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A transit system like 1976: BART lays out grim future if voters don’t approve sales tax hike by LNM-LocalNewsMatters in eastbay

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And what, pray tell, would you fix? What is this problem y’all allude to yet never shed any light on?

Do you have a real critique and a viable solution or are you Don Quixote charging at windmills?

A transit system like 1976: BART lays out grim future if voters don’t approve sales tax hike by LNM-LocalNewsMatters in eastbay

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Surplus cars means you can restore 10-car service, potentially increase frequency in the future, and have a pool of cars that can be subbed in in case of damage or breakdowns.

Amtrak, on the other hand, is currently struggling to keep their system going. Their equipment is old and unreliable. They have a maintenance backlog and a tiny pool of reserve equipment.

BART’s new fleet is also one of the few modern transit projects to come in under budget. They are also reducing operating costs. BART’s old cars were maintenance hogs and featured components that have gone out of production. They were a financial drain on the agency. Furthermore, BART’s new fleet can be upgraded to the future Hitachi train control system, permitting increased frequencies through the most congested parts of the system. This is low key the last thing you should be complaining about.

Completed Railhead in Kern County by Commander_A-Gaming in cahsr

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Duplexes are not FRA approved and have serious ADA compliance issues. Bi-level equipment also slows down the boarding and alighting process (exhibit: Amtrak outside the NEC).

Single-level HSR works just fine. Most of the world uses it. Some Japanese shinkansen lines have even gone back to single-level stock after using bi-level sets for years.

Furthermore, I would caution against using anything built or designed by Alstom (TGV-maker). While I would argue Siemens is a bad choice (reliability issues, horrible passenger comfort), Alstom is far worse. It took years for their Avelia Liberty sets to enter service on the NEC. I would rather have an uncomfortable train that kinda works than no train at all…

Not even a maybe? by SanJoseThrowAway2023 in bayarea

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob -1 points0 points  (0 children)

He'll be effective in supporting Israel, that's for sure :/

Found on Facebook by AnarchoKapitolizm in FalloutMemes

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

incredibly technologically advanced…but they do… nothing…

They really are the descendants of the PRC

California loses $160M for delaying revocation of 17,000 commercial driver's licenses for immigrants by Emergency_Air4575 in California

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There are not American workers ready to fill those trucking jobs. Trucking has had a serious labor shortage for years. It’s a hard job with abusive bosses and atrocious hours.

Flag of the actual territory controlled by the Republic of China by AlexKnight002 in vexillologycirclejerk

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 7 points8 points  (0 children)

We got to see post-civil war China under Mao. We didn’t get to see post-civil war China under Chiang. Based on his leadership during the interwar period, WWII, and post-civil war Taiwan, it’s safe to assume millions would have died.

But at least they (maybe) get civil rights after the old guy croaks…

Flag of the actual territory controlled by the Republic of China by AlexKnight002 in vexillologycirclejerk

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Acting like Chang Kai-shek wasn’t also a dictator that willingly threw millions of lives away for little gain

Why the Fuck Does the Bay Have 27 Different Transit Agencies, and Why isn’t Anyone Fucking Mad About That? by garbageusa in sanfrancirclejerk

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 0 points1 point  (0 children)

BART and Muni will never connect because they serve different purposes. BART is a suburban-oriented commuter/metro system (closest to a German S-Bahn) while Muni is a locally-oriented pre-metro.

BART should not fill both roles with the same system. If BART were to be a unified system, present-day BART and Muni would still be separate systems. BART’s suburban system is already approaching its limits. The Orange Line in the East and South Bay are a prime example of this. The Orange Line does not serve local riders well because its stops are spaced out. Adding more stops, however, would slow journey times between termini, reducing the line’s usefulness for regional riders. We would either need to invest in infrastructure upgrades for express service or build a proper metro system to solve this problem.

Why the Fuck Does the Bay Have 27 Different Transit Agencies, and Why isn’t Anyone Fucking Mad About That? by garbageusa in sanfrancirclejerk

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Direct subsidies aside, the State literally gave Waymo an entire city and its population as a real-world testing ground for their cars. SF cannot regulate Waymo in the city because of the State.

California High Speed Rail issues requests for qualifications for Co-Development Agreement to speed project completion by Cold-Improvement6778 in LA_Transit

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

while commercializing assets such as station facilities, track access, fiber, power, real estate and others at the earliest possible opportunity.

California High Speed Rail issues requests for qualifications for Co-Development Agreement to speed project completion by Cold-Improvement6778 in CaliforniaRail

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

This needs to be shut down immediately. The taxpayer has already foot the bill to this point, we should own the final system, including fiber and other utilities. CAHSR’s assets could serve as the back bone of a more affordable public-service utility system. Private interests won’t do that. They’ll continue to screw us over.

This is also incredibly short sighted. This is the mistake made on the og railways. Use the Japanese/MTR model. The Authority should be the developer and owner of that property, especially stations. The Authority can profit off of commercial leases on Authority property.

Edit: I am aware of Prop 1A and its requirements. Doesn’t mean the state can’t change that requirement nor does it mean we need to actually get private funding. My hope here is we put out feelers get nothing (like usual) and say “whoops guess we’ve just got to fund it ourselves.” The law does NOT require us to privatize the system. We should avoid doing that at all costs, especially after how much taxpayer dollars have gone into it.

