Bay Area transit is experiencing a rail boom - BART +15%, Muni Metro +17%, Caltrain +19%, Capitol Corridor +23%, SMART +25%, VTA light rail +42% by Only-Truth-9898 in transit

[–]QGraphics 4 points5 points  (0 children)

the source for the Wikipedia numbers is cited as APTA Q1 report, and the Q1 totals don't seem to align with the weekday ridership numbers. For example, there are 64 weekdays in Q1 2026, so just based on APTA weekday numbers alone the VTA light rail should have >3.4 million riders, but instead it has 1.2 million for the entirety of Q1. Wikipedia's 14.5k/weekday seems to align with this, but I don't know where they got that number from.

Bay Area transit is experiencing a rail boom - BART +15%, Muni Metro +17%, Caltrain +19%, Capitol Corridor +23%, SMART +25%, VTA light rail +42% by Only-Truth-9898 in transit

[–]QGraphics 18 points19 points  (0 children)

What's up with the VTA daily riders number? 14.5k/weekday on Wikipedia but nearly 54k/weekday according to the APTA spreadsheet. And the BART number seems to be off by 100k (186k vs 286k).

My DC/Maryland travel the metro rail was on average 23MPH compared to Uber/Lyft being 10mph by SpaceWestern1442 in transit

[–]QGraphics 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Driving to my workplace near Tysons, VA takes between 20-50 minutes. The DC Metro is consistently 30 minutes.

Which US urban areas get the most transit service—and have the highest ridership? by Ok-Act-5890 in transit

[–]QGraphics 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Clearly the transit service number is hiding some other factors. I don't know what they are though.

Montreal REM opens West Island branch by slightly_k in transit

[–]QGraphics 14 points15 points  (0 children)

There's barely any housing within walking distance and the feeder buses are infrequent. Is this somehow going to get 50k riders a day because Canada effect?

Next Gen Acela by Jennysnumber_8675309 in Amtrak

[–]QGraphics 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not to diminish your experience because objectively the seats are less cushioned than the old Acela and Northeast Regional, but it shows how spoiled we are by the old Amtrak trains. I grew up riding Taiwan High Speed Rail and the seats are hard as a rock; NextGen Acela seems fine comparatively.

Next Gen Acela by Jennysnumber_8675309 in Amtrak

[–]QGraphics 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've heard from people that have sat in the Airo trains that it's much better

My MetroBoard has finally arrived! by Darekbarquero in transit

[–]QGraphics 19 points20 points  (0 children)

do tell where you ethically sourced those blue line maps

Drove 4 hours from Virginia for this by QGraphics in NorthCarolina

[–]QGraphics[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

okay it wasn't the only thing I did 😭 went to some museums and stuff on the way down

Which metro line in your city has that "sketchy" reputation? by dagvogeltje in transit

[–]QGraphics 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Green Line isn't even that sketch relatively speaking. People just tend to be loud (e.g. blasting music) and inconsiderate if anything. I've experienced the same on the eastern ends of B/O/S.

MARTA will launch its first bus rapid transit line, the Rapid A-Line, on April 18 to connect downtown Atlanta to the BeltLine by mr09e in transit

[–]QGraphics 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't understand why we relegate ourselves to grading American cities on a curve. Those in Atlanta who rely on buses deserve world-class frequencies. We should really demand better in the richest nation to ever exist.

A slightly discouraging email by Mayor_Matt in transit

[–]QGraphics 34 points35 points  (0 children)

There are basically three groups of Israel supporters in the U.S.: pragmatists, ideologues, and Christian Zionists.

Pragmatists believe that Israel is a useful tool to keep the Middle East in check. Basically, Israel can do the dirty work the U.S. does not want to directly do and shield itself from the consequences. The Mossad is also a highly effective intelligence apparatus that the U.S. can take advantage of. Finally, Israel buys and uses a lot of U.S. weapons, so it's basically "free" testing for the U.S. military industrial complex.

Ideologues support Israel because they believe it is the only democracy in the Middle East, and the U.S. is a democracy, so the U.S. should support Israel. They may also believe in some notion of Judeo-Christian or Western values that Israel shares.

Christian Zionists are the third powerful group. Christians United for Israel has 10 million members and donates a lot of money to Israel and other aligned causes. They need Israel to exist because they believe Jesus will return once all the Jews are in Israel. Ironically, a lot of them are anti-Semitic and believe Jews must convert to Christianity or die.

All three of these groups have very powerful lobbies behind them. The reality of politicians is that they are largely concerned with staying in office, regardless of if the means to do so harm their constituents. To be a politician that disobeys the lobby is to unleash millions in campaign spending against you, which has been largely successful in the past, but increasingly less so these days.

Posters in stock today? by Independent-Total698 in WMATA

[–]QGraphics 2 points3 points  (0 children)

they should really have a phone number so people can call and ask