295bus

Disingenious

2011-05-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

To put it bluntly, the CAHSRA board has a history of being intentionally stupid.

As a case in point: in dismissing the Altamont route into the Bay Area, they cited environmental concerns, cost of construction, and NIMBY opposition in the Livermore/tri-valley area. Instead they prefer to run trains through central valley wetlands, and have stirred up a hornets nest with their proposal to build an expensive viaduct through Palo Alto.

The board's response to the recently proposal by peninsula representatives to begin quasi-HSR service with incremental improvements to the CalTrain infrastructure seems to show a willful misunderstanding (from an SF Gate article)

The authority board told engineers and planners Thursday not to study a phased-implementation plan, which would electrify the Caltrain tracks and use them as a quicker, lower-cost way to bring high-speed rail up the Peninsula to the Caltrain station at Fourth and King streets in San Francisco.

No one has suggested that the trains stop at 4th and King. This seems to be an intentional misreading of the Eshoo/Simitian/Gordon proposal to begin HSR with using the existing CalTrain infrastructure--nobody has suggested that it shouldn't be extended, just that service can begin without ripping out existing tracks and building a new railway on top of them.

High speed rail is an important project that needs to be put in better hands. Perhaps people with actual experience in running passenger railways with perpetually inadequate budgets, and dealing with sometimes indifferent or hostile public opinion would be the most qualified; I suggest we draw veterans of CalTrain, Amtrak California, ACE, and Metrolink.

Train Robbery or Pragmatism?

2011-05-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

Several of our local representatives, Anna Eshoo, Joe Semitian, and Rich Gordon have recently released a joint statement on High Speed Rail and CalTrain. The jist of it is that the CAHSRA should drop plans for building a viaduct through the peninsula, and use the CalTrain right of way as-is, with electrification (which would mean running at conventional train speeds).

There seem to be several points to all this:

They are representing their anti-viaduct NIMBY constituents.
Get HSR financial support for CalTrain's infrastructure.
Combine and improve existing commuter rail systems with true HSR in the Central Valley, to get much improved, if not true HSR service.

Certainly the second and third points appeal to me, if not the first.

I would really be quite happy if the state could string together some sort of system that could get us to LA in less time than driving, sometime in my lifetime, instead of doing nothing while it spins up plans to make the trip faster than flying, someday, maybe...

Anyway, I sneakily feel like if HSR trains began running in the corridor at reduced speed, the right of way could be incrementally upgraded, with grade crossings removed one-by-one with an overpass here and an underpass here, and speeds could be ramped up with careful attention to mitigating noise, and we could covertly get true HSR on the peninsula without ever stirring up a fuss.

The proposal has come under fire from Tracy assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, an author of the HSR bond issue, who characterizes it as a "train robbery" to siphon funds from a statewide project to a local one. I haven't seen this in mainstream media sources, but here it is in the Menlo Park Almanac and the Merced Star.

I don't think this is a very fair complaint since upgrades to the peninsula line were part of the advertised HSR project from the beginning. And presumably parallel improvements to Metrolink would be involved at the other end of the line.

I favor a compromise that means something actually gets done.

Easter Pie

2011-04-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

We had company for Easter, so I was feeling festive and seasonal--so I made a carrot pie. Basically: just follow a pumpkin pie recipe, but substitute carrots--microwave the heck out of them first, and then put the whole filling mix in the blender long enough to make sure it's not stringy.

It's pretty good (it actually tastes remarkably like pumpkin though, or maybe butternut squash).

The carrot pie was a success, and disappeared quickly, so I decided to bake another pie. I decided to try something I've been meaning to try for a long time.

This is ube. It's a purple yam from the Philippines. It's dull and gray on the outside, but bright purple on the inside. It's available at Asian markets--I stopped by the Mountain View Market, on Castro in Mtn View, on the way to the station after work.

Don't confuse it with Japanese purple yam, which is purple on the outside and white on the inside!

Peel it, chop it up, and steam it in the microwave for 10 minutes or so. Then mix up everything in the blender, as with the carrots, and pieify.

It comes out purple,

and yummy!

Ok, for a transit connection--if you like ube, you need to try ube ice cream at Mitchell's in San Francisco, an easy walk from the J line. Long-time readers may recall this picture:

Simple Clipper Suggestion: Stencil Reminders onto the Platform

2011-03-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

Last night I went down to Kepler's with the kids. Despite the fact that Wini knew she needed to tag off (the Clipper Card is finally working), and I knew, and we had been talking about it the whole time, we all forgot.

It was no big deal, since when we went home we were still in the tag-off window, so she could just tag-off and instantly re tag-on.

CalTrain has been putting in some effort to reminding people to tag off, but the results of this effort are pretty underwhelming.

Menlo Park is a nice "barrier-free" station where you can just get off (at least from the SB platform) and start walking to where you want to go. This is a good thing in terms of usability, but means there's no specific exit locations to put up tag-off reminder signs.

So here's an idea: How about stenciling reminders to the platform? And to make the reminders more useful, include an error to the nearest Clipper Card reader? Like this:

(I'm drawing this from the point of view of someone getting off the train, but as you can see it's designed to be double-sided and work for people about to get on, too).

Sulky Tween, Train-Obsessed Toddler

2011-02-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

Me: Do you think it's going to snow tomorrow?

Wini: No way, it's not gonna snow.

Me: It's totally gonna snow! It's gonna be just like The Snowy Day.

Wini: Dad.

Me: There's gonna be drifts piled up on E Street!

Other Kid (we carpool to school): Wanna bet?

Me: Sure. The bet is, whoever looses, gets a snowball thrown at them.

Other Kid: But if it doesn't snow...

Wini: If it doesn't snow, I get to throw a stick at you!

Me: You won't even be able to find a stick under all the snow!

...

Me: Nathan, look at that big rainbow!

Nathan: Tracks!

Kid Clipper Working

2011-02-24T00:21:00.000-08:00

Wini's card has been successfully tested on BART, CalTrain, and SamTrans.

Frequenters of the Bay Area Transit Blogosphere may be amused that she has already asked about how the transfer works between BART and CalTrain at Millbrae.

When I explained about having to tag off CalTrain before tagging onto BART she agreed that that was silly but pointed out that it might be difficult to rewrite the software so you wouldn't have to.

She's been learning about scripting on Roblox (a kind of online virtual reality "lego" world where you can build things and then program actions for your creations) so I guess she's got some appreciation for the fact that it's not always trivial to just make computers do what you want.

Clipper Card: Still Confused

2011-02-18T22:04:00.000-08:00

As related in the last post, my daughter now has a youth Clipper card, and I thought I had autoload all set up, after some finagling.

So tonight we went down to Sequoia Station to ride the train, I showed her where to tag on, and the machine read that the card had no funds. Whaaa?

So we bought a paper ticket, like usual.

I think it said on the web site that it takes 3-5 days for an autoload to take effect. Are we still just waiting for it to hit? So now I'm logged into clippercard.com; I see no record of the autoload I thought I set up. So I try to set it up again. But for some reason, on the autoload type-selection page (cash, monthly pass for CalTrain, SamTrans pass, etc) the checkbox for "cash" is just kinda broken--I can't select it.

I was using IE, since that's my "alternative" browser for when I want to access a different account than my usual. So I tried switching back to trusty Firefox, but there's some cookie confusion--I log out of my clipper account, log in as her's, but it asks me to re-enter the card number, and says it's registered to someone else.

As a fallback, I'm trying a one time online fund cash upload to her card. But after I think I've completed it, I see this message:

Please note that when you add value online, it can take up to 3-5 days for the value to be available to be loaded onto your card, and you must tag your card to a card reader to load the value. Your card balance will not be updated until you have tagged your card and loaded the value

Huh? In 3-5 days my money won't be transferred til I use it? The balance still shows as $0. I think this means they haven't actually taken my money yet, but in 3-5 days they'll be ready to take my money, if we use the card. So maybe the autoload I thought I set up is also floating out there, ready to take effect in (now) 2-4 days, when we use the card...

We were planning to ride BART to Union Square this weekend. Maybe I need to go to the nearest Walgreens and add some money directly to the card?

Lame! The MTC spent 10 years and $150 million on this.

Finally Got my Kid a Clipper Card

2011-02-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

It's a little more complicated than you'd think:

Go to SamTrans HQ, during business hours, with kid. This means finding a day that I have off from work, but she doesn't have ice-skating, girl scouts, or get invited over to a friend's house.
Fill out form--make sure child passenger has an ID. School ID works (although the minor/senior application form has checkboxes for every other kind of ID--driver's license, passport, etc--except school ID, which seems the most likey--anyway, they accepted it).
On the form, there's a blank to put an email address, so we put hers. Maybe that's a mistake?
SamTrans folks mail it to Clipper people. Wait a week.
It comes in the mail.
Try to register it for autoload--but website says it's already registered.
Call customer service number on the back of the card. At least they're open late, and are friendly. They can set up a temporary password for the new account, so you can log in. It works, but it seems awkward--I just wanted this card listed on my account. Maybe if you put your own (parent) email address on the application form that will happen? It's not what they said to do. Maybe it's best to leave the email space blank on the application form? Then you could probably register the card under your own account.
Now I can log in, with my daughter's email, and a password which I just set and will keep myself, and set up autopay from my credit card. Not quite the way I wanted to do it, but at least the card won't run out on her unexpectedly. (Until my card expires, at least. Since Clipper has all the expiration dates for the CC's we use to autoload, conceivably they could send us warning emails when they're about to expire. That'd be handy, but I doubt it!)

Well, we're ready to ride, now. No more paying adult fare on BART just because BART doesn't sell child tickets at stations. Unfortunately tonight it's bwrw glaw fel hen wragedd a ffŷn, as the say in Wales (raining like old ladies and sticks), so I think we'll stay in.

Fresno HSR Station Plans

2011-02-12T23:39:00.000-08:00

Very preliminary plans for the Fresno HSR station and nearby developments have been published at FresnoDowntownPlans.com.

Not knowing Fresno well, I can't comment too much, but I'm glad to see that the station is planned for the middle of town (right next to the historic SP station)--some of the valley stations have been envisioned more like airports, outside of town, with plenty of parking but no connection to their city.

There is a story about the plan in The Fresno Bee. A few threads in the comments in the online article are:

This is all a waste of money (yawn).
This will help revitalize downtown Fresno.
This is another doomed scheme dreamed up by politicians to revitalize downtown Fresno.
A fun surprise: several readers say what Fresno should really be working on is a light rail system. One even linked to map of his proposed system.

At least with the low opinion of downtown Fresno, held by locals and others, nobody is objecting that elevated tracks will ruin it.

About all I can think of to say pro or con these plans themselves is that it seems a shame not to reuse the historical SP depot.

Roads, Transit, and the Constitution

2011-02-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

Some republican wanker from San Diego has gotten some attention in the transportation blogosphere for commenting that highways are mandated by the constitution, but transit must pay for itself.

When I say that he's from San Diego, in fact naturally he's really from the inland desert swath of exurbia next to San Diego. And when I say he's a wanker--well, click on the link a take a look at this doofus.

So what does the constitution actually say? Here is the so-called Postal Clause:

(The Congress shall have power) ... to establish Post Offices and post Roads;

Of course, to adherents of original intent, this can only mean dirt roads for walkers, horses, and wagons--since cars and asphalt hadn't been invented yet.

The postal clause is cited as the federal government's authority to build nationwide highways, especially the interstate system. Of course, the basic interstate system being long complete, the money the feds pour into highways now is really for local transportation. The 80 may be national infrastructure, but most of the traffic on the 280 are commuters--for that matter, so is most of the traffic on the 80, from about Roseville on west.

