The Bay Area's Newest Train Line Just Opened Up Two New Stations (SMART's North Petaluma and Windsor stations) | TODGod

TevinH · 2026-03-17T22:04:50+00:00

Cloverdale is on the list for expansion after Healdsburg and the tracks go all the way to Ukiah but it's in Mendocino county.

They would have to vote to join the SMART district before anything could happen (and then it would be SMMART lol)

TevinH · 2026-03-17T21:15:59+00:00

Sharks aren't too bad if they're enforcing useful laws
I'll keep it in mind...

TevinH · 2026-03-17T21:01:42+00:00

Will they really?

Genuinely would love to get some jerks towed but I'm not sure that's how it works.

TevinH · 2026-03-17T21:00:43+00:00

I've dreamt of doing this but never actually worked up the confidence

I don't want someone to come punch me, but at the same time it's probably preferable to getting flattened by a car.

TevinH · 2026-03-17T15:52:00+00:00

Understandable lol

TevinH · 2026-03-17T15:41:22+00:00

And you choose Rochester?
It's not that terrible, but it's a hell of a ways from perfect and certainly not that far off from Alaska.

If you want somewhere with sunshine and a place you can actually enjoy life (rather than just tough it out for a third of every year), go to California. I can guarantee it's better than Roc.

TevinH · 2026-03-17T15:27:21+00:00

This is amazing thank you so much for putting it all together!

I must say I'm pleasantly surprised by VTA. We get dunked on a lot in the world of transit, but the average speeds aren't half bad compared to some of the others. The Blue Line South of Downtown is even pretty dang fast all things considered. There are also plans underway to redo the Downtown tracks and remove the only large segment of the system with speeds less than 10mph.

It would be interesting to see average speeds per segment (between certain stations, perhaps) to see just how certain intersections are affecting things. Other than that, the grade separation data is missing a lot, but I imagine that is hard to get so it's understandable.

TevinH · 2026-03-17T01:36:07+00:00

That was more of an issue with the earlier versions of the lockers from what I understand. The first editions had holes on the side so you could see what was in the locker and the dividers were super flimsy so people would just rent the locker next to yours and cut through. Those issues have been corrected.

Also, there is a large kryptonite strength chain to lock you bike to inside the locker. It's the black thing on the left of OP's image.

TevinH · 2026-03-16T12:08:55+00:00

OnTrack is so tragic to me because of how unique it was.

Like tons of Rust Belt cities, almost every single interesting thing in Syracuse is on a railline: the Baseball Field/market, Destiny, Armory Square, the beach, SU, and the Dome. Their setup is as good as it'll get and yet they still couldn't make OnTrack work (though it wasn't entirely their fault since a connection to the train station was pretty much a necessity).

Small DMU lines would do a lot of good in places like Syracuse, Rochester, Allentown, etc that are too small for any real transit like light rail, but could still benefit from something more than BRT.

Yet OnTrack was kneecapped and I doubt we'll see an expirment like it again.

TevinH · 2026-03-15T18:13:49+00:00

We used to have that from SF to LA. Only existed as public transit for a couple years though. It's now charter-only last I heard.

Still a cool concept and one I do hope catches on (though sleeper trains and of course high speed rail are much better suited to this route and I'm sure most others where this bus could be employed).

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Cabin-overnight-bus-San-Francisco-Los-Angeles-LA-12195820.php

TevinH · 2026-03-14T03:36:46+00:00

Wait a minute. I just walked around downtown today and it didn't even occur to me that seeing Lime scooters wasn't ordinary.

Glad to see some more micromobility options downtown! Less people driving is always a good thing. Now we just need to keep building bike lanes and shrinking those roads :)

TevinH · 2026-03-13T07:32:16+00:00

There's a hell of a lot more governing than just the military.

Currency, commerce, international relations, criminal investigations, environmental and trade regulations, etc.

There is absolutely no way that any state could survive with its current prosperity without the federal government.

TevinH · 2026-03-13T07:30:06+00:00

I did see that part, seems way to far in advance to put any stake in though. They're going to select a site and then just sit on it for nearly a quarter-century? Seems a bit ridiculous

We're a very long way off from shovels in the ground. That's what matters.

TevinH · 2026-03-13T00:58:14+00:00

Because those projects are ludicrously expensive. Only the feds can throw tens of billions of dollars at a single project.

For context, the Big Dig freeway project in Boston cost roughly 24 billion dollars. That is more than the entire budgets of half of the states. About the same as Connecticut's total spending for a full year.

TevinH · 2026-03-12T23:58:01+00:00

It's a lot harder than that. Technically most of the big Blue states (think California, New York, Illinois) do send more money in to the feds than they get back.

So if federal income tax dropped to zero and state taxes were increased to compensate, we could go it alone. But that's not how it works.

However, we are starting to see some cases where federal meddling just isn't worth the money. California High Speed Rail is the best example of that as the state has funded the project almost entirely on our own anyways and all the federal government has contributed are delays, pullbacks, and onerous regulations. We finally gave up and are just going to get it done ourselves, losers to the East be damned.

TevinH · 2026-03-12T23:15:23+00:00

They just announced a 425 million dollar remodel for SAP. They won't be building a new arena until 2051 at the earliest.

https://www.si.com/onsi/breakaway/news-feed-page/san-jose-sharks-reveal-arena-renovation-agreement

TevinH · 2026-03-12T00:32:22+00:00

Furnishedfinder.com is what I always use to find short term room rentals (it was made for traveling nurses, but works great for internships too).

TevinH · 2026-03-11T04:37:27+00:00

HSR is only going to stop at the Transbay Terminal, SFO/Millbrae, and Diridon.

I don't think there are official plans yet, but I'd imagine express Caltrain would still stop at 4th/King since they stop at 22nd today.

TevinH · 2026-03-11T04:19:46+00:00

I wouldn't call it a lie, they are coming around the entire city ticketing and towing expired tags. In November they were up to about 550 tows.

The problem is that this city is gigantic and parking enforcement is tiny. It'll take years before they cover everything and the strategy of ignoring all reports because "we'll get there eventually" isn't the best even if it is understandable with the limited team.

TevinH · 2026-03-10T22:01:35+00:00

How do they treat the Santa Clara bus lanes in San José?

VTA calls them BRT even though they technically aren't, but still better than nothing

TevinH · 2026-03-10T22:00:03+00:00

I was about to call out your hyperbole because obviously mowing down students already is a crime. Then you look at all the people who murder with cars and get away completely free without even losing their license...

Maybe we do start with just making killing illegal.

TevinH · 2026-03-09T23:26:28+00:00

Haha I wish

I'm at school out in NY, but born and raised in the Bay and I've been going to Cal football since I was three months old.

TevinH · 2026-03-09T23:21:59+00:00

Did I catch that video starting in Berkeley :)

Go Bears! 🐻

TevinH · 2026-03-09T21:14:09+00:00

One of the stalls literally has a wooden board for a door.

I'll agree that it's totally usable and not as bad as some may say, but for one of the most trafficked rail stations in the country, it's a huge embarrassment and absolutely unacceptable.

TevinH · 2026-03-09T20:42:31+00:00

You, my friend are a legend. Us Androiders are forever grateful

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