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12/24 |
2013/7/1-8/23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:54700 Activity:nil |
7/1 BART labor union holding the transit infrastructure hostage. \_ Yesterday's SFGate poll showed that 11% of the readers sympathize with the workers, 17% with the management, and 72% with the riders. \_ The millions the Koch Brother's spent are paying off. Workers now sympathize more with their masters than. now sympathize more with their masters than their own self-interest. \_ The union train operators and station agents get, on average, $71k/yr base salary and $11k/yr overtime, and contribute $0 to pension and $92/mo for health insurance. \_ What do you make? \_ I make more than that, but my employer is not prohibited from replacing me with someone who would be willing to get paid less and get the same job done. paid less and get the same job done. -- PP \_ Perhaps you should join a Union then. \_ Not all unions are as greedy as BART unions. ATU, which represents AC Transit bus operators whose jobs are more demanding than BART train operators, wasn't as greedy. \_ What do you mean? They make about the same pay. \_ Driving a bus on city streets is more demanding than driving an automated train on dedicated rail tracks. \_ http://preview.tinyurl.com/kavxpms Doesn't really seem true to me. |
2012/5/21-7/20 [Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:54395 Activity:nil |
5/20 Suburbs sucking wind, cities recovering: http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/05/18/study-resilient-walkables-lead-the-housing-recovery \_ 2 hours of commute a day could mean nothing (e.g. a young blue collar worker who has all the time in the world) or it could mean everything (e.g. really busy city person who has little time and/or energy to spend with kids). |
2011/10/10-18 [Recreation/Food, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:54191 Activity:nil |
10/10 Has anyone heard the CSX Train commercial on the radio? I wonder why a freight railroad company bothers to advertise to individual comsumers. It's not like someone can click "By CSX Train" when choosing shipping method on http://Amazon.com, or someone will choose this brand of pasta sauce over that brand at a grocery because it was delivered by a CSX Train. \_ Maybe it's like those billboards for SAP -- most people aren't in the market for enterprise software, but you only need one who is to make your ad worthwhile. |
2010/2/10-3/9 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53700 Activity:nil |
2/10 Does anyone have an authoritative URL that shows the % of people in the Bay Area who commute via foot, bike, car, BART, and Caltrains? In particular I'd like to look at trend as well. \_ http://www.sfced.org/about-the-city/urban-data-and-statistics/commute-patterns has some. -tom \_ Guys, guys, guys, I asked a simple question. What % of Bay Area traffic goes to autos, bikes, foot, BART, and Caltrain? I'm not asking you guys to debate the merits of BART. Can you help? \_ I don't have the % but this shows BART is pathetic: http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/bay-area-transit-efficiency-how-bart-caltrain-vta-light-rail-and-muni-metro-stack-up \_ that only talks about ridership per mile, which is more of a statement on the region's population density rather than some real statement of how effective a transportation mode the rail systems it discusses are. \_ What metric would you use other than dollars per ridership-mile? Unless the metric is "how often the trains line up with the black squares on the platform," doors line up with the black squares on the platform," BART is going to lose badly compared to other transit systems, including the others in the Bay Area. -tom \_ What is the dollars per ridership mile stat? -ausman \_ I agree. Driving is far superior to BART. \_ Bart is pathetic indeed. \_ Here is one reason why BART can't increase its capacity on existing tracks by running trains closer together and at higher speed. Blame General Electric: http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2006/news20060616a.aspx \_ No, blame BART for paying $80 million for vaporware that, even if it worked, would further complicate their already complicated and idiosyncratic system, instead of doing something rational like "get faster trains". (Problem is, you can't get faster trains because BART's too idiosyncratic.) -tom \_ The above article seems to imply the existing trains are already capable of higher speed if not for the train control limitations. No? \_ They're not capable of higher speeds; they just think they could run them closer together if they sprinkle magic fairy dust on them. -tom |
2009/10/29-11/3 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53481 Activity:moderate |
10/29 "BART customers shatter previous ridership records" http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20091029.aspx Here's the Bay Area solution to global warming: just snap a cable on the Bay Bridge once a while. :-) \_ what about taking a chem e class and see how stupid you sound? \_ Not as stupid as someone who couldn't tell that OP was obviously joking. \_ I don't see why you think he sounds stupid. A full BART uses significantly less than the same number of people driving into the city. \_ An equivalent of 249mpg to be exact. http://www.bart.gov/news/barttv/?&cat=27&id=398 -- !PP \_ Do they publish numbers for how much the less-than-full trains consume? Or how it is diluted by the fact that trains run the full length of their run regardless of how far the passengers actually go. \_ you're an idiot. \_ "... during the first two full days of the bridge closure on Wednesday and Thursday, BART estimated that riders took 163,000 extra BART trips. If they had driven vehicles for those trips, the trips would have resulted in about 1.8 million pounds of CO2 emissions." http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20091102.aspx |