The usual progressive pro-transit argument that follows this point is that, if the federal government supports local car travel, it should support local transit as well.

It seems fair, but is the best answer? Is routing transportation funding through Washington optimal? Hardly. It motivates regions to fight to "get their share" of money, instead of solving problems in ways that are sustainable. And I'm pretty certain that in the current arrangement, those of us who live in older metro regions (which tend to be disproportionately donors to the federal budget) taking transit, or at least driving relatively shorter distances, are actively subsidizing new freeways out in the boonies, paying a bunch of freeloaders to drive their monster-truck SUV's across vast swaths of exurbia...

If regions had to pay for their own transportation, we would probably see more effort to coordinate transit and development, so that their investment (of their own money) would show a better return. Proposals to dig tunnels anywhere some NIMBY objected to hearing to trains would probably receive the laughing dismissal they deserve. Some cities might even figure out they could solve their "transportation problems" without spending money on infrastructure at all, just by making it convenient for people to live close to where they work.

Of course there are reasons to keep the federal government involved in local transportation--one of the more important practical ones being that it's the part of the government that we pay most of our taxes to, so that's where the money is. There are plenty more. (This article was inspired as an answer to a smug, overly simplistic view of the constitution. I don't want to oversimplify on my part--I'll freely admit, transportation funding is messy and complicated, and probably has to be). But given the state of the national budget, local funding for transportation is becoming more and more of a reality anyway, and transit advocates should look for ways to turn this to their advantage.

How to Make Clipper not Suck for CalTrain

2011-02-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

For details of the suckage, here are clipper-related posts over at the Holierthanyou (bike/transit) blog--or see what everyone's saying about clipper + caltrain via http://twitter.com/#!/search/clipper%20caltrain. Heck, even CalTrain's own instructions are confusing.

I think the crux of the problem is that Clipper tries to make CalTrain work like a "user-operated virtual faregate system". I.e., it's designed for BART, and users are supposed to pretend they're on BART. There just aren't any actual gates, you just have to remember. This is a bad fit to a proof-of-payment system.

I can think of two ways of making Clipper actually work well for CalTrain:

Use RFID on trains to automatically scan cards as people get on and off. (That would actually be a problem for people like me that have a GO pass for CalTrain but keep a Clipper card for other systems, but I think the solution would be to tie GO in with Clipper). This way you really wouldn't have to think about tickets at all (if you set up autoload).
- Or: At least automatically scan cards for exiting the train, so no tagging off is necessary.
Instead of the simplistic tag-on/tag-off interface, connect Clipper with regular ticket machines that allow you to load up the virtual equivalent of any regular ticket type (one-way to zone X, day pass to zone X, monthly pass, etc). It's a more complicated interface for getting on the train (but the same as buying a paper ticket, anyway), but no tagging off necessary.

Of course, all this would cost money to implement. CalTrain doesn't have it, but the MTC always seems to find the money for nifty gadgets.

Library Automat at Millbrae BART

2011-02-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

I saw this machine at the Millbrae BART machine last night:

I figured it was for downloading eBooks to readers, but in fact it's a machine that dispenses physical library books:

A touch screen, similar to an ATM screen is used to display and select from over 800 books that are delivered through an opening in the front of the unit by a robotic arm.

It'd be nice to see this at CalTrain stations but I suppose the library likes the security of putting it in view of a station agent.

Some Musings on CalTrain, HSR, etc

2011-01-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, there was an optimistic buzz that:

Pretty soon, we would have an HSR system from SF to LA.
HSR would use CalTrain's right-of-way, in the process rebuilding it, electrifying it, and providing access to a downtown SF terminal.
By becoming faster, more efficient, and improved ridership from providing an overall more appealing service, CalTrain's operating funding problems would go away: either ridership would increase enough to make it more cost-effective, or the service would be so awesome that the public would be willing and happy to provide more funding.

Today, we're looking at a worst-case scenario:

CalTrain will go out of business, or atrophy into a handful-of-trains-a-day type service, like Ace or Capitol Corridor (useful in their way, but overall, so marginal to be almost irrelevant to the larger transportation picture).
HSR will build an initial proof-of-concept segment from Fresno to Bakersfield, run fast trains up and down the central valley, and run out of money leaving a disconnected "railway to nowhere" that Californians will get mocked about for decades. (Btw, here is an interesting historical parallel).

Last fall, I went to an informal friends-of-CalTrain gathering, a preview for this Saturday's summit. One of the themes of the discussion was this conundrum:

Peninsula residents support CalTrain, and would generally support improvements like electrification.
They are wary of HSR.
Nobody knows how long it will take before work on the peninsula segment of HSR actually begins.
But does it make sense to electrify CalTrain in its current state, if that means all that work has to be ripped out and redone when grade separation is built for HSR at some point in the future?

My answer is yes, and here's my thinking:

A complete statewide HSR system may take decades to build.
The best way to make use of a partial HSR system it to give HSR trains access to SF and LA terminals via electrified, but slower, local commuter lines. So if you want to travel the length of the state, your train will poke along at 88mph or so (CalTrain's current speed limit) on the way out of town, haul ass down the central valley, and slow down again as it gets onto Metrolink for the last couple of miles. It won't be faster than flying but it'll still beat driving.
Grade separation and realignment in the peninsula (and elsewhere) can be accomplished piecemeal. Each grade crossing can be designed with time for community input, etc.
Train speeds can be increased with conditions that make them more palatable to neighbors--specifically, I think the HSRA should commit that their trains will not make more noise than some dB/distance threshold.
This still leaves NIMBY types with a hope of undergrounding HSR (or rerouting it to the median of the 101, which is actually not such a bad idea). They can accept electrification but keep some control over future development of the right-of-way.
Conversely, HSR-boosters can hope to incrementally ramp up speed, and get people used to living next to HSR bit by bit, diffusing the current opposition.

Summit to Save Caltrain, Sat Jan 29th

2011-01-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

This will be taking place this Saturday, at SamTrans/CalTrain HQ in San Carlos (it's the modern-looking glass building you've probably noticed from the train at San Carlos, with the digital clock/thermometer).

Here is more official information from the Green CalTrain/Bay Rail Alliance blog.

I'll be there (maybe not the whole day).

Got a Clipper Card

2011-01-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

I have a CalTrian GO pass, so I don't really need one, but SamTrans is starting to take them, so it might come in handy.

Nathan and I go on BART once in a while too. Kids always like BART trains, I guess because they look cool. At least he likes them in principle--like everyone else he finds the noise level in the tunnels kind of oppressive.

Anyway, I've been reading up on how to use clipper, and about all I can say is, WTF? Consider:

On CalTrain, you tag on before boarding, and have to tag off at your destination--or Clipper will assume you rode all the way to the end of the line.
But on VTA, you better not tag again when you get off, or this will be counted as another fare, on the assumption you're transferring to another bus or train.

And consider these issues of dysfunctional clipper reader placement at Milllbrae, and this botched-up mess of interagency transfers. I feel like what's going on here is that the MTC, realizing that Bay Area transit is a disorganized mess, went on some junkets to see what other cities were doing about similar problems, and were wowed by technology (like Hong Kong's Octopus card), but really couldn't grasp what the fundamental underlying problems are. They gave us something that looks like a well organized system, but it's just a flashy workaround to the same mess.

They would have done better to learn from Zürich, which has multiple operators, but a fare zone system allowing passengers to think about where they're going and what line to take--but to be totally oblivious to what operator provides the survice. Instead of emphasizing technology (which, from a government perspective, is easy--just spend money) they actually did real work to make the system work as a coherent whole.

Clipper Card for Kids: They're not Making this Easy

2010-12-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

You can't get a Youth Clipper Card online (because anyone could pretend they're a kid, I suppose--just like you can't get Youth BART tickets in stations, because TVM's can't see you). In San Mateo County, you have to go to SamTrans HQ in San Carlos.

Since Wini and I are both on vacation today, we went over to fill out the form, etc. We distracted Nathan by giving him a brochure about busses.

The catch is, you need to bring photo ID (drivers license (!), school ID, passport...), which we hadn't. Guess we'll try again after Christmas.

Biking in the Rain

2010-12-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

It's not very far from my house to the station, so I went for it. I brought an extra pair of socks, and put them on at work. Being generally a bit damp from the rain is not so bad, but if your socks are wet, you'll be miserable all day. Another trick: I put my shoes under my desk by the "warm air vent" at the back of my computer, and they were dry in no time.

Woohoo! Weekend Baby Bullets Begin Jan 1st!

2010-12-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

Here's the schedule, and here's a story and list of things to do at each stop posted by Green Caltrain.

This is a case of CalTrain listening to its riders--and rider/bloggers! (I first mentioned the idea here (and I emailed them too) back in 2009). Props especially to Murph who went to JPB meetings and got them to pay attention and actually do it.

A weekend trip from RWC to 4th & King will take 35 mins on a bullet instead of 55 mins on a local. For outings with kids, I think that pushes us into "Dad's taking us on the train" territory, vs "Dad's making us ride the train"... Should be fun.

It's officially just an experiment. Hopefully it'll run long enough so that we get some warm weather, where recreational ridership should really take off.

Pedestrian Tunnel at Santa Clara

2010-10-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

I meant to get on the 9:18 SB at Redwood City but mistook the 9:12 for it, and the 9:12 skips past Mountain View. (This situation always makes me think of this book). I ended up having to catch a train back from Santa Clara. Not a long wait, and made less annoying by the fact that I ran into fellow CalTrain-rider/biker/blogger Murph. I also got to get a look at the progress on the Santa Clara pedestrian underpass project:

This project is exactly parallel to what was done at Cal Ave a few years ago: in the original arrangement, to board a NB train you have to cross the SB tracks and stand on a narrow platform between the tracks. A tunnel is being built from the station (in the nominally west side) to a full-width northbound platform. This will improve safety and remove a constraint against southbound trains passing through when northbound trains are at the station. This will also allow ACE, which gave up on dealing with this complexity and has for several years just run it's trains past without stopping, to start serving this stop again.

Annoyingly, the tunnel does not appear to be going all the way under all the tracks, to the nominally east side (geographically northeast). Here's a Google maps view of the area:

View Larger Map There are a few workplaces over there. In the past I've seen people trespass across the tracks, but fencing seems to have been beefed up. The only legal way to get there is a via long detour to a road overpass several blocks away. Tunneling all the way through, and providing station access on the other side of the tracks, could also take several minutes off of the schedule of VTA's #10 SJC airport flyer bus:

All that crazy looping around on the south (nominally west) side of the tracks could be dropped, and the bus could stop more or less where that gray circle is.

Granted, extending the tunnel under the tracks would involve coordination of CalTrain, the UP, and future plans for BART and HSR, and anyone who expects that level of cooperation in US transit planning is clearly operating under the assumption that Proposition 19 has already passed.

I also noticed this odd stencil on a piece of rail:

Must be a story there.

The World's First Game of Scroggle

2010-10-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Ended in a tie.

Scroggle is like Scrabble played with Boggle blocks. You can flip over blocks already on the board to put a different letter up if you need to, to make a new word, as long as everything left facing up makes a word. I made a rule that you can only flip a block to use a side that's currently visible, just so there's no incentive to pick up every block to see what letters are hidden.

RWC Council Meeting

2010-09-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

The council had delegated several members as a subcommittee to investigate whether to join Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton in suing the CAHSRA. The subcommittee recommended not doing this, and taking a more cooperative approach.

When I got my turn to speak, I made an impromptu change to the effect of "I came to urge Redwood City to take a collaborative rather than a confrontational approach to resolving its issues with the High Speed Rail Authority, but now I'll have to change that and say I commend the City for taking a collaborative approach..." which elicited a friendly chuckle.