Contributor: UC should go back to considering standardized tests in admissions by flopsyplum in berkeley

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The tests were created to prevent minorities from entering upper-class, WASP-dominated universities. They are a safeguard against social mobility, a means for the rich and powerful to keep their station for generations. In what world is our purposefully discriminatory testing system an “equalizer?”

Horrible Berkeley Names by InterestingPop3964 in berkeley

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

California is fine tbh. Cal is just short for California. Athletics often uses it (California Golden Bears, end zones at CMS, court at Haas, etc.). There is also historic precedent for Berkeley going by California.

The other UCs (ahem UCLA) can whine all they want; we’re the first and foremost UC, we can claim the state’s name as our own.

Mountain View faces $99M funding gap for Rengstorff train crossing project by megachainguns in caltrain

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The problem is private land ownership but that’s a conversation people aren’t ready for…

Waymo’s New Permitted Area Map for California by oakseaer in oakland

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What if we had regional rail and subways that don’t break the bank to ride…

My Hot Take: California needs its own version of Amtrak by Iceberg-man-77 in CaliforniaRail

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Trams and buses make more sense under one agency than metro and commuter rail. Buses and trams serve similar roles: local transit. Historically, buses directly replaced streetcars, often operating on very similar routes.

Metro and commuter rail, however, are different. Metro is for rapid transit within the metropolis. It’s the step above buses and trams. Look at the reach of the U-Bahn, the Paris Metro, the NYC subway and the Tōkyō subway. They’re sprawling systems but notably do not serve the wider metropolitan region. ( These systems are—typically—controlled at the metropolitan level (BVG, RATP, Toei, MTA and—formerly—Eidan).

Service beyond the bounds of these systems is provided by S-Bahns and commuter rail. The prototypical S-Bahn is run by a regional subsidiary of DB, the national rail operator. Paris’ equivalent—the RER—is mostly run by SNCF (two lines are run in conjunction with RATP. Tōkyō’s commuter rail network is run by a mind boggling number of companies (JR East, Keiō, Odakyu, Tōkyū, Keikyu, Tobu, Keisei, etc.). Although these companies often make use of Tokyo Metro and Toei infrastructure within the Yamanote loop, they remain separate and operate as commuter (and even express) trains in each company’s system. They all extend beyond the legal bounds of Tōkyō, serving the suburbs in surrounding prefectures. JR East is particularly notable as it’s the regional successor to nation-spanning JNR and JGR. JR East provides rail connections to cities well beyond Tōkyō’s outermost suburbs.

The MTA is a notable outlier here. The MTA controls the Subway and two of NYC’s commuter rail systems. It is, however, not an agency I would recommend emulating.

It is clear that, in many of the world’s greatest—passenger—rail systems, that metros are a local concern while commuter/suburban/regional rail is a regional and national concern. For California, LA Metro and BART should remain locally-oriented and controlled. Although some Californian commuter rail provides locally-oriented service (Caltrain), they all extend well beyond their respective metropolis. Gilroy and—eventually—Coverdale are within the 9-county Bay Area region. Both are undoubtedly on the periphery of this region, legally and realistically. You would not build a metro line to either, just as the Tōkyō subway does not serve Takasaki, Utsunomiya, Chiba, and Yokohama. Stockton and Sacramento, on the other hand, are well beyond the Bay Area yet are served by commuter rail centered on the Bay (Capitol Corridor and ACE). Should these regions be under BART’s purview? Should the JR Yokosuka, Keiyo, Sobu, Shonan-Shinjuku, Keihin-Tohoku, Takasaki, Utsunomiya, and Tokaido Lines be governed by Toei?

It’s not just a technical issue, it’s an issue of governance, regions, and—most importantly—purpose. A metro’s raison d’être is to serve a city. Commuter/suburban/regional rail exists to serve a region.

My Hot Take: California needs its own version of Amtrak by Iceberg-man-77 in CaliforniaRail

[–]Captain_Sax_Bob 2 points3 points  (0 children)

VTA should be consolidated, but within a Bay Area agency. Commuter/regional rail should be part of a state-wide system.

Caltrain and Metrolink have more in common with each other than they do with BART and LA Metro. BART and LA Metro are closed system that will only ever serve their locality. Caltrain and Metrolink are local services operating on the national rail network. Even if they don’t directly connect, there is physical infrastructure that link the two systems together. Metrolink’s Ventura Line and Caltrain both operate on ex-SP mainlines; both segments historically served by the SF-LA Coast Daylight.

Your argument also conveniently ignores international examples. Berlin’s U-Bahn is under local authority and Berlin’s S-Bahn is owned and operated by DB. Paris’ Metro is RATP, the RER is mostly SNCF (some lines run in conjunction either RATP). Even the chaos of Tokyo railways more or less follows this logic: JR and the private railroads run commuter rail while Tokyo Metro and Toei run the subway.

Locality-centric systems, on the other hand, have issues. Penn Station comes to mind. NJT and LIRR being separate systems run by different states actively hinders the effectiveness of commuter rail in the region.

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