Comments on: Private Buses or Public Boondoggles

By: Frank

Frank — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:30:50 +0000

Heaven forbid the public use public bus stops.

By: Hugh Jardonn

Hugh Jardonn — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:38:34 +0000

Uh oh. Now the politicians are getting involved:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Supervisor-wants-rules-for-shuttle-stops-3982606.php

By: Dave Brough

Dave Brough — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 01:05:38 +0000

“Any private rail initiative would have to operate along Caltrainâ€™s tracks”.
Says who? What about ABOVE and BEYOND? Above the tracks as well as beyond the tracks – highway shoulders and medians, floodways, along river banks, etc.
It’s called Personal Automated Transport. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERdF0FK-2io (and)http://www.mist-er.com/ for just two examples.
This proven technology is far faster (50 mph and higher), far cheaper ($10M/mile), quicker to build (months instead of years), and highly personal (2 – 5 pax pods vs jammed into buses). Only subway can move more people per hour.
Combine it with Google’s Driverless Vehicle (Robocar) and the world would be a better, safer, and more productive place.
I’m rather surprised that the Antiplanner won’t get into the foray.

By: C. P. Zilliacus

C. P. Zilliacus — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 19:12:53 +0000

The Antiplanner wrote: A team of graphics artists has attempted to map the private buses that carry workers from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, reports the Wall Street Journal. At least six employersâ€“Apple, ebay, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Google, and Yahooâ€“offer such services, but they are very secretive about where they go and how many people they carry. Wonder why the Silicon Valley employers are so secretive? Are they afraid that the public transit agencies in the market will be embarrassed? Meanwhile, Honoluluâ€“which has one of the best bus systems in the countryâ€“is almost certainly going to have to cannibalize that system if it finished construction of a $5 billion, 20-mile rail line. Wouldn't be the first time that a transit bus system was neglected in order to build and financially support passenger rail transit.

By: the highwayman

the highwayman — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 10:50:10 +0000

O’Toole do you expect trucking companies to build roads too?

By: rationalitate

rationalitate — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:11:43 +0000

Not surprisingly, none of these companies thought that building new rail lines would be a cost-effective way of helping their employees commute to work.

Not entirely true. I have it on good authority that a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur recently offered to take over Caltrain operations (but was rebuffed). Unfortunately I can’t divulge more than that, but they’re not the only ones â€“Â Facebook is a big proponent of what’s known as Dumbarton Rail, which would involve building a spur off the main Caltrain line to go through East Palo Alto (where they’re building their new campus) on over the Dumbarton Bridge into the East Bay.

How you expect anyone â€“Â even a private entrepreneur â€“Â to build a new rail line in an already-developed area like Silicon Valley is beyond me. Any private rail initiative would have to operate along Caltrain’s tracks (i.e., the old SF-SJ Railroad, last owned by Southern Pacific), which would require the cooperation of the government. It’s not like you can just build a new rail line amidst the most expensive real estate in California, any more than you could build a private highway!