My overall takeaway is that the RWC council is adamantly opposed to elevated tracks (I am not, but I didn't make that point), but is very much in favor of high speed rail (for reasons of economic development and safety--and some of them mentioned that they were quite keen on using it). They are openly skeptical about whether cities to the south would actually support HSR under any conditions, and are more interested in collaborating with San Mateo and Burlingame (in fact, a Burlingame councilmember was visiting and spoke a bit on the subject).

I proposed that the city should have a design competition to let local people propose ways that HSR could be fit into the community. If this ever comes about it would be a way for those of us who are in favor of non-tunnelled/affordable alignments to try to make the case that elevated tracks are not necessary the dystopian nightmare that they have been portrayed as.

A reporter from the Daily Post took my name. The Post is notoriously anti-HSR, but it will be interesting to see how all this is written up (and if they mention me).

In other news:

The city is fighting to put an expanded county jail somewhere other than downtown RWC.
There was a report about the recent plane crash and sewage spill in Redwood Shores.
A delegation of library employees came to complain about layoffs and the use of long term contractors instead of hiring regular staff.
The Port of RWC is holding an open house, aka PortFest this Saturday. The Marine Science institute will be open, and a Ferry will be on display.
Cañada College is hosting an Arts and Olive Festival.

RWC City Council Discussing HSR Tonight

2010-09-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here is the agenda for the council's meeting tonight.

The agenda item of interest is:

City Participation in Lawsuit Challenging Latest High-Speed Rail Authority EIR (Environmental Impact Report).

I don't know if the council is seriously considering joining this lawsuit. RWC hasn't had the type of NIMBY hysteria they have down in PA.

I also don't know if the council is looking for public comment, since this meeting has not been much publicized. However, I plan on giving themselves.

My main points will be (1) to remind them of the benefits of improved transit and grade separation to RWC, (2) to urge them not to take an obstructionist "tunnel or nothing" stance, and (3) to suggest that they work through the CalTrain board, which represents the peninsula, after all, to iron out issues they have with the HSRA.

Ralston Ave Bike/Ped Overpass

2010-09-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

Redwood Shores is a big chunk of urban San Mateo County that's basically inaccessible without a car--the two access points, Holly St in San and Ralston Ave, essentially turn into freeway interchanges when they cross the 101, and either biking in the shoulder or trying to walk or ride on the sidewalk places you in front of people in cars getting up to, or slowing down form (as late as possible), freeway speed.

I did see some adventurous soul doing it on a unicycle once. What can you say? It's a free country!

This inaccessibility is particularly annoying since major employment centers, like Oracle and Electronic Arts, are within easy biking distance from the Belmont and San Carlos CalTrain stations.

Lately I've noticed some construction in the 101 median just north of Ralston, and with some poking around, discovered that a bike/ped overpass is in the works. Here's a piece of a map from the Belmont city website (which is here, but be warned I had to turn off noscript and every pop-up and security blocker my browser had to look at the content!).

I don't have any practical need to bike to Shores, but this will connect with a lot bayside trails that would be a fun ride.

I wish RWC would build something like this at Whipple.

Knight's Tour Puzzle: perl on CalTrain

2010-09-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

I wrote this on the ride home. I makes Knight's Tour Puzzles. This is a puzzle with a grid of letters, encoding a message that you discover by moving from square to square as a knight would in chess, never hitting the same square twice.

knightstour.pl:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my $usage = "knightstour.pl ROWS COLS MESSAGE\n";
die $usage unless @ARGV == 3;

#main
{
    my( $numrows, $numcols, $message ) = @ARGV;

    my @letters = split //, $message;
    die "length of $message = ",scalar(@letters)," must be ",
      $numrows*$numcols,"\n"
      if @letters != $numrows * $numcols;

    # store grid in hash; $grid->{"0,0"} = "x";
    my $grid = {};

    # starting position.  use upper left corner.  could randomize
    my $row = 0;
    my $col = 0;

    # recursively look for solutions
    trypath( $grid, \@letters, $numrows, $numcols, $row, $col );
}

# look for a path
sub trypath {
    my( $gridref, $lettersref, $numrows, $numcols, $row, $col ) = @_;

    # make local copy of grid, letters-to-do list
    my $grid = { %$gridref };
    my $letters = [ @$lettersref ];

    # remove 1st letter from letter list.  store in a square
    $grid->{"$row,$col"} = shift @$letters;

    # if no more letters, print solution
    if( !@$letters ) {
        printgrid( $grid, $numrows, $numcols );

    # otherwise try possible next moves
    } else {

        # find possible next moves
        foreach (
          grep {
            # square under consideration actually on the grid
            $_->[0] >= 0
            && $_->[0] < $numrows
            && $_->[1] >= 0
            && $_->[1] < $numcols
            # no letter on it yet
            && !defined $grid->{"$_->[0],$_->[1]"}
          }
          # possible knight's moves
          [ $row-1, $col-2 ],
          [ $row-1, $col+2 ],
          [ $row+1, $col-2 ],
          [ $row+1, $col+2 ],
          [ $row-2, $col-1 ],
          [ $row-2, $col+1 ],
          [ $row+2, $col-1 ],
          [ $row+2, $col+1 ] ) {
            # try it
            trypath( $grid, $letters, $numrows, $numcols, $_->[0], $_->[1] );
        }
    }
}

sub printgrid {
    my( $grid, $numrows, $numcols ) = @_;
    for( my $row = 0; $row < $numrows; ++$row ) {
        for( my $col = 0; $col < $numcols; ++$col ) {
            print $grid->{"$row,$col"} || "_", " ";
        }
        print "\n";
    }
    print "\n";
}

Some sample results:

i i u k i 
b e l a n 
n s d k i 
s e e a r 
s s t b s

y e o e c m h 
o i a m c s o 
t u c k l o y

CS people have worked out interesting and more efficient solutions to this problem, but this script is fine for generating puzzles small enough for a human to actually solve.

Asleep on the KX

2010-09-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

Nathan & I made a trip up to the City last night. I have a gut feeling for how long a train trip he finds fun, and RWC->SF is a little longer than that, so we "zipped" up to Hillsdale. Actually we hit traffic. Hillsdale Blvd itself was clogged enough that when the station was in sight, we just parked (it's kind of surprising you can park on Hillsdale, but it is actually a residential street, albeit a pretty sucky one).

There was some trouble on the line last night but the upshot was that we got on a train that should have passed Hillsdale before we got there, but it was an express too, so whatevs. It was insanely crowded though. CalTrain staff at SF station could have done a better job clearing people impatiently waiting to get on a train out of the way of people trying to get off, though.

King St, the street that goes from the station to the bay via the Ballpark, has a series of plaques memorializing the the language of San Francisco's original Ohlone inhabitants via select vocabulary items. Here is Nate on the plaque for shinniishmin, "boy":

There's a 9/11 memorial in front of the Giants Stadium.

South Beach Park is just past the baseball stadium, and has a small but cool playground. It has an up-and-downy spiral thing that Nathan likes to walk on:

You can see it better from the air!

View Larger Map

It also has an old fashioned kid-power merry-go-round.

We made our way downtown on the N, and alighted at Embarcadero. They've put up some amusing posters since I was last down there:

We rode F line a stop or two. It was a short ride, but Nathan's first. He was looking a bit tired by this point!

Bye-bye trolley!

We got of at 1st St, and went to the former Transbay terminal, future HSR station site, and got on a SamTrans KX bus back to Hillsdale (the stop was right where we'd left the car). Nathan was pretty much instantly asleep. So were about half the other passengers.

The KX takes the freeway, so in the late evening, at least, it gets you back to the peninsula pretty fast. It is a good answer to the perpetual problem that if you take CalTrain for an evening trip to San Francisco, it's tricky to take Muni back to the station without either allowing gobs of extra time or running the risk of a just-less-than-an-hour wait for a train if you miss the one you want. The KX also runs a ways down Mission so you can get on at more convenient/nicer locations than the transbay terminal, in front of the Metreon for example.

2010-09-09T21:25:00.001-07:00

Test mobile post.

Obama's Labor Day Infrastructure Speech

2010-09-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

A few notes on this widely-quoted bit:

Over the next six years we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads--enough to circle the world six times. Were going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways--enough to stretch coast to coast. Were going to restore 150 miles of runways and advance a next-generation air-traffic control system to reduce flight-times and delays for American travelers.

A few things I like here:

I'm glad he's talking about highway maintenance rather than expansion. We have enough roads!
This is the first time I can remember a US president talking about railways.

Regardless of whether or how much of $50 billion actually gets spent, these are both hopeful signs that in the future, "infrastructure investment" will be more than a code for "build more freeways so we can turn more farmland into suburbs".

To Laureola Park by Bike

2010-09-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

Nathan and I biked from our house to Laureola Park in San Carlos. This is a nice park for little kids; we know it well because years ago Wini went to a preschool that met in a building in it.

Nathan had fun on slides, swings, etc. I had an odd, only-in-Silicon-Valley encounter, when I asked someone wearing a Jelli shirt if he worked there, since I know someone who does. It turned out he didn't work there, he was an investor. He asked who I knew and I told him, mentioning that she was a former colleague of mine a Tellme. He recognized the name, at least--and said he was a good friend of Tellme's founder.

As long as I live somewhere where I'm going to randomly run into VC's at parks, I think I really ought to keep some business ideas in the back of my head ready to pitch to them.

Laureola Park is next to San Carlos CalTrain, so Nate and I headed over at train time, and rode one stop home to RWC. I was hoping for a new train (aka, "bomb set") since low floor entry would certainly simplify the task of getting on with bike + toddler, but we got an old/gallery train and made do.

Jelli rocks, btw!

Atrophy instead of Amputation for CalTrain

2010-08-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

CalTrain appears headed towards a budget-balancing solution based on reducing off-peak weekday service, rather than killing weekend service or trains to Gilroy.

Here's their announcement, and here's a more detailed description, and here's the specific proposed schedule changes (PDF).

As someone who uses both the late morning train on the chopping block and weekend service, I guess I'm OK with this. I have enjoyed the "W@H, show up when you want to" dot-com lifestyle from time-to-time, but I can let that go to keep my weekend jaunts with Nathan!

As to Gilroy service: it's a long way to Gilroy and ridership has been low ever since the 101 was widened. This is not to say that it should be abandoned, but it's really a separate undertaking from CalTrain's core SF<->SJ service. CalTrain should ask Santa Clara county to kick down a little extra to keep it going.

(But it does seem like the part of CalTrain between Tamien and Blossom Hill, at the south edge of SJ, could be considered part of the core system, and should be kept, even though it currently only gets served by trains going to/from Gilroy, and gets no weekend/off-hours/countercommute service at all).

Dropping Gilroy would put a kibosh on Monterey Count's plans to extend CalTrain to Salinas, although I haven't heard anything about this for quite some time anyway. During the housing bubble, there were no doubt people leapfrogging past Gilroy to cheaper digs in Salinas, but these days probably not so much. From the perspective of Bay Area residents, it would be nice to see this come to fruition in conjunction with Monterey county's proposed coastal (diesel) light rail, since together they'd make it possible to get to Monterey by train.

Anyhoo--the other part of CalTrain's proposed budget solution is another increase in fares. Regular riders don't complain to much about fares; overall, it's still a pretty good deal for commuting. Casual ridership might dip a bit. At $5+ a pop buying tickets for a whole family starts to get pretty pricey, and I'm sure that's cutting into ridership of the weekend trains that CalTrain is fighting to keep running.

Is There a Quiet Pro-HSR Majority in the Peninsula?