2009/8/13-9/1 [Reference/BayArea, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53269 Activity:nil |
8/13 One greedy BART union going on strike next Monday: http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20090813a.aspx \_ No, not really. It is just a negotiating tactic. \_ You know what, BART's troubles do have a little to do with union pay, but its mostly BARTs expansion mission instead of dealing with the stations its has. The airport extension is not as popular as they said it would be, and they're going forward with San Jose and Oakland airport connector extensions |
2009/8/6-19 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53251 Activity:nil |
8/5 Bart link:tinyurl.com/klhb8x vs. MTA link:tinyurl.com/ksmn4c NSFW \_ Guess MTA doesn't stop running huh. \_ Yup. \_ Looks like they art more SRS over there. \_ I'd give bart the win, except that it is a photoshop job. \_ nah, I'd give MTA the definite win. |
2009/7/12-24 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53130 Activity:moderate |
7/12 Turns out that BART management has been lying to the public and the press about salaries, whoops! http://www.contracostatimes.com/danielborenstein/ci_12619817 \_ Why do the janitors make $28.09 per hour in California where there is plenty of cheap labor and at those prices why are the BART restrooms almost always nasty? To me that's ridiculous. \_ unions, sinecures, and a sense of entitlement \_ $28.09 with no danger of layoff!? Gee, why am I in software engineering? \_ $28.09 with no danger of layoff, plus getting paid for 40hrs/wk while only working 37.5hrs/wk (see article)!? Gee, why am I in software engineering? \_ If you are making anything close to $28/hr in a real software engineering job you need to start looking for a new career, because you are either an idiot or far too easilly taken advantage of. Especially when the 28/hr includes cost of benefits (any 401k matching? good health benefits? life/disability insurance?) and the costs of a (oh my!) half hour lunch break. \_ There is not plenty of cheap legal labor in California. \_ Oh yes there is. My mom used to work in management at a bank, both in retail and at data/call centers. They could find plenty of labor for $14/hour and those jobs have a lot more responsibilities than a janitor does. My niece is assistant manager of an Old Navy while she works her way through college and she doesn't even make $20/hour. There is no shortage of people willing to work for $15-20/hour. Go to your local Taco Bell and ask if any employees want a benefitted janitor job that puts $18/hours in their pockets. This is a crime. job that puts $18/hour in their pockets. This is a crime. \_ I'm sure your niece would make a great janitor. \_ For $28/hour it would really help with school costs, despite your asinine comment. \_ Does she live in the Bay Area? Did she apply? It is hard to get a job you don't apply for. BART is probably mostly interested in people who are going to stick around though, not part timers. \_ <DEAD>jobs.bart.gov<DEAD> says it's not currently hiring for "Maintenance, Vehicle & Facil" positions. Why can't she apply for a janitor position asking for, say, $23/hr when the current ones are costing BART $28.09/hr? Well, thanks to the union. positions. Why can't she get a BART janitor job at, say, $23/hr when the current ones are costing BART $28.09/hr? Well, thanks to the union. -- !PP \_ You say that like it is a bad thing. \_ It is a bad thing for taxpayers, BART riders, and citizens and legal residents who are willing to do the same job for less. BTW what's the unemployment rate now? \_ Society in general benefits from the existence of stable decent paying jobs with good benefits. I am sad that I even have to point this out to you. How do "citizens and legal residents who are willing to do the job for less" benefit from having salaries in their profession decreased? What was the area unemployment rate before the Bush Depression? Unless you think we are in a permanent state of 10%+ unemployment, it is a bad idea to whipsaw your employees like this. If we are still in a deflationary depression in another year or two, you might have a point. \_ Oh sorry, I didn't realize that the janitorial profession as a whole is making $28.09/hr on average! \_ You know, there just might be something about being a bank teller, or managing an Old Navy, which means people will accept lower wages than they could get as a janitor. Gee, I can't imagine what those things might be. \_ I've been a janitor, and it seems much better than managing an Old Navy IMO. \_ yeah, it looks great on your resume, too \_ This article also says "It's still true - with caveats that I'll explain - that BART wages are at or near the top in the nation, even when adjusted for regional differences in cost of living. And the take-away message remains the same: BART workers should make salary concessions to help the transit district stave off future fare hikes and service cuts." |
2009/7/2-15 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53105 Activity:nil |
