Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voSpOrimkMY
Eat a curb, fashie
Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
261–270 of 305 posts
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where in Tokyo do you have easy access to transit and a large suburban house? My brother in law moved from Tokyo to where he could buy a house and yard in Chiba Japan, it's around 900 sq ft with a "yard" that's smaller than the deck on the back of my house. And it's still a 20 minute bike ride + 90 minute train ride to his job in Tokyo. I don't know if you've been to many homes in Walnut creek, but a small attached h…
I lived in the bay area my entire life. You don't have to go to walnut creek to see suburbia. That ugly shit is everywhere. Public transit in Tokyo is largely underground. Density is irrelevant. If you have high density or low density above ground, this factor is completely orthogonal to whatever you build Underground. Understand? >I don't think I'm overstating when I say that American style suburbs with large lots a…
You seem to be arguing that it's physically possible to build transit that serves low density housing, I agree with that.
My argument is that it's economically infeasible, especially in the USA.
Extending Caltrain to downtown SF is estimated at $3B/mile, BART to San Jose is $780M/mile. You can't spend hundreds of millions of dollars building transit to a neighborhood with 100 homes. It's already hard to serve those neighborhoods with buses, since bus routes are either long and slow that wind through many neighborhoods, or they are vastly underutilized.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
This claim is serious, but unsourced and completely nonsensical.
I already sourced it, but if you missed it here it is again: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm... * A California Driver's License or Identification Card does not completely demonstrate one's right to vote, it only demonstrates residency. Neither does a Social Security Number, it only demonstrates taxes being levied. You must be a US citizen to vote, but anyone can get any or all of the thre…
I can walk into the polls, ask for a ballot and get one, and then fill it in and deposit it, all without anyone so much as asking who [...] I am.
Source for this claim? They have asked my name every time I have voted in person.
Social Security Number [...] only demonstrates taxes being levied.
Another unsourced claim. The state can, and likely does, check whether the SSN belongs to a citizen or not. Same with state ID, they know whether the ID was issued to a citizen or noncitizen.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
The train itself was quiet when I rode it from SF to Palo Alto but they were honking the horn almost nonstop… so much for peace and quiet.
I grew up in a 600,000 inhabitants city in Germany. They got EMUs in the 1930s. When they got the next generation in the 1970s all level crossings were replaced. So California, one of the forerunners in the US, seems to be roughly 90 years behind. Depends on your age whether you'll be able to enjoy a quiet train trip during your lifetime.
In 1930s California’s population boom had just started. There were 5 million people in the state, split between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Both cities had electric trams, but the demand for regional rail wasn’t high enough to electrify it.
Even today it’s not uncommon to de-electrify lower-volume rights of way.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#265It's great, but it took more than 20 years to get here due to environmental reviews and shaky funding. ...and this was just re-fitting an existing, relatively short stretch of track! We (as Californians) have GOT to do better than this! There are huge infrastructure projects that we need to undertake in the coming years. We have got to cut the red tape and properly fund projects.
I'm not sure it'll work but we have one of the loudest critics of over regulation making it hard to build things setting up the Department of Government Efficiency when he's not doing iffy salutes on stage. Their proposed approach as written in a WSJ opinion piece is quite interesting - >Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but “rules and regulations” promulgated by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousand…
> iffy
You can just call it what it is and say Nazi salute.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surely they can just check your ballot and see if you are registered to vote when counting it?
That's the theory and in most other states I would agree, but this is California. The priority is in getting votes period, not getting voters. Once a ballot gets past the initial verification stage, ballots are separated from the voter and it becomes impossible to link them back again (ballots have no identifiers on them). Given California's priorities, I have no confidence in the integrity of their ballot verificati…
Just because you don't understand the vetting doesn't mean it is not effective. Did you reach out to the CA Secretary of State's office regarding your concerns? If you communicated respectfully, I'm sure they would happily provide some reading materials.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#267It's great, but it took more than 20 years to get here due to environmental reviews and shaky funding. ...and this was just re-fitting an existing, relatively short stretch of track! We (as Californians) have GOT to do better than this! There are huge infrastructure projects that we need to undertake in the coming years. We have got to cut the red tape and properly fund projects.
