Transportation
Blog
Latest Reasons Why Residents Continue to Flee San Francisco
“Budget shortfalls pose an existential threat” to the “long-term viability” of transit services across the state. “Bay Area operators,” says a group of six state senators and seven assembly members, “face significant annual shortfalls,” leaving agencies such as BART no choice but “to cut multiple lines of service as early ...
Kerry Jackson
January 31, 2023
Blog
Private options could reverse transit ridership drops
One way to measure a city’s greatness is the ease of getting around: Does its public transit system improve or undermine its quality of life? In the 20th century, New York, London, Paris, Chicago, Berlin and Chicago were generally held in high regard for efficiently and quickly moving people through ...
Kerry Jackson
January 26, 2023
Blog
Bullet train won’t improve urban transportation
(image courtesy California High-Speed Rail Commission) Even on its best day, California’s high-speed rail project was always going to struggle to deliver on its grandiose promises – a best day that was unfortunately Nov. 4, 2008. That was the day California voters approved a modest and fantastical version of what ...
Matthew Fleming
January 19, 2023
Blog
Urban flight: Removing cars won’t revive our cities
As happened in the 1960s and 70s, America is witnessing a great exodus from some, but not all, of its cities. This time, even West Coast cities, with their sublime weather and ports on the Pacific Ocean, also are seeing residents flee paradise. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in ...
John Seiler
January 11, 2023
Blog
Another San Francisco Treat
The network is in such straits that local transit agencies are looking at a grim scenario in which BART cancels weekend service and closes “nine stations just to keep the lights on elsewhere,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports. When they do run, trains won’t arrive in 15-minute intervals – instead ...
Kerry Jackson
December 5, 2022
Blog
Pothole vigilantes fill in for the government’s failure
One of my favorite movies is “Brazil,” by the Monty Python comedy troupe’s alum Terry Gilliam. In the most-telling scene, Harry Tuttle, played by Robert De Niro, breaks into an apartment, not to rob it, but to fix a broken air conditioning system. That’s because the vast government bureaucracy, Central ...
John Seiler
November 9, 2022
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: The ‘Nuclear Option’ To Get Rid of Cars
There are some things in California that never change. It’s almost always sunny in the southern part of the state, and there’s no reason to expect a cease-fire in the war on cars.
Kerry Jackson
October 17, 2022
Latest Reasons Why Residents Continue to Flee San Francisco
“Budget shortfalls pose an existential threat” to the “long-term viability” of transit services across the state. “Bay Area operators,” says a group of six state senators and seven assembly members, “face significant annual shortfalls,” leaving agencies such as BART no choice but “to cut multiple lines of service as early ...
Private options could reverse transit ridership drops
One way to measure a city’s greatness is the ease of getting around: Does its public transit system improve or undermine its quality of life? In the 20th century, New York, London, Paris, Chicago, Berlin and Chicago were generally held in high regard for efficiently and quickly moving people through ...
Bullet train won’t improve urban transportation
(image courtesy California High-Speed Rail Commission) Even on its best day, California’s high-speed rail project was always going to struggle to deliver on its grandiose promises – a best day that was unfortunately Nov. 4, 2008. That was the day California voters approved a modest and fantastical version of what ...
Urban flight: Removing cars won’t revive our cities
As happened in the 1960s and 70s, America is witnessing a great exodus from some, but not all, of its cities. This time, even West Coast cities, with their sublime weather and ports on the Pacific Ocean, also are seeing residents flee paradise. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in ...
Another San Francisco Treat
The network is in such straits that local transit agencies are looking at a grim scenario in which BART cancels weekend service and closes “nine stations just to keep the lights on elsewhere,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports. When they do run, trains won’t arrive in 15-minute intervals – instead ...
Pothole vigilantes fill in for the government’s failure
One of my favorite movies is “Brazil,” by the Monty Python comedy troupe’s alum Terry Gilliam. In the most-telling scene, Harry Tuttle, played by Robert De Niro, breaks into an apartment, not to rob it, but to fix a broken air conditioning system. That’s because the vast government bureaucracy, Central ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: The ‘Nuclear Option’ To Get Rid of Cars
There are some things in California that never change. It’s almost always sunny in the southern part of the state, and there’s no reason to expect a cease-fire in the war on cars.