7/1 Okay, here is the reply from Tom Radulovich to my email. He is on the BART Board of Directors and is an all around good guy. You are correct. The great majority of represented BART workers are maintenance or clerical employees, train operators, or station agents, but the represented ranks include some junior managers in AFSCME, and most of the BART police managers (sergeants, lieutenants, and commanders). Among the five unions, as I recall, about 1500 employees are in SEIU 1021 (maintenance and clerical), 800 in ATU 1555 (train operators and station agents), 250 in AFSCME 3993 (technical and junior managers), 260 in BART Police Officers Association (sworn police officers, community service assistants, and revenue guards) and 46 in BART Police Managers Association. The $114,000 figure is total compensation, and included wages and benefits; I was told today that for the average BART employee, approximately $70k is wages, and the remaining $44k benefits (medical/dental, pension, retiree medical, etc). Many BART employees earn overtime, but no overtime is not included in the $114 k figure. Hope that helps. I don't have the wages and benefits for specific positions handy, but the Fremont Argus ran a chart recently showing compensation (wages and benefits) for several typical positions at BART, including station agents, janitors, train operators, mechanics, foreworkers, etc.; you should be able to find it online if you are curious. \_ What did you ask him? \_ the BART overtime numbers push up some of the salaries to crazy levels. google around for stuff like "bart overtime salary". and it has been this way for years ... the giant amounts of overtime is not a coping strategy while they train new operators ... that's the way they do business. |
2009/6/30-7/15 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:53094 Activity:nil |
6/29 http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20090629.aspx "The average (BART) union worker makes $114,000 a year in wages and benefits." And they're demanding a 3% raise. Geez. \_ This is called negotiation by press release. What does the average worker who is not in management make? http://tinyurl.com/nl8pre $90k/yr including benefits 4 years ago. "... the average train operator and station agent already make $66,000 a year..." \_ Managers are union workers? \_ Oddly enough, in BART they are. \_ Hmm, the first paragraph at the URL you're quoting reads "BART workers who are asking for raises in contract negotiations with the transit district are among the highest-paid transit workers in the Bay Area and the nation, according to transit officials." And, I can't even find your quote at your URL. Where does your quote come from? \_ http://tinyurl.com/lgy233 \_ Quoting things without citing the source is not quoting. \_ Quoting things without source is not quoting, let alone providing a wrong source. Plus, you delibrately left out the remaing part of the same sentence, which reads " (without overtime), plus free medical, dental and full retirement." \_ It is still way less than your quoted $114k/yr. Why do you deliberately spread BART management PR distortions? \_ Hmm, I quoted sentences in full, while you took words out of context. Anyway, as I quoted, $114K is for BART union workers, while the $66k you "quoted" (plus other benefits that you omitted) is for train operators and station agents. Now, is the union demanding a compensation increase for all union workers or only for union train operators and station agents? \_ Train operators, mechanics and station agents comprise the overwhelming majority of BART employees. Now granted $90k/yr (including benefits) ain't chicken scratch. I don't know the answer to your question, but I sent some email to Tom Radulivich asking him. \_ No, stating a fact (what someones salary is) is not "quoting out of context." Putting down my source for every fact I state on the motd would be tedious, especially when anyone with a basic ability to google would be able to verify it for themselves. You still haven't answered my question, btw. \_ Quoting "$66k/yr" to counter "$114k/yr in wages and benefits", without mentioning that $66k/yr is not wages and benefits while your source clearly mentions it, *is* quoting out of context. \_ Quoting "$114k/yr in average wages and benefits" without mentioning that ~80% of BART employees make less than $100k is spreading deliberate misinformation. \_ BART management and employees both have snazzy PR websites about how horrible the other side is \_ I still don't think Evil BART Booth Lady should be making 100k a year. I'm not sure what she should be making, but it's not close to 100k. |
12/24 |
2009/4/17-23 [Computer/Networking, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:52862 Activity:nil |
4/17 "WiFi Rail Inc. to provide wifi access on BART system" http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20090202.aspx (not exactlly new news) |
2009/4/6-13 [Reference/Tax, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:52808 Activity:high |