2010-08-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

I think there is. Anyway, I claimed to represent them in this letter printed in yesterday's Daily News:

Residents for High-speed Rail
I was disturbed to read in your newspaper that the Redwood City City Council is considering adopting a position opposing high-speed rail ("Cities get ready to battle over bullet train," Aug. 12).
I'd like to remind them that when us Redwood City voters were asked our opinion of the project at the polls, we gave it a thumbs up -- and point out that opponents of change are good at making noise far disproportionate to their numbers.
Nor do they let facts get in the way of their arguments when it comes to spreading their fear to others. Claims that high-speed trains will roar through the Peninsula as loud as jets and leave a wasteland in their wake are simply fantasies, not so different from the "death panels" and "socialism" alleged as the consequences of health care reform by its opponents.
In the real world, Redwood City residents -- even ones like me who will see elevated or grade-level tracks from our front doors -- still support high-speed rail because:

We have family in Southern California and are equally sick of airport security and "the 5."
We ride Caltrain to work and want to see it survive to run faster and more frequent electric trains. (And those who drive on the 101 to work should be concerned about what will happen to their commute if Caltrain fails and we are forced to join them.)
We cross the tracks daily by car or foot or bike, and are a little nervous every time -- and more so when our kids cross them.
And finally, a selfish point but one worth making: We're looking forward to proximity to good transit giving a boost to the value of our homes.
So remember that you are pledged to represent all of Redwood City, and keep in mind the quiet majority who expect you to rationally look out for the city's best interests.

We should stop being so quiet.

Clipper Cards at Mtn View

2010-08-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

They (I presume the MTA) are handing out free clipper cards at Mtn View station this morning.

The Clipper Card (which was called TransLink up until about a week before its official debut) is a new cashless way to pay your fare on most Bay Area transit agencies. Think of it as FasTrak for public transit.

This should make life a little simpler for anyone making trips involving more than one transit system. I would certainly recommend picking up a Clipper Card if you ever transfer between CalTrain and BART at Millbrae, for example--you may actually make some close connections that you would otherwise miss while fumbling for change and buying another ticket.

<rant>IMHO this is a fairly small benefit for 10+ years development and $150 million (actual transit systems have been built for less $150 million, albeit not around here). With actual leadership we could have instituted a region-wide fare zone system and actually made riding transit more convenient. What we got is basically a high-tech duct-tape solution to a broken system.</rant>

Anyway, here's what you get in the free Clipper Card package:

There's a card with a code on it. You also get a sleeve to store it in, and a box of mints--the implication being, I guess, that if you're on a crowded train, your fellow passengers may appreciate you eating one!

The physical card was free but I presume I need to load some $$$ on it to use it. You can do that at various ticket machines, various stores, or online. Here's a map. If you do it online, you can set it up to automatically reload, like FasTrak. If you want to do it in person, there are only a few select locations that have add-value machines. I think you're really really supposed to do it online.

If you live in the Peninsula or Silicon Valley, note that SamTrans and VTA do not support Clipper (probably because they didn't want to spend millions of dollars on new ticket machines). It could be useful if you make irregular or random trips on CalTrain. Here's the instructions. If you are a regular rider, it strikes me as a little awkward, especially if want to use Clipper as a paperless monthly pass. My employer provides Go passes (thanks, Microsoft!) so it's moot for me.

If you want to pick up a Clipper Card generally, you can apply for one online or get one at local Wallgreens, who appear to be the main "real world" distributors.

One final note: one definite advantage of the Clipper Card is that if you get the "youth version", kids can use it and will automatically be charged only the youth fare. This is particularly useful for BART, which theoretically has discount youth fares, but does not sell youth tickets in stations (because a ticket machine has no idea if you're a kid or not; I have always ended up paying full fare for my daughter on BART).

Stanford Campus Bike Shop

2010-08-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

I noticed a few days ago that riding my bike seemed to have gotten a little harder. At first I attributed this having eaten cake the night before. On closer inspection of my bike I discovered that my rear wheel was rubbing on the brake pads, alternatively on the left side and on the right, indicating slight potato-chipping.

I have a spoke wrench, and set out to adjust my wheel myself, but discovered that I had a more serious problem, a missing spoke. This is more than I wanted to take on, so I started checking Yelp for places to get a bike fixed.

This area is full of excellent bike shops, but they have a tendency to cater to the Silicon Valley bike snob type, so I was a little wary of how much this simple, but potentially time consuming, repair job might run.

Based on comments in the Yelp review like "This is THE place to get a commuter bike serviced" I decided to give the Stanford Campus Bike Shop a try. They had it done that afternoon (new spoke and re-trued), and charged $26; I don't know what it would cost elsewhere, but not bad for a job that would probably be a full day's work for me, during which I would no doubt teach the kids some unintended new vocabulary.

Trail Extensions in Mountain View

2010-07-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

From the Mountain View Voice (via Cyclelicio.Us):

City approves $14 million for new trail crossings
The City Council approved highway over-crossings for the Stevens Creek and Permanente Creek trails on Tuesday.
The council voted 5-2 in favor of extending the Stevens Creek trail over Highway 85, with council members Laura Macias and Jac Siegel opposed.
The city will now take bids from construction companies for the project, which largely consists of a new pedestrian bridge over Highway 85 from the trail's southernmost point, Sleeper Avenue.
Siegel and Macias urged the city to wait until October for news about $4 million in federal funds requested by Anna Eshoo's office for the project. City staff urged the council to move forward with the project anyway, saying that the federal funding was uncertain and could delay the project for a year. They added that construction costs are currently low and could increase soon, and the project is already fully funded from various sources, including $1.25 million in Shoreline property taxes, $2 million in park funds and $800,000 in grants.
The city had originally hoped construction could begin to Dale-Heatherstone by April of this year. The city now hopes to obtain permits from Caltrans by August.
The next extension of the trail makes its way to Mountain View High School where another bridge crosses back over Highway 85. It is likely to be more difficult as portions of the trail go through private property, requiring easements from owners or eminent domain. City staff hope Eshoo's $4 million funding request can be interpreted broadly enough to help pay for it.
Permanente Creek Trail extended
Also Tuesday, the council approved a $9 million extension of the Permanente Creek Trail over Highway 101 and under Old Middlefield Way. The pedestrian bridge and tunnel will connect an existing trail from Shoreline Park and Google's campus to residential neighborhoods on the south side of Highway 101.
The council voted 6-1 in favor of the project with member Laura Macias opposed. Macias said she was wary of the project because it was coming in at "three times the original cost" of $3 million. City staff said the cost increase occurred when the tunnel under Old Middlefield Way was added to the project in order to protect pedestrians from cars speeding off Highway 101.
Council members cited the need to provide more connections to and from the North Bayshore area, where limited access causes traffic problems on Shoreline Boulevard and Rengstorff Avenue.

The steady inexorable extension of the Stevens Creek Trail is cool--I could have used this once a few years ago trying to bike back from Cupertino to Mtn View (no convenient surface streets parallel the 85; also, the store I was looking for in Cupertino had moved to Campbell, and it rained--still better than being stuck in a car, though!).

The Permanente Creek trail is short and pricey, but will make a useful link between central Mtn View and the Shorelike Park/Googleplex area.

View Permanente Creek Trail Extension in a larger map

It will also allow a nice loop ride from downtown Mtn View (where I work)--out to Shoreline Park via the Stevens Creek Trail, back via Permanente, or vice versa.

Anyway, good for Mtn View. Up here in the mid peninsula, it'd be great if RWC/San Carlos/Belmont were to copy this idea and give us some safe bike/ped routes over the 101 too.

Up to the City with Nathan

2010-07-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

Nathan & I rode up to SF on CalTrain. It was a game night last night, so things were pretty crazy, but he doesn't seem to mind crowds. For this type of outing I have an elastic strap to tether our wrists together. Yeah, it's more or less a baby-leash, but in this sort of situation he actually gets more freedom this way, because otherwise I'd just have to carry him!

We had dinner at the Panera across the street from the station, which is a nice place to watch streetcars.

We strolled past the busy ballpark to the playground at South Beach Park, which is a good one for little kids; it has a rider-powered merry-go-round, which are rare these days.

We visited Borders (bought Nate a new book), and noted but didn't have time to visit a new FroYo place, before heading back to the station.

It'll be nice to get CalTrain extended downtown someday, but in the meantime at least there's a few things to do within walking distance of 4th & King.

San Mateo County Proposing VLF Fee--Tell them to Fund Transit--Write Today!

2010-07-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

From the Green CalTrain blog I read that San Mateo County is planning a $10 VLF (car registration) fee for November's ballot. The mixture of transportation areas to be funded is still open, and will be discussed at a meeting tonight. Per the GCT link above, you can email your comments to Richard Napier, rnapier@co.sanmateo.ca.us.

Here's what I wrote:

Dear Mr Napier
I am writing you in support of the proposed VLF fee which would fund transportation in San Mateo County.
I am also writing to urge that as much of this be dedicated to transit funding as possible.
Conventional wisdom will tell you that since driving is the most popular form of commuting, that a transportation tax weighted towards roads is the only one the public will vote for.
Conventional wisdom turns out to be wrong. Note that many regional counties, such as Marin and Monterrey, have repeatedly voted down roads-only tax initiatives.
Farther afield, Seattle Area residents voted down a 50/50 roads/transit initiative, and a year later, voted in a transit only one.
I think San Mateo County residents are also smart enough to realize that auto-centric transportation has reached the "end of the road", and would favor a VLF fee targeted towards SamTrans and CalTrain. Road-related projects have merit too, but we should focus on community-enhancing initiatives such as the El Camino Grand Boulevard, safe routes for kids to walk to school, and filling in gaps in our bike route network--rather than pouring more money into the bottomless pit of highway widening and pot-hole repair.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Kibre, PhD

You Can Go Anywhere On a Bike

2010-06-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where Wini was planning to go next...

We are just back from a week at Pinecrest, which is a good place to turn kids loose on bikes. (You can't go around the lake, however).

We also rode along part of the Sugar Pine Rail/Trail, visited historic Columbia historic state park (where Nathan had fun in a gold-rush bowling alley), and rode the Sierra Ry at Railtown 1897.

Tunnel or Nothing?

2010-06-14T23:02:00.000-07:00

There's a sign on a building across the street from the San Mateo CalTrain station that says "Tunnel or Nothing--Don't Let High Speed Rail Ruin Downtown San Mateo".

Aside the odd fact this this sign is on a dingy little light industrial business (you're worried about ruining the view from your garage?), I'd like to point out that "or nothing" means the status quo, at-grade crossings with frequent incidents like tonight's:

From the Examiner:

Pedestrian killed by Caltrain in San Mateo
Bay City News
June 15, 2010
SAN MATEO — A female pedestrian was killed by a Caltrain in San Mateo on Monday evening, an agency spokeswoman said.
The person was struck by southbound Caltrain No. 266 at about 5:15 p.m. on the tracks north of the Hayward Park station, spokeswoman Christine Dunn said. It is the sixth fatality on Caltrain tracks this year, after 19 in 2009.
None of the 143 passengers aboard the train were injured.
Around 7 p.m., Caltrain said trains were running full speed, but were delayed about 60 minutes in both directions. Trains were expected to be back on schedule by 7:45 p.m.
SamTrans and BART accepted Caltrain tickets until 7:30 p.m.

Is this seriously a status quo that anyone wants to fight to protect?

Despite the service interruptions (if a train is 60 minutes late, as far as anyone is concerned, it's just the next train), the kids and I had a fun night out to Millbrae for dinner at In-n-out & L&L Hawaiian BBQ (outdoor tables so everyone can get what they want), and en route I introduced Nathan to Randy the ("have a wonderful") Conductor.

