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Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

caltrain.com

21–30 of 305 posts

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#21
post #2

It's hilarious but sad to watch Americans learn things that agencies abroad already know. The other example of this I saw today was that in NYC the congestion pricing has "surprisingly" slashed the number of car crashes and injuries in Manhattan. Like, duh.

I don't see why it couldn't be surprising - if there are fewer cars in Manhattan, it could mean the cars will have a higher average speed, meaning they might be more likely to get into an accident.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed largely, though IMO BART is holding the bay area back. Unlike Caltrain and Muni, BART management is completely incompetent and more focused on spending their money on random things than actually running their transit system. Fun fact: BART police has a large fleet of SUVs, with the highest vehicle-to-officer ratio in the bay area (if only there were some other way for them to get around!) Fun exercise: compare…

> BART police why does a transit system need its own police force? Aren't municipal and county police enough?

It's a chain of command (i.e. BART police report to BART, Campus police report to the school, way less messy than BART or the school having to convince the jurisdiction how to police the area) and prioritization thing. Bespoke police agencies exist to police their niche to an extent that would be unjustifiable if it were coming your normal police department and taking resources away from their other tasks.

Transit police, campus police, DEA, ATF, etc, etc, etc. Their entire job is to harass people that the equivalent generalist police couldn't justify allocating resources toward.

Irate homeless? SFPD won't show, but BART Police will.

Drunk college kids shenanigans? Normal cops don't care, but campus police does.

Weirdos making machine guns or huge amounts of LSD? FBI don't care as long as you're not trafficking, they got real crime with real victims to chase. ATF and DEA care though.

Wash rinse repeat this pattern for literally every bespoke police agency.

Yeah, jurisdiction can be a theoretical reason for these agencies but once again it's still a priority thing. When agencies care jurisdiction and coordination isn't a problem. Having one agency span multiple only helps if you're chasing stuff so petty it would get dropped.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#23
post #2

It's hilarious but sad to watch Americans learn things that agencies abroad already know. The other example of this I saw today was that in NYC the congestion pricing has "surprisingly" slashed the number of car crashes and injuries in Manhattan. Like, duh.

I dunno... Many trains in London still don't do regenerative braking despite the technology to generate electricity from motion being around for... checks notes... 194 years!

The deepest metro lines are also boiling, because the heat from braking just gets constantly absorbed into the ground, and the ground's ability to disperse the heat is maxed out.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#24
post #4
post #2

It's hilarious but sad to watch Americans learn things that agencies abroad already know. The other example of this I saw today was that in NYC the congestion pricing has "surprisingly" slashed the number of car crashes and injuries in Manhattan. Like, duh.

I feel this is positive news moving in a positive direction. Do you suggest not doing anything to improve the situation? We can’t go back in time. But we can help ourselves in the future.

Of course its positive news. Of fourse we cant go back in time. Its still good fun to poke at US for being so late on these discoveries.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#27
post #2

It's hilarious but sad to watch Americans learn things that agencies abroad already know. The other example of this I saw today was that in NYC the congestion pricing has "surprisingly" slashed the number of car crashes and injuries in Manhattan. Like, duh.

I don't see why it couldn't be surprising - if there are fewer cars in Manhattan, it could mean the cars will have a higher average speed, meaning they might be more likely to get into an accident.

My experience in Manhattan is that when it gets really congested, it turns into a giant game of chicken with everyone jockeying for position. This has got to lead to a lot of accidents (although probably mostly fairly minor)

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#28
post #3

The electric Caltrain is so wonderful. It’s way quieter, the cars have nicer interiors, and it is running faster and more frequently than before. Between this, the new BART cars (also much quieter!), and Muni hitting a reliability & satisfaction records, there’s really a transit renaissance going on in the Bay Area. I really hope we can keep this going!

The new sfo terminal too

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#30
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel this improvement is negligible. I doubt you'll see any meaningful change in your lifetime. At best you'll see an electric car renaissance. But the infra for trains and public transit? Doubtful.

It’s still a positive change an I’m all for it.

I'm all for positive change too. But as someone who isn't delusional, I have to account for practicality rather then dreaming about an unrealistic future.
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