4/6 Alameda sales tax is now 9.75%. that's pretty rough. sales tax is regressive. Some boneheaded Oakland city council member wants to raise Oakland sales tax even more, in this recession. - motd liberal \_ Yes, the sales tax, car tax, and income tax increases enacted by the state legislature are the largest in history, and massively regressive. Add in the federal tobacco tax increase and the poor have been hammered. \_ I'm going to give the legislature a break on car taxes. Arnold shouldn't have used that issue to get into office. \_ Irrespective of Arnold's tactics, a doubling of the VLF is still a huge hit for many low-income families. \_ Compared to all the other costs of car ownership car taxes are pretty damn tiny, especially if you own a junker. (1.15 percent, or about 33 bucks/year on a car that costs 3000 dollars) In the mid/late 90s VLF fees were about twice what they are now. \_ Regressive taxes are good. Tax the poor right out of existence! It's their own fault for being poor! -- Typical conservative whackjob a car that costs 3000 dollars, so an extra ~$16 a year.) In the mid/late 90s VLF fees were about twice what they are now. \_ Car drivers are still massively subsidized by non-drivers, who tend to be even poorer. \_ I doubt it, since non-drivers are a small portion of the population and have small incomes. I think you could eliminate non-drivers from the country completely and it would hardly affect drivers. What gets massive subsidies is public transit. \_ That's only true if you ignore most of the costs of driving. \_ Public transit gets less subsidy per rider than automobiles do, actually. Many non-drivers are old and not poor. \_ Old generally means lower income. In 2000 87% of the "driving age population" had a license. (Driving age population basically excludes kids. There is no upper age.) How much do you think that other 13% is contributing? It's probably much less than 13% of the tax base. There is no way car drivers are subsidized by non-drivers. \_ That doesn't mean driving isn't subsidized. It just means that the subsidizers are often also the drivers. That both hides the true cost of car ownership and makes it so it's not cost effective to opt out. \_ How do you subsidize yourself? You are being ridiculous now. \_ Say I have to pay a lot of taxes to build roads/clean up after cars/ spend money on traffic enforcement/ etc. That's a subsidy. Yeah I get services from it, but it hides the total costs of car ownership. And total costs of car ownership. And if I chose not to own a car I still have to pay thoses costs so there's much less incentive to use alternatives. \_ I think there is a strong case that those that drive less (or not at all) subsidize those who drive more. If something is subsidized so that users of it don't see the true cost, it tends to get over- consumed. \_ Has a license does not mean has a car. Has a license does not mean drives regularly. \_ No, but has a license = driver. Drivers sometimes walk, bike, or take public transit, too, but we're still drivers. Roads benefit everyone. Emergency services and firefighting, transport of goods, and even buses and bikes benefit by roads. However, not everyone benefits from public transit. \_ take the million-plus trips that go by public transit in the Bay Area each day and turn them into car trips, and you'll see how public transit benefits everyone. -tom \_ No, that just benefits Bay Area commuters. \_ Everyone benefits from reduced congestion, cleaner air and fewer people injured on the highways. \_ Almost certainly my last post on this subject: Having a transportation network capable of moving lots of people from place to place in the region is a benefit to everyone. Employers, for example, are benefitted by having access to their employees. Public transit moves more people per dollar or per unit of land use than roads do, which gives the overall infrastructure greater capacity at a lower cost. -tom \_ It's only efficient if you happen to need to go exactly where public transit takes you. You have a point if you want to go from A to B, but not if you want to go from A to [A-Z]. You can replace all roads with rail and build a thousand new train stations if you want to achieve the effect you desire but that seems horribly expensive given the roads are already in place and the logistics are nasty for cargo (which is why trucks are used more often than cheaper existing rail in many cases). We aren't talking about building some utopian society from scratch, but leveraging off of what exists and there is no way replacing roads with rail makes sense at this time in I'd say 98% of cases. \_ Have you ever been to Europe? \_ I have. I noticed the startling existence of roads. \_ Far fewer than here, per capita. How do you think they do that? \_ Mash 4 million people into a closet? Per capita! How about per square kilometer?? It's about the same as here. \_ Keep beating that straw man, I'm sure you'll get him at some point. -tom \_ Is that your new nickname? \_ Everyone benefits from reduced congestion, cleaner air and fewer people injured on the highways. \_ I would say that the cost/benefit ratio is high for the typical American who is not living in a crowded city. Why should they subsidize commuters in SF and NYC? \_ Who is this typical American who doesn't live in a crowded city? However, I think it's clear why those in SF and NYC should still pay for roads in middle America. Let me make this more clear: We need the roads. We cannot eliminate them. Claiming that they are subsidized (or not) misses this point. We have to pay for them. We do not need rail (distinguished from buses because buses also need the road) at this time in most of the country and even in the areas that we do we still need roads. It's a luxury that makes life better for some people. Like all luxuries, it should be paid for by those who use those services. You can argue that we should be building a rail infrastructure to handle future population increases, but you will *still* need the roads so that just means increasing total transportation costs. You will not get to a point where rail is free and all the roads are toll roads and even if you did you would just be shifting the costs around so that you'd pay for them with higher prices for goods, emergency services, and so