Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Rail

BART Directors Consider Design Concepts for New Rail Cars

By Matthew Roth | May 8, 2009 | 3 Comments

A conceptual rendering the interior of a new BART car with lean bars, courtesy BART The first new BART cars won’t come online until 2014, but BART’s Board of Directors, in a special meeting yesterday, reviewed staff’s proposals (PDF) for procuring 700 new cars (there are currently 669 cars system-wide) and the possibility of upgrading […]

The Troubling Discord Between Transbay and High Speed Rail Authorities

By Matthew Roth | Mar 17, 2009 | 14 Comments

Rendering of the Transbay Terminal with one-level train box and mezzanine Let’s hope California rail passengers can look back on the drama playing out between the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) and the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) as a small hiccup on the way to building the nation’s preeminent rail network into one […]

Despite Outcry, MTC Board Approves OAK Connector Funds

By Matthew Roth | Feb 25, 2009 | 6 Comments

Advocates packed the MTC hearing room Transportation and social justice advocates packed the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) board meeting today to demand that the agency not spend a proposed $70 million of federal stimulus money on the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project. MTC commissioners heard testimony for over two hours from some of the more […]

Short Stimulus Package Timeline Will Compel Tough Regional Choices

By Matthew Roth | Feb 12, 2009 | 5 Comments

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC) main auditorium in Oakland was standing-room-only Wednesday for an Allocations Committee meeting where the MTC board debated proposals by staff on how to spend the expected stimulus money when President Obama signs the bill into law. MTC Executive Director Steve Heminger explained the need to get the discussion started even […]

BRT Comes Out Ahead of Light Rail, Again

By Matthew Roth | Feb 10, 2009 | 42 Comments

BRT bus in Las Vegas looks a lot like light rail The debate among policy makers and community stakeholders over the merits of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) versus Light Rail Transit (LRT) is often heated, and usually centers around whether LRT recoups the substantial capital costs of implementation over time versus BRT, and whether BRT […]

Paradise LOSt (Part III): California’s Revolutionary Plan to Overhaul Transportation Analysis

By Matthew Roth | Jan 28, 2009 | 3 Comments

Transportation consultants and planners associated with the San Francisco Transportation Authority’s (TA) ATG working group sent excited bursts of email to each other earlier this month about a new development coming from the state Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the body responsible for writing and amending the CEQA guidelines related to transportation and traffic. […]

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