We’re working hard in the Bay Area to invest in transit — to strengthen & modernize it & improve service, safety & cleanliness. We need to take this fight national. The US severely under-invests in transit & Trump is making it worse. The U.S. should lead the world on rail & other transit, not lag.

Exciting to see electeds in Illinois embrace 1) revenue for transit ops 2) governance reform 3) regional network management 4) service led planning 5) streamlining project delivery of new transit infrastructure wrt 3rd parties 6) cost benefit analyses and 7) framework agreements for capital projects

If Illinois can do it, why not California? Will 2026 be the year we embrace regional governance for regional rail, service-led planning, streamlined capital funding, and more?

Great overview of Illinois’ just-passed transit bill, which sets a national standard by combining: —New funds to meaningfully improving service —Coordination of planning & fares across agencies —Action on TOD through elimination of parking rules & mechanism for transit agencies to lead projects

Absolutely right.

“Bands of masked men apprehending people in broad daylight in the streets and hauling them off. Disappearing people to a third country,” a former DHS official said. “We’re at an inflection point in history right now and it’s frightening.” By @davidmcswane.bsky.social @hannahallam.bsky.social

It probably doesn’t matter but I would be flooding the zone with images of the White House destruction right now.

We asked Donald Trump to cut health care costs. Instead, he cut off a wing of the White House.

Here ya go, the full rundown on what Clipper 2 means for getting outdoors! For what's just a new farecard it's really big: sf.streetsblog.org/2025/10/22/c...

Reminder: We spent YEARS reading thousands and thousands of articles on the Tea Party and how it was a true expression of the American people's will, and it never mounted anything nearly as big as Saturday's No Kings rallies. [1/3]

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.

3 years of escalation, time-related overhead et al is always bad but especially 2021-2024.

The NYT has well-discussed flaws. But one that is not much discussed is how bad and slow and lame its domestic mass protest coverage is, always. Fly in the foreign reporters and have them cover as they would elsewhere ffs.

After so many institutions caved to Trump, some are starting to stand up to him, including some universities and media. This is how we fight authoritarianism: We hang together. Otherwise we hang separately.

AC Transit just released an analysis of the travel time savings from installing Transit Signal Priority (TSP) at 32 intersections along Mission Blvd/Decoto in Hayward and Fremont. Between 4-12% trip time savings and high end 4 minutes saved. actransit.legistar.com/LegislationD...

we officially have a date recommended for clipper 2.0 roll-out: december 10. home stretch (fingers crossed)! @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social @adinalevin.bsky.social @tsch.uy @kaleomark.bsky.social @infrastructureweak.bsky.social @idothethinking.bsky.social

This weekend I got around to reading Healy's history of the BART system. Now that SB63 passed and the regional funding measure is before us, it's motivating to read about the past critical moments when Bay Area transit *almost didn't happen*

Reminder: Calif's landmark enviro legislation, CEQA, was designed not to advance the environment, but protect status quo. Every project, incl critical projects for climate, can be delayed for years by single cranky person. We need regs that accelerate climate, equity, safety, ag and other solutions.

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...

BREAKING: The Governor signed our legislation to authorize a Bay Area regional funding ballot measure for transit. SB 63 is critical to avoid massive service cuts at Muni, BART, Caltrain & other systems. We need to stabilize & modernize these systems for the Bay Area’s future.

In that, dreadful, terrible moment, every black bloc protestor in the world is useless, but a line of concerned senior citizens, office workers and house-spouses is actually a 'harder' target. And 'the soldiers stood aside' is the sentence in the history book that goes before 'and the regime fell.'

Another reason for Metrolink to electrify: their renewable diesel fleet isn't actually reducing emissions. #ElectrifyMetrolink

California does not want to send our National Guard to Oregon. It’s illegal & authoritarian for Trump to try to force us to do so. California won’t be party to Trump’s militarized police state.

When we electrified Caltrain & replaced the trains with modern vehicles, ridership shot up. When BART adopted contactless payment — tapping your phone or credit card — ridership shot up. When we invest in & improve transit, more people ride. Let’s keep making those investments & upgrades.

