If service-led planning was mandatory, SBCTA wouldn't have wasted years of staff time on this boondoggle and would be already advancing better alternatives. And while the ONT connector thankfully did not have success w/ grants, patchwork competitive grant programs kept hope alive for years.

California is pausing its hydrogen hub, which has been a driving force behind the hydrogen train boondoggle. Will this pause investments into unproven hydrogen trains, and accelerate investments in proven, fast, zero-emissions electric trains with overhead wires? archesh2.org/california-p...

Whoever is CA’s next governor must make electric rail and transit funding a priority! 🤔

I think entirely too much about how California’s climate plan explicitly says that converting to EVs is not nearly enough to meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets so we need to reduce VMT 25% by 2030, and then we do basically nothing to try to achieve that goal

Bike, transit, and street safety advocacy can (and often should!) be lots of fun. Building community and making the world a better place is fun! And the better you get at it, the more fun/less stressful it is.* This book will help you have an easier time of it islandpress.org/books/if-you...

100 years later, CA still struggles to implement a) Electrified, through-running, higher-speed mainline rail for long haul trips d) unified operations (vs 30+ uncoordinated agencies in greater LA) e) Service-led planning f) building a) on existing ROW rather than new duplicative lines

Help prevent massive cuts to Caltrain, sign up to support the By Area Transit Funding Measure! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The California delegation must say no to an infrastructure reauthorization that cuts transit funding! And regardless of what happens in DC, next year the state should prioritize building rail state capacity and streamlining 3rd party permits so that we can build more with the money we do have.

The cost of the Roseville 3rd track has nearly doubled since 2024, and will now provide only 6 round trips at first. Largely downstream of Capitol Corridor's lack of state capacity and extortion by powerful 3rd parties like Union Pacific. We need to fix this ASAP. calelectricrail.org/project-deli...

The Pacific Surfliner is the 2nd busiest passenger rail line in the country. In recent years, it has suffered frequent closures due to erosion. In August, @thecacoast.bsky.social delayed repairs because just 1 (!!) person complained. Now that permit isn't being considered again until November.

I’ve been reading this book and it’s probably the best straight-to-the-point guide on how to make a difference with transportation advocacy I’ve read. Nice job Carter!

1/ Seattle! 2000 ballots need signatures (updates or didn't sign)!! Tell your friends to check their ballot status here: info.kingcounty.gov/kcelections/... And if you have time between now & Nov. 14, volunteer to help cure votes: linktr.ee/Wilsonforsea... ("Ballot Chasing for Katie Wilson")

The amount budgeted for *all* transit, not just regional rail - is far less than we need to complete the State Rail Plan on time. And starting soon, all of it will be awarded as competitive grants that cause years of delay. CA urgently needs to fix funding to meet climate goals.

California will spend $31 billion on transportation this year with about 3% of that budgeted for support for transit agencies. lao.ca.gov/Publications...

We can make great things happen. It takes a hell of a lot of organizing and fighting to win, but we can make this world a better place. islandpress.org/books/if-you...

New Mineta Institute report on CA High-Speed Rail explains that CAHSR was given certain "superpowers", but lack of special powers on eminent domain or 3rd party permits slow the project. CAHSR needs to be empowered to finish faster - but imagine if Metrolink had even CAHSR's powers?

Sounds like Caltrans should've built this

woof

California should pass a law to clean up #AB2097, which removed most minimum parking mandates near transit. UCLA's Amy Lee, A. Millard-Ball and M. Manville have given us a road map for how to do that. Basically, put the "expansive interpretations" in this table into law.

We got the revenues. We got the reform. Now it’s time for the vision of what an integrated, unified, truly-regional transit network could look like, and what it could deliver to all of Chicagoland. It’s time to #BuildTheTunnel. citythatworks.substack.com/p/build-the-...

Level boarding can be done! Time to plan and fund for statewide level boarding for faster, more accessible trains #Electrolink

🥳🥳🥳

Funding delay added *3 years* to the timeline of the SMART extension to Windsor. 3 extra years of extra driving and greenhouse gas emissions. We need to end patchwork funding and fully fund the State Rail Plan if we want a modern rail network on the timescales demanded by climate change.