Girl Scout Camping, Dad & Nate's Bike Adventure, Pt II

2010-06-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday began cold, but as we ate breakfast, occasional odd gusts of warm air blew down through the trees--a bit of the inland weather (it was hot back home) sneaking over the hills.

By mid-morning it was warm enough that when we moved across the park to the day-use area, the creek was irresistible.

Splash! from Nick Kibre on Vimeo.

The girl scouts got to choose a route for a hike, and the trail along the creek was an easy winner.

Left to our own devices, I racked up the bike and Nathan and I headed down the road towards Pescadero, and stopped at Phipps Farm, where you can pick your own berries. They had olallieberries.

For the bike fans, here's a clear shot showing off Nate's cool new "that's how I roll" shirt!

You pay $3/lb for the berries you take, plus a $3 entrance fee (for anyone over 5), which is reasonable enough when you bring along a little tike on his first trip to a berry farm.

Afterwards we ate a lunch prepared for us by the helpful sandwich crew of troop 16 on a bench out front, and tracked down a nearby geocache.

I'd noticed on the drive in that the lower end of Pescadero Creek Road actually has pretty good bike lanes, so we packed up our pickings in the trunk (which would hopefully stay cool) and rode the last half mile down into town.

It was heating up pretty nicely even on the coastside, so we picked up some refreshments at Archangeli's Market.

We headed back via North St, a quiet back street of Pescadero (though it's basically a two-street town), which had some interesting building like this Catholic church,

and half way back to Pescadero Creek Road we passed this Goat Cheesery,

which looked intriguing, but we only looped around to wave at a friendly black dog resting in the shade out front.

Girl Scout Camping, Dad & Nate's Bike Adventure, Pt I

2010-06-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

Firday night the Girls of RWC GS Troop 30016 headed over the hill Memorial County Park for their first ever camping trip, organized by Wini's Mom, with Nathan I tagging along.

We brought a kid-seat equipped bike, and since part of the point of this trip is that the girl scouts learn to do things themselves,

Nathan & I were free to entertain ourselves while they set up tents and made dinner.

We pedalled up a fire road at the back of the campground, which lead to Wurr Road on the hillside over the park. This is a quiet back road that seems reasonable for a ride in the country. We headed west, downnhill, and at the bottom was the hamlet of Loma Mar.

Getting back we had several options. One was to go back the way we came. The other was to go up Pescadero Creek Road to the main entrance of the park. Lots of people rise this road, but it's not ideal--blind curves and in some places, no shoulder. However, there was a dirt path by this part, and we only had to go a little ways to get into an unofficial back entrance to the park.

Are you sure this is the right way Dad?

There are some interesting, marginally maintained (abandoned?) day use areas in the lower eand of the park.

Nathan seemed to enjoy our ride through the forest, chattering away, but towards the end got rather quiet.

It was a big adventure, after all!

A final bike-advocacy note: As much fun as it was finding our own way, wouldn't be it be nice is San Mateo county had a network of certified bike-friendly routes through the hills and south coast, at least to connect each park with a nearby town?

Another Bike+Train Outing

2010-06-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from writing .bat files (aarrrrrggh!) to write about another outing last weekend.

Biked downtown with Nathan in the kiddie seat behind me, locked up the bike, and went to the RWC farmers market. Picked up some apricots; if I take one bite from an apple or a stone fruit, to get it started, Nathan will happily gnaw away at the rest for half an hour.

Then we crossed the street and caught a NB train to Burlingame. Washington Park, Burlingame, gets my vote for best transit-accessible park for small children on the peninsula.

Nathan went straight to a fairly tall play structure and climbed up the stairs--I was mostly concerned with making sure he didn't tumble through a gap in the railing, and suddenly he reached the top of a 10' twisty slide, confidently sat down, pushed himself in, and slid on down. I've never seen him go on a slide that big before. He seemed to have fun but next he decided to go find a more toddler-sized play structure with a shorter slide more to his scale.

After a bit he indicated he was hungry; he did this by finding some other kid's stash of "cheese fishie crackers" and trying to take them. I was "underprovisioned" for food on this trip, so we went across the tracks to downtown Burlingame, and found a bakery.

Nathan found a display of cookies,

and started saying "cookie cookie cookie" (since big sister is a girl scout, this was one of his first words). For an 18-month old, communication should be rewarded, right? He got a cookie, and munched it on the ride home.

We met Mom & Wini at Belmont, where Wini had just finished skating class (at Belmont Iceland, across Old County Road from the station). She's been working up to some serious jumps in the practice harness. We had lunch at U-Buffet across the street, where I ate a small boiled octopus. Kinda rubbery, really, but kids expect dads to do crazy things like eating octopi (or rather optopedes) and I don't want to disappoint.

Errands by Bike with Baby

2010-06-08T00:25:00.000-07:00

Every day when I come home from work, Nathan pats his head, which is a roundabout adaptation of the baby sign for "hat" to "bike", because we always wear helmets (aka, "bike hats"), meaning "let's go for a bike ride!"

Going anywhere more than a few blocks with a baby necessitates bringing changing supplies, but with his behind-the-rider baby bike seat, my usual backpack ends up in his face. So when I was at OSH, and saw a handle-bar mounted basket, I snapped it up.

This particular one is detachable--you mount a clip onto the handlebars, and then snap the basket on/off the clip. This is useful not just for taking the basket off when you don't need it; you can also take it off to use for shopping, etc.

So Nathan and I have been running some errands by bike. Here he is on Sunday trying the samples at Trader Joe's:

Seconds later the cup was dumped on the foor. Oh well, the had a stack of napkins, so at least I could clean up after our mess.

Today we went to Lucky, and found this Tillamook Cheese Van in front (license plate Oregon YUM-1):

How could I not post a picture of that?

Sue had put sharp cheddar on our list, and the cute mini-minibus clinched the deal for Tillamook.

A Walk with Nathan

2010-06-04T15:17:00.001-07:00

Nathan and I went walking at Bayfront Park in Menlo Park, better known as "the place to go walking by the bay at the end of Marsh Road". Nathan had fun tromping down the road and sniffing flowers.

You can actually walk right in quite legally, but Nathan enjoyed climbing under the gate anyway.

Rocks on the old gravel road are fun, too!

It's also a nice place to ride bikes--there's youre alternative transportation tie-in!

Nice to get some nice outdoorsy weather at last.

A Convenient Station Site in Santa Rosa (for Ice-Skaters!)

2010-06-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

SMART has tweaked the location of their North Santa Rosa station, to a spot even closer to our favorite local attraction.

View Larger Map

Free-Range Kid

2010-05-30T23:17:00.001-07:00

My daughter Wini has been itching to get out on her own by bike. The other night she asked if she could bike to Jo-Ann's for supplies for a sewing project, but it was dark out and there's some big streets on the way. Yesterday she asked if she could ride over to her friend's house, over across town in our old neighborhood. I don't think she really realizes how far it is, and there's no really good way to go (not just for kids--I don't really relish riding on Woodside Road myself).

Today it was hot and she wanted to ride downtown and get ice cream. After the usual parental safety lecture we let her go. I had to resist the urge to follow her and make sure she was safe.

She came back from Young's with chocolate on her lips so I guess the trip was a success.

To Do by Transit this Weekend: Maker Faire

2010-05-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

The Maker Faire will be at the San Mateo Event Center this weekend. Adam Savage, of Mythbusters fame, will be there. The Event Center is accessible from the Hillsdale CalTrain station--walk north past the former racetrack site--so not right at the station. You could also take a SamTrans bus on El Camino and get of at 25th Ave.

Note that you need to buy tickets in advance--in RWC you can get them at Whole Foods and AAA.

See you there!

Saving Weekend Trains

2010-04-06T08:13:00.000-07:00

It was just about a year ago that CalTrain faced a budget crisis and considered ending weekend train service to balance the books.

CalTrain now faces an even worse crisis and weekend service is on the chopping block again.

What the railway really needs is new, dedicated source of funding, but in the meantime, I'm going to re-post one of my suggestions for cutting the cost of weekend service.

Let's take a look at the current weekend schedule. Trains depart from both ends, on the hour, making all stops, taking 96 mins to make the whole run. Obviously, an hour into that run, two more trains are departing from their respective termini--so there's a total of four trains on the line for most of the day.

The number of simultaneous trains, and their crews, are the key to CalTrain's costs. One way to reduce this would be to simply halve the current service, and operate trains every two hours, so only two trains and crews are needed.

But here's another, IMHO slightly better way of doing it: prune away stops to a "semi bullet" schedule, stopping well-spaced stations (maybe: SF, MB, MS, RWC, PA, MV, SC, SJ), a run that can be made in about 1:15. Run trains at 90 minute intervals. The schedule can be covered by two trains and two crews.

A 90 minute spacing between trains is better than two hours, and for passengers making longer trips (between stations still served, obviously), speed would be improved.

SamTrans Service Cuts

2009-08-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Declining revenues for transit are hitting SamTrans and forcing service reductions on some routes, and outright cancellation of others.

The board, to their credit, is taking a fairly good approach to deciding where to cut, basing decisions primarily on what routes have the lowest ridership, but taking into account what alternatives those ex-riders will have, and trying to leave as few folks absolutely stranded as possible.

I note that in their worst-case scenario, there will be no more 295.

An overview of the proposed cuts and a schedule of community meetings can be found at SamTrans.com.

Grade Crossings: Letter to the Daily News

2009-06-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Printed in the 6/5 edition: Tragedies show need for grade separations at rail crossings

Dear Editor: A few more troubled teens have taken their lives on the Caltrain tracks, and ironically, the solution to this plague — complete grade separation — is being fought by the railway’s neighbors. Like the perpetually postponed Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier, the issue is aesthetic: the California High Speed Rail Authority proposes to elevate the tracks but neighbors want them buried in a tunnel.

The result may well turn into a stalemate, delaying grade separation for decades, or killing the project entirely.

If we value human life (and more prosaically, if we want more reliable train service and to spend our tax dollars effectively) we should try to defuse this conflict and make grade separation a reality as soon as we can. In cities such as Palo Alto, many former grade crossings — San Antonio, California, Embarcadero, University — have already been replaced with overpasses and underpasses. The rest can be divided into major streets that also need grade separation, and minor crossings that can just be closed.

Transit Riders Organize in OC

2009-05-31T07:36:00.000-07:00

Kudos to my friend Steven Chan, who is organizing transit rallies while in med school.

http://www.transitrideroc.com

How CalTrain Could Increase Revenue: Station Cats

2009-05-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

It worked in Japan! A commuter/light-rail railway appointed a calico named Tama as stationmaster for one stop, and ridership jumped 17%!

Creatively Pruning Weekend Service

2009-05-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

We've made many weekend jaunts on CalTrain, and would certainly hate to loose weekend service.

That being said, the service leaved a lot to be desired. Just running one train an hour makes impromptu trips a couple stops up and down the line kind of tricky (let's face it, if we didn't just like trains, a SamTrans bus poking along El Camino, slow-as-heck but running every 15 mins or so, would probably be a more rational choice). But stopping at every station, with CalTrain's usual long dwell times, makes it painfully slow for trips longer than a couple of miles.

CalTrain is facing a budget crisis and considering dropping weekend service altogether (even though I've seen plenty of packed weekend trains--but I suppose it makes some sense to axe one part of their service altogether rather than let the whole go to pot). I wonder, though, if CalTrain might be able to prune their weekend service in ways that would save money and at the same time leave a service that was still useful to some riders--maybe evn more useful than their current service?

