit advocates have criticized plans for the six-mile BART extension to San Jose as over engineered and way too deep. It’s been painfully obvious that VTA’s planners and local politicians have given total priority to not disturbing merchants in the slightest way, to the point that they’re going to flush away billions to create a less-useful system.
The absurdity of the plan has now caught the attention of Alan Fisher, better known as the Armchair Urbanist, who makes videos about transit from his home base on the East Coast. He calls it “the worst new transit project in the U.S.” The video is a great explainer about why this project needs stopped, rebooted, and then restarted with some consideration for building a reasonable extension.
As Fisher explains, on a per-mile basis, San Jose is going to spend more than New York City subway extensions. But New York has to go under existing subway lines that have to remain operational during construction. That often requires going really deep and spending lots of money. What San Jose is doing is completely unwarranted.
Be sure to check it out.
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
More from Streetsblog San Francisco
Commentary: Is a Transporter Bridge the 100-Year-Old Solution for the Estuary Crossing We’ve all been Looking for?
Where the Hottest Blocks in Your City Are — And How To Cool Them Down
Legislation Moving to Make It Easier to Build High-Rises Near Transit in CA’s Seven Largest Cities
More high rises in the downtowns of our seven largest cities?
The post Legislation Moving to Make It Easier to Build High-Rises Near Transit in CA’s Seven Largest Cities appeared first on Streetsblog California.
