It is increasingly likely that the California high-speed rail project will not cause much mode shift away from the automobile. In its revised 2009 Business Plan, the agency is proposing an airline pricing model: High-speed train fares are a key factor in the level of ridership and the revenue forecast. Forecasts for the programmatic EIR/EIS [...]
Archive for December, 2009
High-Speed Rail Pricing Models
Posted in transit, tagged CHSRA on December 31, 2009 | 3 Comments »
7-Extension TBM Reaches 34th Street
Posted in transit, tagged NYC on December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Some amazing video of TBM cutter head break through the 34th St. cavern wall. This completes phase one of number 7 subway extension.
Translink to become “Clippy”
Posted in transit on December 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As an Electrical Engineering student in college, we had a classroom assignment to design, build, and program a card reader using standard, off-the-shelf parts. It a regular, junior-year class where students had 1 week to complete the assignment in Lab. Granted, these were read-only cards, but hey, this was back in the 1980′s. Meanwhile, the [...]
Unbelievable Ridership Numbers in Latest CHSRA Business Plan?
Posted in transit, tagged Business Plan, CHSRA on December 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here are the projected Daily Station “Braidings” [sic] in the 2009 Business Plan: Do these computer-model numbers make any sense? Palmdale (population: 150k) would see almost as many boardings as Los Angeles (population: 3.8 million). Anaheim (i.e. Disneyland) is projected to have travel demand as great as San Francisco (i.e. terminus for most Bay Area [...]
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
Posted in automotive, tagged CARB on December 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Oh, my! State researchers must redo a report that concluded 3,500 people prematurely die each year due to diesel pollution – a finding that was used to justify imposing the nation’s strictest regulations on diesel engines. The California Air Resources Board ordered a new report after the employee who wrote it was found to have [...]
‘SMART’ Already Running into Bike-Capacity Problems
Posted in bicycling, transit, tagged SMART on December 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
SMART hasn’t even started running yet, and already it is likely cyclists will be bumped. Christine Culver of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition said there will be a large demand for bicycle space from commuters and tourists alike, and she would like to see 15 percent of the seat space devoted to bikes. “Sonoma County [...]
Obama’s plan to de-fund public transit through “safety” oversight
Posted in risk, transit on December 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Obama Administration released its proposed plan for Federal take-over of transit safety. As predicted, the bill would create vast new Federal bureaucracies, with broad power to implement safety regulation on local transit operators. While the administration is vague on how to pay for their “solution-in-search-of-a-problem” program, the inescapble conclusion is that funding would come [...]