How do Californians in 2025 feel about the California High-Speed Rail? A similar project [1] is underway in Canada, but I worry sometimes it'll fall prey to the same administrative bog that the CHSR did. It'll be managed by a new Crown corp, VIA HFR, and from my understanding they're still taking engineering bids. I expect it'll be a while before shovels hit the ground. A cheap, fast, and reliable rail from Toronto t…
I think high-speed rail between SF and LA is a great idea, and it’s difficult to understand how much of its cost is avoidable excess when the only solution proposed by critics is to shut down the project entirely.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
People want infrastructure and then when it gets built, they say it’s too expensive and takes too long. Valid criticisms but many throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Rail for people is hard to get profitable without pretty high cost (or permanent subsidies). Look at Switzerland - this is the land of trains, all reachable cities and villages have main train station at their heart, use is frequent, and its part of national pride (precision, coverage, cleanliness etc.). Yet prices are brutal, sure if you live here you can often afford it but it still hurts. The price keeps rising. A…
> Car for 4 is significantly cheaper - I'd say 4x for full tickets
Would it be cheaper with all the usual externalities priced in?
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
The train itself was quiet when I rode it from SF to Palo Alto but they were honking the horn almost nonstop… so much for peace and quiet.
That's because they still haven't eliminated the crossing points. They need to turn every road or pedestrian crossing into an underpass or overpass, or eliminate it. They've started on this process, but it will take many years.
I live a block away from a train crossing for a track that does a lot of local refinery transfers and occasional has freight. It has the normal old style crossing with an arm on each side with lights, a loud bell, and trains required to signal with horn. There are 8 road crossings in a short distance so each train is signals 8 times nearby.
The requirements for a no-signal crossing is essentially a pedestrian gate. The quote the city has for each crossing was if I remember right 1.5 million usd. And you’d need to replace many of them. The city doesn’t want to prioritize that much money. (FWIW I agree)
The worst thing is we have under utilized tracks going all over the region and no commuter train service. Even with the rail expansion prior to the Olympics (I’m near Los Angeles), the commuter rail is only being extended to the northern most edge of the city.
Neighbors have been fighting against commuter rail every step of the way. I’ll say attending local govt and rail proposal meetings is at once interesting, impressive at what some groups are trying to achieve and disturbing at the lengths people go to prevent change.
Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
you're severely out of touch. Only around 15% of Californians can afford to buy a home. Why can't they buy a home? LACK of Inventory. You can see this on the news, you can quote experts everywhere saying this. There's not enough houses and that raises prices. So how do you lower prices? Build more homes. How do you build more homes? Increase density. Yeah if you're in the 15% sure, buy a big home. If you're in the 85…
You can't force developers to build what they can't sell at a profit. I'm sure San Francisco would love to have more billion dollar high density buildings, but can a developer sell enough million dollar condos to pay for them? Is there any evidence that it's zoning that's keeping more residentials towers from being built in downtown SF? >Bro, that catastrophic disaster is called global warming It's not a catastrophic…
There are and is currently more residential towers being built in SF. https://youtu.be/kP08AWGfG-w?si=ax8R4l8z0Hd4t_HJ
It is zoning that is stopping high density from going up. The house owners are stopping it. You. When you remove those restrictions you get tons of projects wanting to execute on that.
Look up builders remedy.
In the Bay Area, examples of "Builder's Remedy" projects include proposed developments in cities like Mountain View, Menlo Park, Saratoga, and Los Gatos, where developers leverage the state law to build high-density housing projects in areas previously resistant to new development, often by proposing large apartment complexes or mixed-use developments on sites zoned for lower density housing, particularly in affluent communities that haven't met state housing mandates; notable examples include a 200-unit project at 1920 Gamel Way in Mountain View and a large development at the Mountain Winery near Saratoga, which could include a hotel alongside residential units, all while utilizing the "Builder's Remedy" to bypass local zoning restrictions due to the inclusion of a significant portion of affordable housing within the project. Key points about Bay Area Builder's
Targeted areas:
Developers often target affluent cities like Menlo Park, Los Gatos, and parts of Santa Clara County, where housing needs are high but local resistance to new development is strong.
High-density development:
These projects often propose significantly denser housing than what is typically allowed under local zoning, including multi-story apartment buildings. Affordable housing inclusion: To qualify for "Builder's Remedy," developers must include a substantial percentage of affordable housing units within the project.
Local opposition:
While intended to address housing shortages, these projects often face significant local opposition from residents concerned about increased density and potential impacts on their neighborhoods. These are rich house owners who own a home and they are the 15% who oppose the 85 percent who don’t. It’s class warfare.