No idea why this dropped on a Saturday but we got the 2026 draft business plan little late for new legislation unless there is some gut and replace actions. hsr.ca.gov/2026/02/28/n...

No idea why this dropped on a Saturday but we got the 2026 draft business plan little late for new legislation unless there is some gut and replace actions. hsr.ca.gov/2026/02/28/n...

California instead of screwing around with hydrogen should just order 25 6 car diesel/battery/ocs tri mode FLIRTs for Capital Corridor and Coast Daylight While 6 car FLIRT XL only seat around 350-400 people thats equivalent to 4-5 bilevels (cal 1 cafes don't seat many) or 5-6 ventures.

This is a great thread that touches on the fact that it really is a zero sum game between sprawl and infill dev and sprawl contains huge costs to the public. Something I’d add though is that is that homes built at the far end of the commute shed does little to affect prices in the urban core.

Easily the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen a transit agency do.

I blame Amtraks choice to design a trainset first and then ask manufacturers if they’d build it which is the wrong way to do this but what the US loves doing.

*takes a big sip of coffee and logs on to see what fun pieces of reality people are posting today*

The Bay Area's new transit map is out and it comes with one incredibly exciting change: parks accessible by transit services! Let's talk regional wayfinding to parks and destinations 🧵

We got some information on the latest Alviso Wetlands outreach meetings: The old option 1 is gone and the numbers have been shuffled But headline to me is this massive 60ft wide bridge. This should be 40-45ft wide with 20ft track centers with 10ft to the east main and 10-15ft to the west main.

All my life, Democrats have bent over backwards to run scrupulously scandal-free administrations, while Republicans have wallowed publicly and unapologetically in crime and corruption ... and Democrats have gotten zero advantage for it. Zilch.

Still deeply frustrated by the fact that California hasn’t restarted night train service between The Bay Area and LA. We bought it back for a few years in the 80s after being ended in 68 but haven’t tried since and now the answer is rely on a startup with 0 rail experience to provide that

seeing firefighters oppose safe, international best practice building codes purely out of misplaced inertia and resistance to change has made me appreciate that many urban issues have unexpected villains and you should be skeptical of anyone trying to blame it all on private equity or whatever

Network Rail Scotland has reduced pricing for Standard Track Km of electrification from £2.7m to £2m over 5 years. Part of it seems to be that framework contracts (aka Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity) are used to lock unit pricing over 5-8 years. www.globalrailwayreview.com/news/176587/...

Muni has replacement of their ~210 strong hybrid 60ft bus fleet coming up in the next few years. I know one of their major issues with more trolleybus is local+rapid overlaid would require 2 sets of wires Instead of capex I’d be curious if different ops with new range extend trolleybus would work

The press conference seemingly took place on BART's Fleet of the Future cars, a project that came in on time and under budget thanks to management by in-house staff, not consultants. We need a #JustTransitionForCaltrans so that other projects can see the same success. www.bart.gov/news/article...

Can’t say I’m surprised and clearly LA metro didn’t learn anything from operators with major fleets who had issues

RCTC is set to spend nearly $100m on consultants for Coachella Valley Rail before the project is even shovel ready – which will take 2 decades. All for 2 low-speed trains a day on existing track. We urgently need to bring rail project delivery in-house. 🧵 calelectricrail.org/state-capaci...

CA has massively expanded highways in Sacramento and the Inland Empire while underinvesting in transit. We need to build regional rail for Sacramento and electrify the San Bernardino Line to give residents a REAL solution to crowded freeways. catc.ca.gov/-/media/ctc-...

I think the state needs to step in and set a no more than 1 bus agency per county requirement (across counties is good) Fractured service is an issue from LA to Ventura to the Bay Area The state should also work to standardize buses. Pick your paint scheme and seat/fabric color and not much else.

Still deeply frustrated by the fact that California hasn’t restarted night train service between The Bay Area and LA. We bought it back for a few years in the 80s after being ended in 68 but haven’t tried since and now the answer is rely on a startup with 0 rail experience to provide that

For people not familiar with the matter: any tram line I'm aware of globally works in so-called "line-of-sight", i.e. it's 100% manually operated by the driver with some protection for single track and switches None use PTO signaling (i.e. that enforce max speed), except on off-street sections

Najarian is currently on the metro planning and programming committee complaining that residents along the noho/pas corridor are objecting to the project

Local politics completely hijacked this project. I am still recovering and I am not ok. Reform the Metro Board and keep all eyes on the South Bay.