on. You (the non-driver) will not be able to escape paying for roads unless there are no roads and that is unlikely in my lifetime. \_ No, we don't need all those roads. We could easily get by with 1/4 the road network. Why should urban commuters subsidize suburban commuters? You have no explaination, other than "we need it." We only need big interstates like I-5 and I-10, we don't need all the commuter beltways, like 580 and 24. If we didn't have commuter rail, we would have to build even more freeways, which cost more per passenger than rail. \_ You needs roads almost everywhere because goods ship to/from almost everywhere and you need to be able to provide emergency access to almost everywhere (firefighters and ambulance). In fact, I would argue you need those local roads *more* than you need roads like I-5 and I-10, which could more easily be replaced by rail for transport of goods and people, too. Drive I-5 and you will see it's hardly used for local transit and transport. \_ There is no need to provide goods and emergency access to low density regions. I lived in Wyoming and it would be stupid to build paved roads to every house. Why should the taxpayer support someones desire to live out in the middle of nowhere? \_ I agree except I suspect you have a weird idea of what "low density" means. Everything not in the largest cities is not "low density". If you want to argue against Alaska highways (Bridge To Nowhere) I am with you on that, but not if you are talking about roads in places like Stockton. \_ It is fine to build a small two lane road in places like Stockton, sufficient for goods delivery (and what we had in the 50's) but that is not what we have now. \_ What was the population in the 50's compared to now? \_ If the people who want to use all that extra infrastructure want to pay for it, that is fine, but if they don't let it go back to weeds, like Detroit is doing today. No use in throwing good money after bad. People who live in rural areas get all other kinds of subsidizes as well, which we should phase out. It is inefficient to live so widely spread out and rural people (other than farmers) don't really contribute that much to the economy. All those big yards are luxuries that you should not expect others to pay for. If we got rid of all those inefficient freeways and replaced them with more efficient transportation methods, prices would go down, not up, like you claim. |
2009/3/3-11 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:52669 Activity:nil |
3/3 "Stimulus bill increases transit tax benefit for commuters" http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20090220b.aspx "The law raises the amount of pretax income that workers enrolled in employer-sponsored commuter benefits programs can use to pay for mass transit -- from $120 per month to $230 per month." \_ pity they encumber the EZRider program such that its difficult to pay for BART fares via EZrider with employer-sponsored commuter benefits. |
2009/1/21-26 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:52431 Activity:moderate |
1/21 The area around Fruitvale Bart in oakland, is it relatively safe? I am buying stuff on craigslist from a guy 2 blocks from the station around Sat noon. Don't want to walk into the wrong neighborhood you know. ;) \_ It is safe in the daytime. -ausman \_ why dont you meet them at the cafe directly across the st from Fruitvale BART? \_ This is some audio equipment that I'd like to power on and give it a try before buying. Inside the seller's home seems to be the easiest option, unless there are AC outlets near BART or the cafe? \_ The cafe I am talking about, in the 'transit village', has power outlets. \_ There are AC outlets in BART stations. I used to recharge my cell phone when I waited for my wife in Hayward BART in the evenings. Whether you want to try out audio equipment in a BART station is a different question. \_ Yeah, don't buy anything from anyone who asks to meet you in a parking lot at night. \_ Unless you're buying bioluminescent jellyfish. \_ Fruitvale is notoriously bad. I had an acquaintance who managed a chain of pizza places. One of the locations was in Fruitvale. They constantly had problems, including people ordering pizza and then not paying and drivers getting mugged. Fruitvale had more problems than any other store in the chain. P.S. Be very careful. I wouldn't go into some guy's house in Fruitvale. Sounds like a good way to lose your $$$ if he's dishonest. Meeting somewhere public is better. Fruitvale is not Orinda, where I'd have no problems doing that. \_ I am danh. I often go to south/east oakland to watch sideshows. Do not worry unless you are extremely white or asian. If you look somewhat ethic, you will be ok. \_ Paolo, in the wise words of Yusef Bey, "Keep my name outcha mouth." - danh \_ If you look too ethic, you'll get beat up. No one around there likes a goody two-shoes. \_ Clever! \_ What the heck does "extremely white" mean? \_ Probably "extremely caucasian". Although I don't think albinos will get much love either. |
2009/1/15-23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:52399 Activity:nil |
1/15 http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/84270854/32999 Bart icon. \_ i finally SAW the video. Shot in the BACK ugh. |
2009/1/7-12 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:52331 Activity:low |