The number of simultaneous trains, and their crews, are the key to CalTrain's costs. Suppose we could reduce that. Here's a few scenarios:

Bullets Only: Prune the schedule to a handful of stops, until the run can be made in under an hour--so only two trains need to be on the line, cutting costs in half. This abandons local service, but leaves a much more appealing express service--a half hour or less, say, from some midline stop like PA or RWC to 4th & King.
Semi-Bullets, 90 min Schedule: Another way to run the system with just two simultaneous trains--reduce frequency to every 90 mins, but serve all major stops, and provide a reasonably good travel times between them.
Northern Peninsula Only: Let's face it, this is the area where people actually care about CalTrain. So what if San Mateo county were to kick down a few bucks and pay for weekend service that particularly fit our needs? Run from SF down to RWC, then head back. Be slightly selective about stops (probably express between SF & Millbrae) and you might be able to make the run in under half an hour, so theoretically the whole service could be operated with just one train.

Taking the kids to the mall

Bike Shopping (for Wini)

2009-05-15T22:39:00.000-07:00

Ever since we moved, Wini has gotten much more interested in biking. The new neighborhood is pretty bike-friendly, and full of other kids out riding.

One of our favorite outings is to go downtown to Yumi Yogurt.

(Wini has no problem balancing the practicalities of dressing for riding a bike with style--she must be reading the RidingPretty blog.)

For her 9th birthday (!) she received a certificate "valid for one new (geared) bike" which we redeemed last weekend at Talbot's; she went for a Lustre 2:

Tonight we made a family trip up to San Mateo by train to pick it up. Not quite Nathan's first train ride, but only #3 or #4 (here's his first). The new bike's a sweet ride! Plus Wini got to bring it home on the bike car (granted my back's a little sore from lugging two bikes at once). Tomorrow we can start working on shifting.

Some Train-Accessible Events this Weekend

2009-05-15T21:33:00.001-07:00

The San Mateo History Museum, in the Old Courthouse building in Redwood City, is hosting an Immigrant Day Festival on Saturday, the 16th. Performances in courthouse square, food tasting in the rotunda.

On a trip to San Mateo, we passed a "new used bookstore", the "B St Bookstore", (on B St, duh--between CalTrain and Talbot's Toyland), having it's grand opening Saturday. Looks promising.

Should Public Officials Run Public Transit?

2009-05-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

I read this via BATN:

Published Friday, May 8, 2009, by the Daily Post (Palo Alto)
Bike ban suggested
Caltrain board member Jim Hartnett said yesterday that the agency should consider banning bikes after a bicycle advocate called on the agency to continue making more room for riders.
"I am concerned that we are never going to meet (the demand)," said Hartnett, a Redwood City council member [BATN: who will not be seeking re-election due to term-limits]. "We have to consider whether or not we should continue to provide that service."
Later in the meeting, Executive Director Michael Scanlon said that the board should consider charging a fee for bikes to board Caltrain.
On Feb. 5 Caltrain approved a plan to increase bike capacity on its trains by removing some seats on its bike cars.

First of all, after many years of bikers' complaints about bike capacity, CalTrain has only just now made a tiny allowance for more riders... so to complain that the railway may never be able to meet bikers demand for space is pretty pissy considering that is has not actually tried to meet it.

Second of all... WFT? You're complaining that people want to ride your trains? How annoying. Why limit your annoyance to bikers. Even "normal" passengers make constant demands for more trains, faster trains, and better service. They're never satisfied.

It'd be nice to be treated like a customer for once, instead of some kind of freeloader!

Save the Ringwood Ave Bike/Ped Bridge

2009-04-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

This bridge is a useful connection between parts of Menlo Park split by the 101:

View Larger Map

CalTrans, as usual, wants to add lanes to the 101. In the process, they need to demolish the current bridge. But they are happy to build a new, better (wider, so hopefully more bike-friendly) one.

This would be pretty much a non-issue except that a group of (brazenly racist) NIMBY's from the more affluent neighborhood west of the 101 petitioned the Menlo Park city council to not replace the bridge, since it provides access for criminals (though nobody can cite an actual crime committed by a user of the bridge) and brings down property values. The council sensibly rejected this. Now another group from the same neighborhood, apparently ones who don't keep up on local news quite so well, have suddenly heard about the project and making the same request.

The bridge is well used, among others by students of Menlo/Atherton High School who happen to live on the unfashionable east side of Menlo Park. Members of this community are understandable annoyed at both the injury of losing pedestrian access to the rest of the city, and the insult of being classified as undesirables who should be kept out, and have started a Save Our Bridge petition.

The bridge is a useful link for making bike trips along the Baylands, and if you do or think you might use it for that reason, I urge you to sign this petition (people who live or work around (not necesarily in) Menlo Park are especially encouraged to).

No Tunnels!

2009-04-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

This is the scenery that passengers of BART's SFO/peninsula extension could be enjoying. These are images of the abandoned SP San Bruno branch line (hotlinked from RailsAroundTheBay.net), the original entrance into SF, which the BART line was built under--denying passengers what might've been one of the most scenic rides in the BART system, instead condeming them to a dark and eardrum-assaulting passage.

The explanation, beyond brazen goldbricking, is the usual NIMBY opposition to having to hear, or even being forced to look at, trains going by. Or rather, in this case, opposition by proxies of the actual neighbors of the right-of-way, since most of them (the line passes by the cemeteries of Colma) are no longer voters. That's right--as a transit rider, you rank below dead people, at least when it comes to enjoying scenery!

A few months ago (before the vote for HSR last fall, actually) Palo Altans began campaigning to get CalTrain's tracks through their city buried in a tunnel. They theorize that the ambiance of Alma St, which parallels the tracks, is being brought down by passing trains. Never mind that Alma is not much more than a four-lane expressway/traffic sewer. It's going to take a lot more than hiding the trains to make it a nice place to take an evening stroll!

With the passage of the HSR measure, there's been a lot more talk of tunneling up and down the line, instigated by the need for complete grade separation before bullet trains can whizz up and and down the peninsula, and the fact that the High Speed Rail authority has proposed to accomplish this by elevating the line.

I personally think the simplest solution is to keep the tracks at grade, and deal with cross-streets one at a time. After all, in PA, University Ave, Embarcadero Rd, Oregon Expwy, and San Antonio Rd have already been over and underpassed, leaving, by my count, only four actual grade crossings left: Alma, Churchill, Meadow, and Charlston. Churchill and Meadow could probably just be closed, being close to Embarcadero and Charlston, respectively, leaving only two crossings to be separated. Surely that's a simpler and cheaper solution than either elevating of burying the line.

Anyway, to get back to my main point: burying transit in tunnels, besides the horrendous expense, seriously degrades the experience of rides. Fight for your view!

Tumbleweeds on the Cowcatcher

2009-04-03T22:21:00.001-07:00

Next thing you know, we'll be held up by train robbers!

I Don't Get It

2009-04-01T13:39:00.001-07:00

How meta--an ad for advertising:

But I don't get it. The first half seems to allude to the Trix commercials of my youth. The second reminds me of an old joke involving the Lone Ranger that is unfit for a family-oriented blog.

Phil (Amazing Race) Keoghan Biking Cross-Country

2009-03-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

Story here.

Keoghan will set off from Los Angeles on March 28 and end in New York on May 9 the day before the Amazing Race season finale airs on CBS, the network said Wednesday.

He always struck me as being genuinely qualified to host The Race somehow. Ride on!

Crude but Effective

2009-03-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

And that's fine...

... but how many years of nagging to it take to get CalTrain to just take the simple measure of putting these signs on their trains?

A Side Benefit of the Bike Commute

2009-03-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

With just five hours of sleep, because I was up til 1 generating speech recognition accuracy reports (and massaging the data to keep the numbers up--can't stop now or it'll look like we're getting worse), and up at 6 to take my kid to Chorus (which it turned out didn't have a rehearsal this morning, so we went to Peets

for a latte, hot chocolate, and coffee cake), it's nice to know that, whereas if I were driving I'd be seriously in danger of getting in a wreck because I fell asleep at the wheel, you really can't fall asleep while riding a bike!

Flight Pattern Map--How About a Commute Pattern Map?

2009-03-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

This diagram, a visualization all the aircraft flights over the US in one day, is pretty cool.

Now image if you could analagously see the the daily travel patterns of all the people in a metro region, like the Bay Area.

The data would be harder to get. I bet cell phone providers have it, though.

It would be a huge help in planning future transit lines. Do we really know where everyone is trying to get to and from?

12:29 1:29 2:39 and 3:26 WTF?

2009-02-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

Yeah, that's when northbound trains leave Mountain View. I thought I knew the pattern and missed the ~~3:29~~ 3:26. Why does CalTrain's schedule have to be so complicated?

While I was waiting for the 4:03 I took this picture of poppies growing by the VTA tracks.

Bought a House

2009-02-14T09:36:00.000-08:00

We've been wanting to for a long time, and have recently had the new incentive that we're just not going to fit in our current rental now. But what finally got us to jump is, first of all, things (finally) getting a bit more affordable, but also our recent discovery of Redwood City's "alphabet neighborhood", which has an unusual combination of suburban niceness, (relative) affordability, and convenient access to transit. It's a pretty quick bike ride, and a quite doable walk to Sequoia Station, and unlike a lot of ostensibly much posher parts of RWC, you (or your kids) don't have to go through any sketchy areas to get there.

We haven't yet adopted the free-range kids philosophy, but this location will make us feel comfortable turning our daughter (and eventually, son) loose on the world a little sooner than a lot of others would, and put interesting things to do within reach... She already knows how to get to Great America, after all.

Transit-Accessible Florists

2009-02-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

In Mountain View I recommend Floratique, across from CalTrain,

both for the flowers and some darn tasty chocolate!

How does our State want to Spend it's Stimulus Money?

2009-02-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

According to a Friends of The Earth report (they advocate spending it on transit first, and of what is spent on roads, emphasizing repairs over new construction), we're not the best (Massachusetts) but not the stupidest (Florida--who'd a thunk!) either:

CALIFORNIA
The California DOTs request, while not as ideal as Massachusetts, shows that Californias government is thinking about investing smartly. Californias DOT wants 60 percent of stimulus transportation funding to go to roads, and only around 37 percent for public transportation. However, Californias roads and bridges are in great need of repair, and it is encouraging that Californias DOT request allocated nearly 70 percent of the funding for roads towards repair. Already, 13 percent of Californias bridges are considered to be structurally deficient and 18 percent of the states roads are in poor condition; these figures are among the highest of the 19 states analyzed. Californias transportation sector causes the largest percentage of global warming pollution out of all states, with 58 percent of global warming pollution in the state resulting from transportation. To combat this, further investment in public transportation should be considered, even though 10 percent of Californians already use alternative transportation modes in their daily commutes.

Now would be a good time, of course, to make noise and get these ratios improved (or at least, apply enough pressure to keep that 37% from mysteriously shrinking).

I Will Write Anna Eshoo Today

2009-01-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

Time is running out if you want to tell your congressperson to fight to get transit operating funds (present in original draft, since dropped in the usual wheeling and dealing) back into the economic stimulus package.

If you have forgotten who represents you, go to http://www.house.gov and type in your zipcode (you may need your +4 extension, but if so but they link to a USPS page that will look that up for you based on your street address.

Driving Sux

2009-01-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

It was raining, and I had a meeting I didn't want to show up wet for, so I decided to drive to the station.

I figured that if I can get down there in 15 mins by bike, I should be able to drive it in 15 mins, too, right? But I didnt' consider:

Having to slow down for road construction, instead of scooting by with a wave onthe shoulder.
Having to wait for a green light to turn right because some bozo got in the turn lane and decided to go straight.
Having to wait through two cycles to turn left, because traffic was backed up to far to get into the left turn lane.
Having to find a parking place.
Paying for parking.
Realizing that the parking ticket machine is not next to the sign saying "pay for parking".

I made the train but the last point was the last straw, and all I could do was watch it stop and get going again.

