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!
> It’s way quieter, the cars have nicer interiors, and it is running faster and more frequently than before. Not that electric isn't a huge step up for all the usual reasons but most of that is just because it's new and hasn't been worn out yet.
Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
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Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#10219 million annually. I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze here. They should focus on making Caltrain run reliably timely, and safely for the passengers. Once we get the ridership numbers up we can easily make up for the electricity efficiency.
Electrification wasn't just an efficiency thing, it also made the service much better because of the faster acceleration - IIRC my travel time to SF on weekends went from 75 to 50 minutes, which opens up a lot of use cases.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#103Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#104Earlier 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…
I think BART struggles with who it's meant to serve now, since it was clearly designed for ultra-peak weekday commute traffic. Recovery for weekend ridership is way better than weekday. I also agree that the governance structure for BART is weird and overly complex. Why do I elect a BART director? Why are they in their own special BART districts completely discontinuous from the 10 other ways we have sliced up the Ba…
(Also, while I am biased towards Caltrain, the new trains beat traffic on 101/280 San Francisco↔San Jose during rush hour).
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#105Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a good question, any I have no idea of the answer, but the port authority of NY and NJ has it's own police. I always figured it was because it spanned jurisdictions, but perhaps there are other reasons
Chicago has CTA police and the suburban rail system Metra has its own police also.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#107The 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!
It has been great hasn't it?!? The difference between running every 30 minutes on weekends vs ever 2 hours is the difference between hopping on the train up to Redwood City for lunch with a friend and then back again. Versus one of us driving one way or the other. If they can electrify the San Jose to Gilroy segment that will be even better.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
To unlock the true value of these systems the BA needs to be forced to increase density of their cities though. We need SF proper to look more like Manhattan.
It also needs a much bigger emphasis on transit oriented development. In Japan the best place to eat in town is often in the train station or within a few feet of it. In the US the stops are often some of the worst places like parking lots or run down parts of town. Rarely have I seen good shopping/dining/living integrated into BA, or even US in general, transit systems.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup not to mention that the fumes from diesel engines got into the cars so you tended to avoid the ones close to the engine. Its a HUGE qol improvement!
Also makes waiting at either end, San Jose or San Francisco more pleasant with cleaner air to breathe instead of fumes if you are a little early.