1/7 Ride BART, get handcuffed and shot in the back by BART police http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/05/BAK61540MH.DTL&tsp=1 \_ Now now, that also includes fighting and resisting. \_ Oh, so you think the shooting was justified? \_ No, just in favor of full disclosure--and it looks like he really thought he was drawing a tazer. \_ Not so sure about that - it looks to me like he's using a regulation draw, hold, fire, and re-holster. Isn't the taser usually kept on the other side? And why would you taser someone at point blank range? Isn't that dangerous/ineffective? \_ Capture error. I don't think he intentionally shot the guy, I think it was a mistake. Involuntary manslaughter, rather than 2nd degree murder. \_ did anyone else notice that the last line from SFO is now at 11:40pm? \_ I read on the Mercury News that the taser is kept right next to the firearm. I finally saw the video last night and the officer looked pretty surprised right after the shooting. \_ When cops use lethal force, they're not trained to "draw, fire, reholster". It's draw, fire MULTIPLE times, then assess before reholstering. The sequence he goes through is closer to taser. \_ Why the hell was he tasering him? When did tasering a dude become something you do because you are grumpy and want to cause someone serious pain? \_ did anyone else notice that the last line from SFO is now at 11:40pm? \_ welcome to the post auto bailout america. Do you really think they'll reward rail riders now that detoit got free monies? \_ Now you see why we need civil rights groups like Copwatch. \_ now we scream 187 on a motherfucking cop. |
2008/10/22-27 [Reference/BayArea, Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:51640 Activity:nil |
10/22 RIDE BIKES! Meet Thursday 6:30pm in SF, between Embarcadero BART and the Ferry building. Last night's ride was teh hott. Thursday's ride will be hottest. -ali |
2008/9/25-10/1 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:51309 Activity:nil |
9/25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transit LA mean travel time is 29.2min, which is only slightly more than SF at 29.0. See, Los Angeles isn't such a bad place to live! \_ "figures shown for central city only, not metropolitan area" |
2008/9/25-30 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:51294 Activity:kinda low |
9/25 What % of BA commuters commute via BART, Caltrain, and road? \_ Not exactly the numbers you're looking for, but the 2006 numbers for % of workers using public transit are: San Francisco: 30.29% San Jose: 3.92% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transit \_ 30% is not bad! NYC is 54%. How in the world did Los Angeles get 10%? No way! \_ A lot of poor people ride the bus in South Central. \_ You forgot Yahoo/eBay/Paypal/Google/Apple shuttles. \_ And the long-disance AC Transit transbay buses with free Wi-Fi. A few lines go as far as Fremont <--> SF. |
2008/7/30-8/5 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:50739 Activity:nil |
7/30 SF is about to build a 2 mile subway from Chinatown to the ballpark, going UNDER Powell BART. Powell BART leaks like a sieve and BART needs to pump thousands of gallons of water out of the station daily. They actually have trash cans out in key parts of the station to collect water. Somehow I don't think the might SF corp of civil engineers have taken into consideration all of this crap they are going to have to build their gajillion dollar tunnel of shit under. \_ I hadn't heard about this. I assume there will be some easy transfer from BART to the new line? By gondola perhaps? \_ Ever use muni? \_ they will use HOMOSEXUAL FAIRY MAGIC \_ There will be an underground walkway from Union Square Station to Montgomery BART. \_ All subways leak water. The NYC subway system would flood within hours if electricity went out and the generators failed. It's part of that whole "being 100 feet underground" thing. But you should stay convinced that only you understand that water exists and that civil engineers don't know anything about their jobs. \_ you know I wouldn't put it past the city of sf to plan this 1.7 subway going under some of the densest most expensive real estate in the United States Of America, and totally fucking it all up and it ends up costing something stupid like 11 billion dollars. also the subway is part of a gentrify the toxic waste dump that is Hunters Point and fill it with pleasant white relaxed Google engineers who haven't done their own laundry in years + gain political points with the 40 percent population of sf Chinese people you never hear about. \_ *cough* Big Dig *cough* \_ You know I wouldn't put it past you being an idiot. \_ The gajillion dollar subway is part of a plan to gentrify Hunters Point, it is hard to dispute that. The gajillion dollar subway was planned to butter up the chinese sf people. \_ If you think civil engineers who work on subway systems don't know tunnels leak water you are dumb. \_ Apparently BATMAN is running SF's computer systems these days. THE MOLE MAN might run city public works \_ What is wrong with gentrifying Hunter's Point? You would rather see a Superfund site there? And I can't see what is wrong with actually serving your constituency. The Chinatown buses are the most crowded in The City. \_ Don't you know that the chinese aren't real people? \_ I wouldn't trust the City of SF to plan the drainage in a desert. \- maybe you can align the incentives by having Bechtel design a tunnel which goes under the Bechtel Building. BTW, isn't the rationale for this to connect 3rd street rail/caltrain to downtown without going through surface traffic rather than bringing chinese people to the ball park? \_ No, when this is all done, there will actually be two tunnels, two blocks apart: one for Muni and one for CalTrain. This seems kind of stupid to me, but I see why they are doing it. |