I can't believe people put up with this crap every day.

Next time I'm packing a change of clothes and I'm just going to get wet riding my bike and not mind.

Nathan's Favorite Song

2009-01-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

Santa Clara Station Improvements Funded

2009-01-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

The VTA is kicking down some $$ to pay for improvements to Santa Clara station.

This will provide separate outside platforms for NB and SB trains, and a tunnel to connect them, so that passengers will no longer have to cross active tracks to reach NB trains.

This should allow ACE and Capitol Corridor trains to make stops at Santa Clara, which they current pass by.

This project was long held up by the belief that it could be rolled into the construction of the Santa Clara BART station, but fortunately enough reality seems to have set in to get this small project rolling now, rather than waiting another decade or two.

Ideally, the new tunnel could provide a way to get between the station and the area to the NE of the tracks, which currently can only be done by taking a roundabout, mile-or-so-long walk to use an overpass, or trespassing (which CalTrain strenuously insists you should never do, but not to the extent of putting up a fence).

If they provided access to that side, the VTA's #10 Airport Shuttle bus could loop over there instead of at the front of the station, and probably save about 10 minutes each way, too.

Here's a Google Maps Satellite view of the area, if you're curious.

Good Thing I Tagged my Bike!

2009-01-06T13:16:00.001-08:00

Twins!

Commuting Again

2009-01-05T21:52:00.000-08:00

Parental leave is all used up, and I'm back on the job.

I jumped back on the saddle and got back into the train/bike commute on the first day... and it started to rain.

It was a chilly morning in Mountain View but the Cafe Maison guys were out as usual.

I noticed CalTrain has a new schedule--printed in black and white only--budgets must be tight!

The SF Bike Coalition Bikes-on-Board campaign had distributed flyers on trains pointing out the economic advantages of bike/train commuting--pointing out that the subsidy for a commuter taking a bike on CalTrain, and theoretically taking up the equivalent of two seats, is still lower than what it costs to subsidize station parking places, or commuter shuttle busses from station to workplace. Cool!

Meanwhile, my employer, Microsoft, has started offering CalTrain Go Passes to all Bay Area employees--I now have a shiny "GO" sticker on my ID card that lets me ride anywhere, anytime. Awesome!

And just so you know, my new son Nathan is showing an interest in trains, large and small.

I'm on Facebook

2008-12-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Here's my page.

I'll happily add any fellow transit/bike enthusiast as a friend!

Beware Post-Election Announcements

2008-12-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Did Santa Clara County voters know that a vote for Measure B was a vote against all transit improvements in the South Bay (CalTrain electrification, light rail extensions, even BRT) except BART?

Probably, not considering that Yes-on-B/SVLG explicitly said it was not. Yet this is what the VTA says B's (apparent) passage means (now that it can safely say so, after the election).

In other news, the CAHSR's Quentin Kopp now (again, safely post-election) thinks it'd be ok to build an HSR terminal at 4th & King, and skip the (joint HSR/CalTrain) tunnel to downtown SF. Can I have my vote back? Getting the downtown extension built was one my main reasons for supporting this thing.

Should I have paid more attention to my own doubts about this project?

Doesn't ending HSR a half-hour bus ride away from downtown SF kind of undermine the benefits of getting there from LA in two and a half hours?

It's ironic that the public was much better served when transit was in the hands of people openly motivated by avarice, like "Borax" Smith, Henry Huntington, and E. H. Harriman (as a historical side-note: CalTrain's bayshore route is part of Harriman's legacy, and if he had lived a few years longer, it might have been electrified and extended to downtown a century ago!), than those of "public servants" like we have today.

Subsidies for Folding Bikes

2008-12-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

This is one thing CalTrain could do to address its bike capacity problems and make everybody happy. And if LA Metro can do it--and get a grant from the state to pay for it--why isn't CalTrain jumping on this?

More "trouble on the line" today. I'm turning off twitter updates to my phone until I either get a data plan so I don't have to pay $0.30 per SMS, or at least til I'm actually commuting again.

Toys for Tots Train this Weekend

2008-12-04T14:56:00.000-08:00

Check CalTrain's webpage to see when it's coming to a station near you.

Pick up some toys to donate (for cheap but un-crappy toys, I like IKEA--how about a Lillabo?), and bring your little one(s) down to the station to meet Santa!

CalTrain Blows it, Offers Free Rides

2008-12-04T14:42:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting comfortably at home watching this on Twitter.

Looks like the new signalling system put in during the CTX rebuild (4 years ago) had a meltdown this morning, disrupting service so badly that CalTrain is offering free rides today and tomorrow (Friday) as an apology.

From CalTrain.Com:

Customer ALERT: The computer problem which caused today’s train delays has been repaired. Train delays are expected to continue through the afternoon, as crews work to restore service. As a gesture of apology, all rides on Caltrain will be free until 1:30 a.m., Dec. 5. In addition, Caltrain tickets will be honored on VTA Routes 22 and 522 (which serve Caltrain stations) and on all SamTrans buses for the remainder of the day.

Update: I overstated this: "As a gesture of apology, all Caltrain rides were free from 1 p.m. to the end of the service day. We regret the delay and will continue to work to provide the service our customers expect."

Lame!

Taking a Break

2008-11-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

Not much to say here at the moment, since I'm:

Not commuting while I'm on leave.
Too happy to rant about anything!

Yes on Q (SMART), No on B (SJ BART)

2008-11-02T22:29:00.000-08:00

These two projects make quite a contrast.

SMART is cost-effective, conventional rail technology, a project with a solid financial plan, and honest ridership projections. Perhaps too honest, since the upfront description of what the project can and can't do has given fodder to adversaries.

With SMART the north bay has a chance to channel their future growth into some something tolerable, and turn exurbia into something other than a nightmare of long-distance car commuting.

And besides this, their is the fact that SMART will enable my family to conveniently reach Snoopy's Home Ice in Santa Rose via transit.

The BART-to-SJ project is ridiculously expensive (a 16-mile subway through the suburbs, dug underneath an existing railway right-of-way?), claims laughably high ridership estimates, and is so fiscally reckless as to endanger every other transit project in the south bay. Yet it's popular with Silicon Valleyites who are wowed by technology but have no understanding or real interest in using public transit.

Vote this turkey down and force the VTA to get their financial house in order, and connect the South Bay to the East Bay with something that's affordable and will actually work.

After Some Consideration, Yes on 1A

2008-11-02T22:08:00.001-08:00

Long-time readers will know that some issues with the CA HSR project--principally that it's being run by crooks and idiots, has chosen a poor route for political means, that money would be better invested in local transit, etc.

I am also concerned about the project's business plan that assumes at least $10bn of private investment to get the system built, and am afraid of this turning into another zombie project like BART-to-San Jose, something that never gets built but by being enshrined as the will of the voters keeps affordable and practical things from ever getting built (I'd have preferred a less ambitious plan that to make getting to LA by train time-competitive with driving, but was certain to actually happen).

But there are some crucial differences between the original Proposition 1 and the last-minute-revised 1A that make me a little more willing to give this a chance--particularly the provision that bond funds could be invested in improvements to useful segments of the line. The SJ-SF corridor is specifically mentioned.

So at the very least, if this passes, we can hope and lobby for electrification and grade separation of CalTrain, and extension to the Transbay Terminal, as an early benefit, even if bullet trains to SoCal are decades away.

Set Your Clocks--And Buy a Bike Light!

2008-11-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

Time changes always catch me off guard--Friday I'm heading home in comfortable late afternoon, next Monday it's dark and I've neglected to bring any lights. Not this year!

Would it Take this Long to Clear a Wreck on the Freeway?

2008-10-30T14:24:00.001-07:00

Doing a thorough investigation of train/car collisions is important, obviously. On the other hand, passengers do need to get to work, and it doesn't seem like it should take an entire morning to sort these things out.

From the CalTrain Twitter Feed.

NB285 slightly delayed passing milbrae for no reason T19:27 6:27 PM Oct 28th
NB285 running about 10 minutes late. T19:30 6:30 PM Oct 28th
NPR says all NB and SB trains suspended at San Mateo T06:11 about 8 hours ago
Any more info? Rumor has it truck collided w/Caltrain and there are fatalities... T06:38 about 8 hours ago
Caltrain accident near 9th ave in San Mateo. Trains stopped in both direction. T06:40 about 8 hours ago
NBC shows the accident and even cars can't cross the tracks near the accident. No stated ETA yet T06:43 about 8 hours ago
Trains stopped in both directions: SB 102 @ Burlingame, SB 104 @ Belmont and NB 103 @ Millbrae. No ETA to restore service. T06:45 about 8 hours ago
KRON TV reports a fatality T06:47 about 8 hours ago
hit the truck at 9th and didn't come to a stop until 5th T06:54 about 8 hours ago
Caltrain hit a truck and killed the driver. No other fatalities reported. T07:03 about 7 hours ago
No SB trains leaving 4th St SF. Conductor says next train will arrive in at least 40 mins T07:12 about 7 hours ago
210 SB did leave SF at 7 am currently at south city and holding. 2 bike cars T07:19 about 7 hours ago
Fox 2 reporting police trying to clear tracks within 45 min, but vehicle and investigators still on tracks. T07:37 about 7 hours ago
at 7:43 still no trains arriving or departing SF T07:44 about 7 hours ago
Someone posted a pic - search twitter for 'avoid caltrain' T07:46 about 7 hours ago
The truck has been removed from the tracks, but NBC says the investigation is going to continue (no specified amt of time). T07:59 about 6 hours ago
A train arrived at SF 4th & King. Word is it will be a local train. T07:59 about 6 hours ago
Camera crew 4th St SF T08:00 about 6 hours ago
Confirmed. Next SB train leaving SF will be local. No word about others. T08:11 about 6 hours ago
A SB local train left SF at 8:18am T08:19 about 6 hours ago
Slight correction: the SB train that left SF is local to Milbrae. Unsure if local after. Will update. T08:22 about 6 hours ago
Can someone confirm stoppages in both directions at San Mateo? T08:24 about 6 hours ago
SB104 operating between San Mateo and San Francisco - SB206 and SB208 operating local service between Millbrae and San Francisco T08:26 about 6 hours ago
NB207 and NB211 operating between Palo Alto and Redwood City - NB305 and NB309 have turned and are operating south to San Jose as loc T ... ... about 6 hours ago
NB305 and NB309 have turned and are operating south to San Jose as locals T08:28 about 6 hours ago
As of 8:15-SB trains returning to SF: #104, #106, 208 - NB trains returning to SJ: #305, #309 T08:35 about 6 hours ago
trains still not moving past accident T08:37 about 6 hours ago
Both NB and SB tracks still closed at scene. Delays expected to continue thru morning commute. T08:39 about 6 hours ago
SB train going slow around San Bruno. Likely will be delayed an additional 15 minutes due to train stacking around accident. T08:40 about 6 hours ago
Just saw the first NB train pass at San Bruno. T08:41 about 6 hours ago
SB230 will leave SF on time making all scheduled stops. T08:44 about 6 hours ago
Closeup: http://cow.org/r/?4661 and KCRA story: http://cow.org/r/?4663 T08:50 about 6 hours ago
The SB train w/o a number will continue as local from Milbrae. Left at 8:51am T08:51 about 6 hours ago
As of 8:45, SB track opened at reduced speed. NB track remains closed. #230 and #231 left on schedule. T08:55 about 6 hours ago
NB #231 left RWC at 9:15. T09:21 about 5 hours ago
As of 9:15, both tracks are opened. Trains are operating at reduced speed thru the area. T09:22 about 5 hours ago
Trains won't be back on schedule until about noon. T09:26 about 5 hours ago
SB 134 left SF at 9:33 T09:35 about 5 hours ago
NB241 departed Tamien on time. Back to normal schedule? T10:40 about 4 hours ago
Official word: Trains won't be back on schedule until about noon. T10:42 about 4 hours ago

Halloween Treats from SamTrans and CalTrain

2008-10-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

They will be passed out at stations and stops during Friday morning's commute.