SB 71 extends #AB2503, the CEQA exemption for rail electrification we won last year, along with other transit exemptions. Great job to the legislature and governor for making this happen. Let's get to work electrifying Metrolink, Capitol Corridor & the Surfliner without fear of frivolous lawsuits!

Gov signed SB 71, making permanent @scottwiener.bsky.social's CEQA exemptions. For much of our transit priority, protected bikeway, Slow Street, etc work, CEQA process would have taken longer and cost more than project itself, and done nothing for environment.🙏 cal.streetsblog.org/2025/01/24/w...

Yay, SB63 signed into law, authorizing a regional transit funding measure for the SF Bay Area, essential to save and improve service for BART, Muni, AC Transit, Caltrain! Bill allows a signature-gathering effort that would passage with 50%+1 of the vote. www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/u...

It’s pronounced cyclist.

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

Our bike racks enter the 21st century

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight. Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

Electrifying the Coaster would make an Oceanside-San Diego trip 45 minutes, competitive with driving cutting 25% off the travel time. But LOSSAN and CalSTA want to run slow, unreliable hydrogen trains instead! calelectricrail.org/electrolink-...

We should pass a law that highways can’t be widened wider than the golden gate

Electric bicycles, and shared electric bicycles in particular, are a revolutionary transportation technology. Forward-looking cities should be building out the infrastructure necessary to make cycling safe and convenient for everyone who wants to do it.

Got rage and/or hope you want to translate into strategic action? Find the "perfect how-to guide" here islandpress.org/books/if-you... Thanks Jeff for that glowing review!

Rumor is that Gavin Newsom is wavering on housing and might veto SB 79. If you live in California, please reach out to the governor’s office today: cayimby.org/call-sb-79/

I wish the same national pundits/reporters who love critiquing California's highly critique-able high speed rail would drill literally one layer down to report that most cost is due to the fact that highway contractors control 100% of our budget and are using most HSR funds to ... widen highways.

Please call the Governor and ask him to sign SB 79! (916) 445-2841

The SB 125 Task Force is putting together its final report TOMORROW, but they are in danger of leaving out important project delivery reforms and a permanent solution to transit's perpetual funding crisis. Speak out for lower costs and more funding here: actionnetwork.org/letters/keep...

There’s sort of no excuse for the rail electrification being such a sleeper issue given the incredible success of CalTrain. sf.streetsblog.org/2025/07/31/c...

11 years ago, RailPac put forth a similar Electrolink proposal. Metrolink dismissed it with the same arguments they're still using now. In that time, Caltrain electrified, while Metrolink has made only modest improvements. But a lot has changed since 2014. Will Metrolink change their tune this time?

$11B for highway widening, <$1 B for Metrolink. There's why we "can't afford" to electrify Metrolink.

Today, CER launches our paper “ElectroLink: Modern Passenger Rail Service for Southern California.” ElectroLink shows how electrification, level boarding and through running can speed up trips, improve access for all riders, and bind together the region. ⚡♿🚴 calelectricrail.org/electrolink-...

CalSTA wants to run low capacity hydrogen trains - a technology optimized for rural travel that has failed in Europe - on the 2nd busiest rail corridor in the US. Email the LOSSAN board before Monday to fight back!

WORLD'S NEXT TRANSPORT REVOLUTION IS COMING TO #PARIS. The Grand Paris Express. ✅ 1 major line extension (Line 14, both ends) ✅ 4 all-new metro lines ✅ 68 new stations ✅ 200 km (125 miles) of new tracks Not only links suburbs to core—but also turbocharges them brandondonnelly.com/how-the-gran...

I decided to make it per 1,000 residents. This shows how bad the shortage is in states like California, New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, Washington, and Oregon.

“Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces. Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself.” Leadership, strategy, real action, common sense. #Paris

And these lanes are respectively "only" 5 years old for the first two, 8 years old for the third one, and only the last one is "old" (about 30 years old).

Matute is calling for a planning process to advance full or partial electrification on the LOSSAN corridor, both for passenger and freight rail! Notably, electrification on the LOSSAN corridor south of Anaheim is missing from the State Rail Plan.