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Why is San Francisco public transportation so bad?

alexmedearis.com

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Re: Why is San Francisco public transportation so bad?

#51

Post by bubbleRefuge »

Lets get real. The infrastructure problem in this country has to get solved at the federal level. Since we know here on HN that the federal government is an issuer of currency[1] and state and local government are users of the currency, like households and business, the only entity that can fund the massive infrastructure is said Federal Government. And, unlike China, all federal spending is underwritten by legislation. With the political climate being what it is, the only way this happens is another major recession (which may be on the horizon) or some kind of 3rd party grass roots movement. Depressing indeed.

[1] http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2014/05/need-taxes-mmt-pe...

Re: Why is San Francisco public transportation so bad?

#54

Post by dragonwriter »

kylec wrote: post #16

As someone who doesn't live in the SF bay area, the sheer number of transportation systems confuses and puzzles me. Caltrain, BART, Muni, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit, etc. Why aren't these systems unified under a single system map and timetable? In the Boston area we have the MBTA, in New York there's the MTA. Why does San Francisco need 5+?

> As someone who doesn't live in the SF bay area, the sheer number of transportation systems confuses and puzzles me. Caltrain, BART, Muni, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit, etc. Why aren't these systems unified under a single system map and timetable? In the Boston area we have the MBTA, in New York there's the MTA. Why does San Francisco need 5+?

Likely, because New York and Boston are both larger (in population) and more concentrated metropolises, and are also both the principal metropolitan region of their respective states, which states are also the entities responsible for organizing each metropolises transit authority.

(NYC has, in 305 square miles, a population greater than the 9-county San Francisco Bay Area has in nearly 7,000 square miles, and NYC is close to half of New York State's population by itself, whereas even the whole 9-county Bay Area is around 1/5 of California's population.)

Re: Why is San Francisco public transportation so bad?

#55

Post by seanmcdirmid »

spikels wrote: post #46
interg12 wrote: post #41

Thank republicans who block infrastructure spending every chance they get.

Wrong! There are very few Republicans in the Bay Area and none in SF city goverment.

There are a lot of republicans in the Bay Area, they just seem to be the very wealthy kind (and are more moderate). Source: I used to hang out at the San Carlos Starbucks and a group of old guys would come in everyday to praise Bush (they were really cool, however, one was a B29 pilot in W2).

Re: Why is San Francisco public transportation so bad?

#57

Post by waqf »

m0th87 wrote: post #40
clauretano wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In New York you have MTA Metro North, PATH, MTA Subway, MTA Select Bus Service, NJ Transit, etc. Plus things like JFK AirTrain, Amtrak. It's not confusing though --different names for different things. commuter rail vs intra-city transportation. Metro North doesn't share ticketing with the subway even though they're both MTA

NYC and SF aren't comparable at all since NYC is so much larger. But even then, NYC is more well-organized. The majority of the services you mentioned move commuters between NYC and surrounding areas, so it makes sense that they don't fall under MTA. SF separates its bus system from its train system (at least in labeling), and there's more than one train service within the city alone. EDIT: Bear in mind it wasn't alw…

> tracks have different widths

To be clear, the tunnels have different dimensions, but the actual track gauges are the same (standard gauge … unlike BART).

Re: Why is San Francisco public transportation so bad?

#58

Post by seanmcdirmid »

clauretano wrote: post #30
kylec wrote: post #16

As someone who doesn't live in the SF bay area, the sheer number of transportation systems confuses and puzzles me. Caltrain, BART, Muni, SamTrans, Golden Gate Transit, etc. Why aren't these systems unified under a single system map and timetable? In the Boston area we have the MBTA, in New York there's the MTA. Why does San Francisco need 5+?

In New York you have MTA Metro North, PATH, MTA Subway, MTA Select Bus Service, NJ Transit, etc. Plus things like JFK AirTrain, Amtrak. It's not confusing though --different names for different things. commuter rail vs intra-city transportation. Metro North doesn't share ticketing with the subway even though they're both MTA

And let's not even get started with Tokyo.

Re: Why is San Francisco public transportation so bad?

#59

Post by closetnerd »

I love the argument that "because there're even worse public transportation systems, its okay for the SF transportation system to be shit".

But hey, as long as were busy dealing with our shit transportation system it means we have less time to complain about the other shit the government is slipping up on.

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