2008/6/23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:50337 Activity:kinda low |
6/22 Public transit blows part deux: \_ If you hated part one, why did you torture yourself with part 2? Oh well, I guess you love being tortured. So I am in Boston for the week. My hotel is near downtown. I decided that since there is a 'T' line right outside my hotel I would take \_ T has a lot of problems. You can't take an example of a bad mass transit and say "shit I hate all mass transits." It's like having a bad experience with a black man and say "all black men are bad." Racist. the train. Strike One: It takes 47 minutes to get to Beacon Hill if you \_ After strike one, you should STOP and evaluate yourself... maybe you should step back and say, wait, let me THINK about this shitty situation for a while BEFORE I rely on it further. What a dumb ass! HAHAHHA you deserved what you got. plan your trip so that you don't wait for trains. It can't be more than a few miles away, but you have to take a train to hell and back to transfer to another train. So I took a cab. Strike Two: \_ cab is the best thing. Cab, is always >>> mass transit except for cost. That's true anywhere in the world, provided that you can pay for it. \_ This is untrue. I got where I was going much faster in Wash. DC using the train: cabs are in *traffic*. The Metro is *not*. My destination/source were Metro-friendly. I concede that generally cabs could be superior, but your claim of "always" is false. \_ The best thing is to have a private car with driver, catering to your every whim. This is what I do in poor countries, but can't afford here. \_ Try taking a cab in LA. Har har har. \_ I don't get it. LA has plenty of cabs. \_ So how come I've never seen a cab in Woodland Hills, where I grew up? And South Pasadena? Dumb ass. I took the 'T' to Cambridge. It's *supposed* to be a 30 minute \_ Again, you need to hang out with a local to understand why things don't go the way it's *supposed* to, because in the real world, in practice, it is different than theory. DUH!!! train ride to go 2.5 miles. Again, that's if you plan your trip to coincide exactly with the arrival of a train. You have to transfer once. Well, what I got was the line I needed to transfer to being closed and everyone herded onto a bus with a belligerent drunk who \_ Yeah if you don't like people, don't take mass transit. No one is forcing you to take it. Dumb ass. the bus driver eventually threw off the bus for being a nuisance \_ bus != real mass transit. It is a bandaid to a more serious problem \_ Yes, ignore the mass transit you don't like. (he was cussing in front of kids, grabbing people, and eventually threatened to strangle someone). Then we got on another train line. My total cost was $10 per person round trip. Oh, yes, I can't wait to \_ Good, you deserve it. Now stay in LA and drive in your smoggy city for heaven's sake. take public transit again. It is so much cheaper, more convenient, and pleasant than driving. My drive out to Cape Cod went well, \_ Cape Cod has a lot of nice people. And they're gay, and want your ass. \_ you're more than welcome to drive in Boston or NYC. Good luck. If you're skilled enough to drive, then drive. Obviously, you're not skilled enough to take the mass transit. I mean, if you take a New Yorker (who normally doesn't drive) and stick him in Los Angeles, what would he have to say about driving? Probably as much praise as you give to mass transits. You're as dumb as your trolls. though. $20 in gas to drive by myself 200 miles in air conditioned comfort and incontrol of my own itinerary. Imagine that. Next chance \_ Oh, yeah, THE 110 and THE 405 are very comfortable. Good one for public transit will be to go to the Museum of Fine Art. I am anxiously awaiting to see what Strike Three is because I won't count being passed by in Berkeley seeing as a bus is not public transit. Only high-speed Euro-style rail from LA to Las Vegas counts as public transit. \_ Obviously, you're a mass transit newbie. You'll get the hang of it, but not in 1-2 days. It's a good time to hang out with the locals to get to know the nuances of scheduling and getting around. You'll get it, trust me. It's an acquired taste. Not for newbies, but in time, you'll get used to it. Trust me! Automobile is like candies and mass transit is like cigarettes, you'll get a taste for it in time. Good luck! \_ Why not take your car to the Museum of Fine Art and tell us how it goes? \_ I've driven in Boston twice now. It's a pain. I prefer it to mass transit and I will drive a lot more than I planned based on my experiences so far. If I ever go back to Cambridge I will definitely drive there. Also, there's a rstaurant in Beacon Hill I want to try. I will drive there, too. Apparently the best way to get around is by cab. Is a cab considered mass transit? I will be in Manhattan in a week and I plan on taking cabs there and never touching the mass transit. \- i have never taken muni in the ~5yrs i have lived in SF and even *i* took the T in Boston [even when on expense account so no cost to parking, rental etc]. although i walked to the MFA. if you go to the MFA see the excellent Dante and Vergil "buddy movie' bronze. there is also some total fraud there like this: http://tinyurl.com/3zjucq and the stuff like the RRAUSCHENBERG cardboard boxes. \_ I took it, too, but my experiences have sucked. Having the police come to cart a crazy guy off of a bus that you weren't supposed to take except that the line you needed closed unexpectedly tends to ruin the experience. \_ Yeah, I can see how that might tend to ruin it for you. I have riding transit in the Bay Area for 15 years and have only seen anything like that a few times. Do you imagine that you are safer on the bus or in your car? \_ Misanthropes should probably not ride transit, if they can avoid it. \_ Well, that's the problem with mass transit. Anyone can and does ride it. \_ http://www.csua.org/u/lsg (www2.actransit.org) "In the face of rising gasoline prices, AC Transit is experiencing a boom in ridership. Particularly impressive has been the Transbay service where passenger levels have shown tremendous increases since December-- including by more than 50 percent on one line." |
