Transit

With Bay Area public transit languishing, market forces have evolved a "shadow industry" solution: fleets of shuttle buses, operating outside of any agreement with public transit agencies, carrying employees between work and home with greater efficiency and comfort than Muni could ever hope to offer.

Editor's note: This is one in an occasional series of stories on the history of transit in San Francisco.

It's official. It's Jerry Brown versus Meg Whitman for Governor of California. While we can expect a vigorous campaign between now and the election in November, neither candidate has staked out solid ground on transportation issues. For Brown, there's a track record going back decades, but for Whitman all we know about her positions is what was learned in a Republican primary where each candidate lurched as far to the right as possible.

Facing a budget deficit that threatens to end train service altogether, the Caltrain Board of Directors voted today to declare a fiscal emergency and began considering some new options to cover the deficit for the next fiscal year, including raising fares.

The AFL-CIO, a formidable lobbying force in Washington, is throwing its weight behind a Senate bill offered last week that would authorize $2 billion in emergency funding for transit agencies forced to hike fares or cut service in lean budgetary times.

BART Board meetings over the past year have been tumultuous, from the public fury over the Oscar Grant killing, which included the arrest of a protester for dousing BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger with red paint, to vigorous debate over whether to spend stimulus funds on the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), to negotiations that narrowly averted a union strike that would have shut down the system and likely paralyzed the Bay Area's transportation network.

The deadline to sign up for TransForm's annual Car-Free Challenge is quickly approaching and the group is hopeful the event will raise awareness about the impact driving has on the climate, particularly in light of the recent oil spill in the Gulf.

Should private transit companies enjoy the same federal gas tax exemption that many public operators receive? How does the existence of private inter-city bus service affect the government's development of new high-speed rail lines? And does it matter that private transit firms are eligible for public subsidies, even if at a much smaller rate than public rail and bus agencies?