Earthquake menlo

It’s a Friday night and I’m reading latest amends on SB 3438, which would create a Northern Illinois Transportation Authority to coordinate fares, schedules, service for Chicago-area transit. It has some of the most ambitious transit project delivery reforms in the country afaict.

What if mobility tech were designed to serve the public good, rather than private profit or the convenience of the privileged? Join me and some of my favorite thinkers on 9/16

Thanks to so many transit riders who spoke up meeting after meeting and rallied to organize support, in all 5 counties and especially in the opt-in counties San Mateo and Santa Clara, that decided to join.

And SB63 passed the Senate at 1:30am! Now on to the governor's desk! It took a lot of organizing and mobilizing and compromises to get to a bill that will save and improve Bay Area transit - now on to the governor, and to people power to help gather signatures and pass the measure!

The bills to renew the Cap & Trade program just passed, including: * $200 million in continuous funding for transit service. * $400 m in continuous funding for transit & rail capital * $800 m for affordable housing near transit * $125 m for transit passes * ongoing funding for high speed rail

This is shaping up to be one of the most productive legislative sessions for climate in years: ☑️ upzoning near major transit (#SB79) ☑️extending cap and trade through 2045 (#AB1207) ☑️major electricity affordability reforms (#SB254) ☑️expanding California’s grid operations across the west (#AB825)

Just read based Roads Must Roll on these references, arrogance and rivalries among technocratic administrators, flaws of workplace psychological testing 1950s military culture and anti-labor politics...

If Newsom goes back on his promise here it may end up being one of the defining moments of his time as governor. Just an unmitigated disaster. www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...

But his memes

Then, set aside time to come to an emergency rally at Civic Center plaza on Monday 9/8 in the morning, 9am: actionnetwork.org/events/emerg...

For every time I get impressed with Governor Newsom’s leadership (CEQA reform, pushing Prop 50, etc) There’s an equal number of instances where I am immensely frustrated with him… Inadequate transit funding, silence on SB79, his dumb podcast with right wing personalities 😩😩😩😩😩

Art of the Day - Ring the Bay 🚋🚈🚃 Happy Transit Month to all who celebrate! Come to the Let's Glow BART Anime Festival on Saturday, Sept 6, 4:30-8pm at Warm Springs Station www.bart.gov/news/article...

Transit Month starts today in the Bay Area and Southern California! 🚃🚈🚌🛳️🚋 Bay Area events at luma.com/transitmonth..., SoCal events at www.socaltransitmonth.org The ride contest starts today, and this week is the online Transit Month fashion photo contest luma.com/rh5jfwxt

My Dress To Impress on Transit entry for #TransitMonth2025! Taking the fairy @rideact bus to the Children's Fairyland 75th Birthday parade & party

Iron Council by China Mieville stands out en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Co...

How about “Her,” in which Los Angeles is blanketed by an extensive and functional metro system

I’m so excited to be joining this stellar Transit Month panel in SF with some of my favorite humans. Join us Tuesday, September 16 at SPUR

Can't stop thinking about how SMART can't run on a 2 TPH schedule -- instead runs service every 32m -- because of a station designed to serve a large suburban office park for an employer who moved away 4 years ago. Now the offices are empty.

Perhaps this is obvious but perhaps not: both my research work and my public-facing writing would be impossible without the astounding resources of university libraries. My household also makes ample use of our local public library. Libraries are amazing.

such an all-star panel! Would be fun to look at video games with rideable transit (e.g. Cyberpunk, Read Dead 2) and compare to games that use fast travel. Also games where you build transit: Minecraft servers like minecartrapidtransit.net, Mini Metro vs growth of real cities and transit systems

Gonna re-read the Bujold stories maybe now; iirc the bubble cars in Komarr show the janky systems on the disinvested planet; and in Cryoburn the surveillance in the transit system causes trouble for the fugitive children

What are your favorite examples of transit in sci-fi/fantasy and what do they say about people, places and politics in the alternate world and this one? Prepping for this upcoming Transit Month panel on public transit visions in speculative fiction - sign up here: luma.com/0olo6szj?utm...

BART Launches Open Payments - sf.streetsblog.org/2025/08/19/b...

I just helped a Chinese speaking visitor pay for Caltrain with cash. Sometime soon, credit/debit card.