Halloween in Silicon Valley

SFBC: Email CalTrain Whenever you get Bumped

2008-10-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

The SF Bike Coalition's CalTrain Bikes On Board campaign suggests: email CalTrain every time you get bumped.

Here are recommended addresses:

hedlundl@samtrans.com
board@caltrain.com
cc: bikesonboard@sfbike.org

The above are wrapped up in a combo <mailto/> link so you can just click to send something to all of them if you have your browser integrated with email.

Halloween Train

2008-10-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

The Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources is running their Halloween Train at Ardenwood Historic Farm again this year.

We didn't get a ride last year because they were sold out. Tickets are sold in advance at The Book End, a bookstore in Fremont. Time for another Dumbarton bike ride?

CalTrain Studies Crashworthiness

2008-10-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Federal Railway Administration sets safety standards for the nation's railway network. Their safety standards for passenger equipment emphasize crash survival through strength. The result is that US passenger equipment weights 2x3 times more than that used in other parts of the world, increasing energy consumption, and making off-the-shelf equipment from other parts of the world prohibited.

CalTrain, which would like to evolve from diesel-powered mainline-style trains to electrical multiple unit trains (i.e., a slightly scaled up version of BART) has studied the effectiveness of US and European safety standards, and concluded that the FRA's "build trains like tanks" mentality is probably not making passengers any safer; I'll excerpt a summary table:

Impact Object	Speed	Probability	European CEM	FRA-Compliant
Automobile	All	High	Negligible	Negligible
Truck	30	Low	Serious	Serious
Truck	50	Low	Serious	Catastrophic
Truck	70	Low	Serious	Catastrophic
Steel Coil	20	Very Low	Marginal	Serious

Collisions between passenger trains and freight trains are another matter--but could be avoided entirely by restricting freights to late night hours after CalTrain has finished running (this has been done elsewhere where light rail operates on freight lines), on the main SF/SJ part of the line. This would mean operating trains south to Gilroy with different equipment, but probably there isn't enough traffic to justify electrification of the south end of the line anyway.

Thanks to Peter Ehrlich for forwarding this report to the SFMuniHistory list.

A More Interesting Reason to Commute

2008-10-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

A bike to/from tag seen on CalTrain:

The Nerve!

2008-10-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

The Yes-on-B (the Santa Clara County sales tax to pay for (some of) the operating costs of the proposed (and searching for adequate construction funding) BART extension) folks (basically the SVLG are leaving flyers on CalTrain trains.

Among their claims is that proposition B will not take away funding for CalTrain electrification.

This is not technically a lie. But it is the case that the VTA's monomaniacal obsession with BART is leading them to steal promised funding from any and all sources, including $$ promised from the 2000 Measure A sales tax for CalTrain electrification.

Defeating B is the best way to force them to abandon BART, build something they can actually afford (just run ACE trains back and forth to Fremont all day instead of letting them sit around Diridon Station !@#!) and keep their other promises.

For much more complete arguments see VTAWatch.blogspot.com.

Senator Feinstein on Rail Safety

2008-10-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

You can read her testimony to a CA state hearing on rail safety on the LA Times Bottleneck blog.

The good news is that government, a commuter rail operator, and freight railways are collaborating to install safety measures.

It's also downright astounding to see a politician showing understanding of technical details of transit infrastructure.

CalTrain's Funding Problems in a Nutshell

2008-10-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

A letter in the Oct 6th Murky News:

My husband and I are in our 60's and anticipate a time when we will no longer want to or be able to drive to San Francisco for the theater, symphony, shopping or even to the airport. In his article outlining why he will oppose the BART tax Scott Herhold (Page 1B, Oct. 5) gives many good reasons why other forms of transportation will get the job done more efficiently and with less capital outlay. However, there is one flaw in Mr. Herhold's argument. The bullet train currently only runs during the commute hours. It does not run in the late morning, early afternoon, at night or on the weekends. Therefore, during non-commute hours it will take significantly longer to get to San Francisco than it would on BART. If Caltrain would add bullet train runs on weekends and during non-commute hours, I would consider voting "no" on measure B. Otherwise, I still think it makes more sense to circle the bay with BART.
Susan Gutterman, San Jose

So since CalTrain is underfunded and can't provide the service you want... give money to BART instead?

CalTrain seems perpetually stuck in a vicious circle of being underfunded, operating a somewhat scrappy service, and therefore not being taken seriously, putting it last on the list for better funding!

Yeah, it's just one letter from one individual, but I think it's pretty representative of the views of so-called transportation experts in the Bay Area too.

Train Clips Truck

2008-10-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

I biked all the way to work today. Here's why.

I need the exercise, but still...

This truck was pretty flimsy, by the look of the accident scene. The only injuries were to the truck driver, and minor.

It'd be nice to get rid of all grade crossings along CalTrain. But until the day we have funding for that, what if we banned semitrucks from grade crossings? There's enough over- and underpasses that it doesn't seem like it'd be too big an inconvenience.

CalTrain's Self-Inflicted Publicity Crapstorm over Bikes

2008-10-03T07:18:00.001-07:00

As the unloved stepchild of Bay Area transit, CalTrain doesn't get much attention in the press, except for the occasional page 3 article when they run over somebody.

So the level of attention they've been getting lately, over their inability to make room for bikes, came as a surprise. I've seen stories in the Chronicle, and the issue has even made TV and radio news.

Not too mention that local papers' letters-to-the-editor pages have been filled to bursting with complained from habitually bumped bikers, many of whom are public resolving to give up and go back to driving.

All this seems to have finally gotten some attention from the CalTrain board, who will now finally look at adding more bike capacity to trains (but couldn't they have reached this conclusion a year ago?)

Kudos to angry bikers who showed up at CalTrain's meeting yesterday and helped sway their opinion, some with visual aids.

Did Anyone Ask the Students?

2008-09-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

After months of negotiation, Norfolk VA's abuilding light rail system has agreed to move a planned station farther from Norfolk State University:

The new NSU location will be on the west side of Brambleton and not the east side. It costs more because it will extend over Brambleton Avenue, requiring heavier-duty material and more complicated construction, HRT Vice President Jayne Whitney said. The station could not be moved beyond Brambleton because of a bend in the track, she said.
NSU officials requested the change because they feared for students' security with a mass-transit stop so close to campus. Michael Townes, HRT CEO and president, said the request was accommodated because "they're a partner in this project."
...
However, the new site poses a different kind of safety worry, said Corey Hill, chief of public transportation for the state.
Students will now have to cross busy Brambleton Avenue to get to class. Hill said he fears they will dash across six lanes of traffic instead of walking a block to the nearest intersection.

In a similar vein, in Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota has been fighting tooth and nail to keep a Hiawatha LRT extension off of a street that runs through their campus.

It shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone who's been to college that university administrators really don't care about the convenience of students.

But it is disheartening that transit systems can be so skewed by their demands. As usual, actual transit users get no respect, even from the people who plan transit systems.

Imagine What We Could Do With $700 Billion

2008-09-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

Imagine if we just let the individuals and banks who made bad investments suffer the consequences of their mistakes, stopped throwing good (public) money after bad (private), and invested $700bn in public works.

Naturally, I'd advocate:

Transit
Low interest loans for transit-friendly development

Imagine the jobs that would be created, and what it would do for our economy!

Crapped on Again!

2008-09-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

For the third year in a row, our state government has worked out its budget problems at the expense of public transit riders.

I swear, in American society, crackhead transgender welfare queens get more respect than we do. We seriously need to work on getting some respect.

Here's an idea: did you know that there is a campaign to recall Gov Schwarzenegger? Sure, it was started by people who no connection to or interest in public transit (the prison guard union, who are pissed about getting a paycut).

But suppose we started collecting signatures. Suppose we started going around with clipboards, at stations, on trains and busses--and encouraged transit passengers to use this as an opportunity to vent.

In terms of removing our crappy governor, the campaign might be a non-starter--but it would have the a powerful psychological effect on state leadership: transit passengers are getting organized, and politicians need to start giving us some respect.

CalTrain Violated an Unwritten Rule!

2008-09-15T22:05:00.001-07:00

That rule being that, even if there isn't room to get your bike on an express, there's always plenty on the slow-as-heck locals. Not tonight--the 5:03 NB @ Mountain View was a Bombardier set with one bike car, with room to take two bikes, out of five of us waiting (I was the last to arrive).

The next train wasn't til 5:37. I biked up to El Camino and waited for a 522 Rapid, which after 10 or so minutes, arrived. The rapid is definitely faster than the regular 22, but given that the 5:37 is an express, I probably should have just gotten out my current literary diversion and waited at the station.

I met up with my family in Menlo Park, where we went to dinner at Jason's Cafe, which has recently replaced Brix. Add this place to the list recommended transit-accessible eateries (from MP CalTrain, walk around the Foster's Freeze).

Wash Me!

2008-09-15T10:32:00.001-07:00

I guess nobody really needs to look out of these engine-room windows on CalTrain's locomotives, but somebody was up there to notice the dirt!

Accident Avoidance

2008-09-13T15:10:00.001-07:00

Is there a reasonable compromise between a the safety of 100% grade-separated, passenger-only railway system like BART, and the affordability and practicality of a commuter rail system like LA's MetroLink, where passenger trains can, and unfortunately every couple of years do, collide with freight trains?

The most recent accident seems to be the result of error on the MetroLink engineer's part.

Clearly we need more foolproof ways of keeping trains safe that relying on humans to see signals. The technology to do this is not new. Many transit systems (like the Key Route) had ways of stopping trains automatically in the first half of the 20th century.

It seems like some sort of device to stop trains (or at least sound an alarm) based on GPS and/or wireless connections to central dispatching could be added to existing locomotive fleets cheaply and easily.

Our Latest Transportation Mode

2008-07-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

We just got our daughter a skateboard.

One thing about getting around the neighborhood at a kid's pace is, you find interesting things. Like a leaf bug!

Or a rolly-polly:

And friendly cats. Sometimes taking off your helmet helps make friends.

Destination: Rite-Aid:

Emotional and Politically Correct

2008-06-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

The SJ Merc printed a letter of mine more or less along the lines of my post here about the schoolgirl killed while biking home from school. I was a little surprised to see a "rebuttal" in the form of another letter the next day.

How sad that in a time of tragedy people let their emotions override their good judgment. Such is the case when Nicholas Kibre (Letters, June 15) somehow blames the driver of an SUV for a fatality involving a bicycle. Kibre doesn't blame the driver for what may have been a failure to yield to the bicyclist during a left hand turn. No, he goes for the politically correct jugular and blames the driver for purchasing an SUV. Although, I saw no mention that the driver either purchased or owned the Ford Bronco in question. There was no mention in Kibre's letter about the unfortunate young girl not wearing a helmet as required by law which was probably more of a factor than the type of vehicle she collided with. Instead of putting additional blame on the city of San Jose for delays in implementing traffic measures it would seem more appropriate to encourage authorities to increase the education and enforcement of helmet laws.
Jack Azevedo
Santa Clara

I suppose this guy has me on the the poin that the driver may not have actually owned the Ford Bronco. Maybe she stole it! That changes everything!

I stand by my point--using (however you get ahold of it) a vehicle that is known to endanger other people is a choice, and therefore, is a greater moral failing even than the fateful, but assumedly totally accidental, failure to see the victim.