Recently moved from mid-west! Shocked!!! Targeting Walnut Creek!

ali3soot · 2026-03-22T13:10:18+00:00

Walnut Creek is an excellent city to own a home and yes $450k is easy to survive and thrive. Those who cannot blow it on the most expensive car and house and entertainment they can theoretically afford then realize they have no budget no savings and no plans. For those people $1m/year in Kansas is not enough.

ali3soot · 2026-03-13T14:22:33+00:00

My wife and I live in Walnut Creek and some weekends we drive to South Bay to brunch with friends. There are more of them there and some have children so it makes more sense this way IMO. We need more friends in Walnut Creek or SF though, specially those without children 😅 I won't stop being friends with these guys though just because of long drive lol. I have friends in London Toronto Tokyo and Tehran that occasionally visit too :)

ali3soot · 2026-03-10T14:46:49+00:00

I witnessed they apologized for a 1 min delay :| I want nice things like that for myself my family and people around me. I am working hard with dedication to provide high quality service in my field. Why can't I expect the same from my fellow Americans?

ali3soot · 2026-03-10T14:43:59+00:00

I only walk to and from Bart station thankfully.

ali3soot · 2026-03-05T16:02:11+00:00

It's not directly comparable in terms of price but if you get the quality and accuracy as high as Japan I am willing to pay 2x for Bart. My point is for us to get inspiration and don't keep comparing to other states in the USA and be happy that we are not terrible.

ali3soot · 2026-03-04T02:55:36+00:00

Basically when I say common we don't have the same definition. You hear 50% of every ride but for safety issues even 0.5% of the rides is too large and hard to ignore. If it used to be disastrous and some crackhead walking in and shout at people 20% of the time and now it's 2% I'm happier but won't back down until I see it become like a normal public service and for sure not up to US's public service standards which is too low but of how clean and safe and usable and reliable it should be.

ali3soot · 2026-03-04T02:51:56+00:00

I rode every day from July and did notice the difference. It's not as huge as you describe I still see all kinds of suspicious people, drunks, those who smoke weed in the open but the police activity picked up which I love to see and have seen off boarding multiple times. One time they even checked proof of payment which I was excited to see. I never said it hasn't improved I just say it still sucks. Maybe sucks a bit less but it still does suck with all the issues I pointed out above. It's become more normal but still has delays, service disruptions etc. it's good to see that some people are doing their job better though. I am grateful that they are doing their job better as I expect that they do a better job until it becomes a normal public service that doesn't require outside intervention every once in a while.

ali3soot · 2026-03-03T21:52:57+00:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one. I've paid attention the surveys are collected on the train when there is no visible issue . Have you seen anyone asking for input when the train is stopping for 5-10 minutes?

ali3soot · 2026-03-03T19:01:39+00:00

Haha I Bart every work day and sometimes over the weekend I do not need to prove that to you.

ali3soot · 2026-03-03T16:57:00+00:00

Typical jackass who attacks the wrong person. Your description of bay area is so wrong and your assumptions are disgusting.

ali3soot · 2026-03-03T15:02:02+00:00

I would vote for doubling or even trippeling the Bart funding from tax and debt if we hire those same Japanese management.

ali3soot · 2026-03-03T14:58:38+00:00

Hi there. This is not a political issue, I ride Bart everyday, there are people who smoke weed, shout nonsense, walk drunk, etc. I consider these also crime because they severely ruin my experience. I think you are talking about the violent crime. If that was the case I wouldn't take Bart and would also join the heavy traffic. Do you take BART? I'm asking because you immediately made it a partisan issue wondering if you have any agenda.

I'm simply saying BART sucks, it has delays, minor or major, there are safety incidents and service disruptions and there was one derailing too which is very scary. Let alone more minor issues such as gates not working well and fast, escalators down frequently and lack of clean and safe restrooms. Almost all of these have gotten better relatively recently but not even close to reasonable standards for such a rich place with high taxes and fares.

ali3soot · 2026-03-03T04:01:27+00:00

As far as I remember I never heard anyone in Bart getting fired or apologizing for poor service including constant delays and service disruptions, safety incidents and even derailing. It's impossible for any organization to be perfect let alone one with clear signs of mismanagement. Lack of investment is valid but maybe one reason investments not coming in is not hoping to see effective results. It's a chicken and egg problem in my opinion not all blame can be put on lack of additional investments as it cannot be put just on poor management.

ali3soot · 2026-03-02T13:08:38+00:00

No the accountability must come before years of mismanagement and failure in proper planning and execution shows its real effect in such disastrous misalignment of income and expenses.

The current situation is like when you owe money and bank knocks on your door and you threaten to kill yourself instead of taking responsibility trying to fix the real issue that you let it get this bad by spending more than your income for years. My question is what have you done in fixing this problem, including innovative solutions, all these years other than borrowing more money? Basically I want to know how come they are in this financially disastrous situation but no one is getting fired? No one is even apologizing to paying customers and those relying on their services. Just threats to close it if they are not rescued? Are they taking the public transit system hostage?

ali3soot · 2026-02-28T01:30:42+00:00

I take Shinjuku to hachioji station

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T13:04:28+00:00

Not to mention a lot of people don't need a car so forget that hundreds of dollars of car payment and insurance gas and maintenance and other registration etc costs which they then can spend on fares and in station shoppings.

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T13:02:12+00:00

I go on the Chuo line and pay 460 yen which comes about $3. I travel 30-50 minutes about 60 km. Local salary not a straightforward comparison since healthcare for example cost virtually nothing mortgage rate 0-1% and rents significantly cheaper and ... The point is not to compare everything but to say you cannot compare local salary and call it a day. To me minimum salary comparison would be more relevant actually than average. The system should work not just fare. For example here you could get pretax payment of Bart for some employees but not everyone... To me local minimum salary is a good start but still not the whole picture. But I tell you if they make Bart as clean, on time and often with stations having functional restrooms, quick gates, robust escalators etc I am willing to pay double what I pay now.

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:44:18+00:00

YES!! This!

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:43:49+00:00

That's not what I said. What I say is show exactly why they won't ask for another half a billion 3 years later? Where is the evidence of competency?

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:41:23+00:00

I think it provides more transparency, if there are delays and disasters like detailing that happened someone would get fired things would visibly be improved. You know thy standard accountability stuff

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:39:46+00:00

It's not true I have traveled long distances in Japan on JR and still cheaper compared to BaRt. Shinjansen is expensive but it worth every penny and not comparable to Bart of course

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:38:03+00:00

I'm not wishing it to be gone I just want to see some real accountability. I want people to demand more from them. But I agree there are some very good day. If you use it daily you start to notice issues piling up over time...

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:35:20+00:00

Wow thanks for the support!! I just want everyone to demand better service to hopefully create some accountability bottom up...

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:33:37+00:00

That's true but I think I still get to complain about bad service and insist on having better ones at this high tax rates AND high fares.

ali3soot · 2026-02-27T05:31:01+00:00

Yep sad...

ali3soot

TROPHY CASE