Another Bike+Train Outing

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

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

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!)

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

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Free-Range Kid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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. 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)

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

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?

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

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!

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

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

I Don't Get It

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

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!