I’ve been riding AC transits last few A300K (short Van Hools) as they’ve been pushed south to Union City Fremont areas 281 and 251 I like the wrap around windows and interior layout. For 17-18 year old buses they seem to be in surprisingly good condition inside compare to some of VTAs from this era

Californias core natural gas infrastructure is 75 years old and we should be working on retiring it rather than trying to replace it or repurchase it

UP has been having this issue for years now and they've refused to staff up and so simple projects to add more passenger service take months longer. And quite often UP doesn't like something so repeat the cycle. Service to Monterey should already be running.

BNSF, AAR: This is impossible

Transit riders fully returned to transit in 2022, and surpassed bridge recovery in 2024! Riders are taking fewer trips per-month because we don't go to the office 5 days of the week, but transit has more unique riders now than in 2019 mtc.ca.gov/tools-resour...

Then fund transit and active transportation across the state instead of continuing to expand freeways. Otherwise this is just performative.

Absolutely ridiculous stuff from both Amtrak and ConnDOT that will ***slow down*** service between New London and New Haven.

The easiest way to understand current California politics is a power struggle between the rest of the state trying to stop Los Angeles from diving headlong into the abyss of dysfunction and LA trying to drag the rest of us with them.

Caltrain Baby Bullet project timeline - 1998 planning study - 1999 implementation plan - 2000 SB2003 appropriating $127m folded into budget signed in June - 2002 construction starts with a 2 year schedule requiring weekend service closure - 2004 construction complete on schedule and service starts

Seamless Bay Area on Service-Led Planning and how it can help regional network management in the Bay, including: 1. Better transfers; 2. Incremental upgrades to speed, reliability and frequency; 3. More cost effective capital project selection and development. www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2026/2/...

Fact sheet on Caltrans Director’s new Transit Policy states that Caltrans will finalize a Statewide Transit Plan by mid-2027. dot.ca.gov/programs/tra...

The state is 2 weeks late on its legally-mandated report on Southern California regional rail governance. We need real solutions: centralized funding and governance independent of hyper-local interests. Thank you Senator Blakespear for holding them accountable! sd38.senate.ca.gov/news/sen-bla...

If @governor.ca.gov is serious about California taking up leadership of climate change mitigation, step 1 is to stop spending billions on highways while our transit systems suffocate trying to pay 2026 costs with 2019 funding mechanisms.

What if Sacramento had a fast, frequent alternative to congested highways? One that served destinations like UC Davis, Sac State, SMF, and rapidly growing suburbs, using existing infrastructure at low cost? We're working on a plan, and we need your help. calelectricrail.org/valtrain-reg...

Once the rail is gone, it's gone forever. Losing the rail line means fewer options, longer commutes, higher costs, and fewer chances to stay in Santa Cruz County. Transportation isn't abstract. It's whether people can live where they work. That's why we're organizing to build both Rail & Trail.

Stations are the single biggest component of most recent subway project I've seen in the U.S. The savings that can be gleaned here are extraordinary. If agency execs are looking for an area of project design/development to develop in-house expertise: Start with station design.

Good paper re current state procurement rules that prioritize procedural transparency enforced by adversarial legalism in an effort to obtain "low bids" over administrative discretion to choose best value. Potts shows how this has not always been the case and is the result of historic legal drift.

YIMBYs are seemingly getting more and more into transit policy. Thread on how the politics and strategy of transit is and isn't similar to the housing world:🧵

In 2023, the state's fire marshal was tasked with putting together a report with recommendations on if/how the state should change its building code to allow for taller single stair apartments. The deadline was Jan. 1. Still waiting... calmatters.org/housing/2026...

Why are construction costs exploding faster than inflation? Because use of consultants is skyrocketing, even though in-house staff save 6x their cost. But CA High Speed Rail bucks the trend, with staff/consultant ratios flipped since a 2018 audit called out understaffing. #JustTransitionForCaltrans

Personally I don't think CA should give Tesla or any other Musk company a single penny of public subsidy after Elon's war on democracy and the state budget. Basic exercise in fighting back!

Want to "improve travel times" on CA's congested highways? Invest in regional rail, not more lanes. We've got lots of underfunded State Rail Plan projects just sitting there...

Running 55mph light rail 12 miles along a straight, grade separated mainline that could easily be upgraded to 110mph to serve a single destination is very 2005 transit planning coded.

Very excited to say that the stars have aligned and NYU Marron/Transit Costs Project have landed a grant that will fund a second edition of Momentum, which will apply the high-throughput framework to major regional rail networks beyond the NY area. Our three big new cases: - NJT - SEPTA - METRA

Or because few people care about utilities that deeply and there’s a level of secrecy which doesn’t apply to transit Transit can induce demand and in the US we often have decades worth of old studies that advocates can re examine

While many of you are likely yelling "GO PATRIOTS" or "GO SEAHAWKS", I'm yelling "GO CALTRAIN and electric rail!" #Superbowl2026SantaClara