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Trains Boats and Bikes: Sonoma-Marin Rail and Bike Path Update
Streetsblog was given a tour of the southernmost segment of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) project, which is currently doing finishing work and testing on the initial 43 miles of line, running from near Sonoma County Airport to downtown San Rafael. SMART is re-purposing the historic Northwestern Pacific Railroad corridor, an old 70-mile rail line that hasn't had passenger service for half a century. SMART has replaced all tracks and put in modern signal and safety systems. Service on this first phase will start late this year.
February 26, 2016
Don’t Like California’s High Speed Rail Plan? Then Stop Complaining and Fix It
The California High-Speed Rail Authority says it will shift gears by building the first operational section of the bullet train from the Central Valley to San Jose rather than going to Burbank first, as initially planned. Trains would share the Caltrain tracks from San Jose to downtown San Francisco.
February 24, 2016
Guest Editorial: Make Muni Faster with Clipper Discount
Muni will carry 700,000 trips today, making it the most heavily traveled transit system in the Bay Area. But as you read this, many buses and trains are at a standstill. They’re stopped as people fumble with dollar bills and coins, needlessly creating delays that our transit system can’t afford.
February 23, 2016
Muni Taraval Meeting Met with Grimaces Groans and Grumbles
Over a hundred people braved the wind and rain yesterday evening to attend the latest public outreach meeting about SFMTA's planned "Muni Forward" improvements to the L-Taraval streetcar line. The meeting was held at Dianne Feinstein Elementary school, about two blocks south of Taraval.
February 18, 2016
BART Struggles to Balance Current Needs with Vision for Future
BART's board and staff is working on a $3 billion bond that, if approved by the BART Board this summer, will appear on the November ballot. If the voters go for it, it will help fund upgrades and maintenance to existing infrastructure. Even though it's primarily about maintenance and upgrades to existing tracks and tunnels, advocates are pushing to have $200 million of it earmarked towards more planning for a second Transbay crossing.
February 17, 2016
Land Sits Fallow While Bay Area Housing Crisis Continues
Anyone who rides Caltrain has probably looked out the window once or twice at the Bayshore Station, a stop that practically nobody uses. There's nothing there but a giant brown field.
February 16, 2016
The Bay Area Should be Hyper Skeptical about Hyperloop
Hyperloop, Elon Musk's pitch for a transportation technology that he says will whisk people from somewhere north of Los Angeles to the East Bay in 35 minutes, was in the news again thanks to a two-day conference held at Texas A&M University. Engineering students from around the world displayed designs for a Hyperloop vehicle.
February 4, 2016
Streetsblog Talks with San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener
Scott Wiener, who has served District 8 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 2011, was re-elected this week as chair of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. The Authority was created in 1989 and it works closely with the Municipal Transportation Agency, funding and shepherding long-term projects such as the Van Ness and Geary bus improvements and the Central Subway. Wiener has long been a leader in transportation issues—probably because, unlike some elected officials, he actually rides the trains and buses.
January 28, 2016
San Francisco MTA Backpedals on Powell Safety Improvements
The SFMTA Board passed a partial rollback this afternoon of the “Powell Street Safety & Improvement Pilot,” an 18-month test project to evaluate banning private vehicles on the particularly busy stretch of Powell Street between Ellis and Geary.
January 19, 2016
Terrifying BART Shooting Shakes Bay Area
I was waiting for an inbound BART train Saturday evening at eight in Rockridge when there was an announcement: “severe disruptions due to police activity at West Oakland.”
January 11, 2016