2008/6/22-23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:50332 Activity:high |
6/22 Public transit blows part deux: So I am in Boston for the week. My hotel is near downtown. I decided that since there is a 'T' line right outside my hotel I would take the train. Strike One: It takes 47 minutes to get to Beacon Hill if you plan your trip so that you don't wait for trains. It can't be more than a few miles away, but you have to take a train to hell and back to transfer to another train. So I took a cab. Strike Two: \_ Try taking a cab in LA. Har har har. \_ I don't get it. LA has plenty of cabs. I took the 'T' to Cambridge. It's *supposed* to be a 30 minute train ride to go 2.5 miles. Again, that's if you plan your trip to coincide exactly with the arrival of a train. You have to transfer once. Well, what I got was the line I needed to transfer to being closed and everyone herded onto a bus with a belligerent drunk who the bus driver eventually threw off the bus for being a nuisance \_ bus != real mass transit. It is a bandaid to a more serious problem \_ Yes, ignore the mass transit you don't like. (he was cussing in front of kids, grabbing people, and eventually threatened to strangle someone). Then we got on another train line. My total cost was $10 per person round trip. Oh, yes, I can't wait to take public transit again. It is so much cheaper, more convenient, and pleasant than driving. My drive out to Cape Cod went well, \_ you're more than welcome to drive in Boston or NYC. Good luck. If you're skilled enough to drive, then drive. Obviously, you're not skilled enough to take the mass transit. I mean, if you take a New Yorker (who normally doesn't drive) and stick him in Los Angeles, what would he have to say about driving? Probably as much praise as you give to mass transits. You're as dumb as your trolls. though. $20 in gas to drive by myself 200 miles in air conditioned comfort and incontrol of my own itinerary. Imagine that. Next chance for public transit will be to go to the Museum of Fine Art. I am anxiously awaiting to see what Strike Three is because I won't count being passed by in Berkeley seeing as a bus is not public transit. Only high-speed Euro-style rail from LA to Las Vegas counts as public transit. \_ Why not take your car to the Museum of Fine Art and tell us how it goes? \_ I've driven in Boston twice now. It's a pain. I prefer it to mass transit and I will drive a lot more than I planned based on my experiences so far. If I ever go back to Cambridge I will definitely drive there. Also, there's a rstaurant in Beacon Hill I want to try. I will drive there, too. Apparently the best way to get around is by cab. Is a cab considered mass transit? I will be in Manhattan in a week and I plan on taking cabs there and never touching the mass transit. \- i have never taken muni in the ~5yrs i have lived in SF and even *i* took the T in Boston [even when on expense account so no cost to parking, rental etc]. although i walked to the MFA. if you go to the MFA see the excellent Dante and Vergil "buddy movie' bronze. there is also some total fraud there like this: http://tinyurl.com/3zjucq and the stuff like the RRAUSCHENBERG cardboard boxes. \_ I took it, too, but my experiences have sucked. Having the police come to cart a crazy guy off of a bus that you weren't supposed to take except that the line you needed closed unexpectedly tends to ruin the experience. \_ Misanthropes should probably not ride transit, if they can avoid it. \_ Well, that's the problem with mass transit. Anyone can and does ride it. |
2008/6/19-23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:50307 Activity:moderate |
6/19 Heard this on KNX LA radio: Overall CA automobile usage has gone down about 1.5% from 2007 to 2008. Los Angeles and S Cal in general did not notice any change. GEE I WONDER WHY??? FUCKING LAME TARDS \_ Uh, what has LA's population done in that time? \_ LA values personal freedom. I devote a very high % of my income to not have to take public transit. I'm glad it works for you. I hate it. Last time I was in the Bay Area I waited 30 minutes for a bus on San Pablo in El Cerrito and when it showed up the driver blew right by me without stopping even as I waved and ran to the curb (I was sitting in the kiosk) and the bus wasn't even 10% full. I guess you think this is acceptable. I don't. \_ I totally agree with you. Riding with people and waiting together is COMMUNISM. People in N Cal are closet COMMUNISTS. \_ Thank you for adding zero content to this thread. \_ I think you were passed by one of those Rapid Line buses. They only stop at certain intersections, about every .5 i think. \_ I think you were passed by one of those Rapid Line buses. They\ only stop at certain intersections, about every .5 i think. only have stops \_ Maybe, although the number of the bus was the one I needed. This is another problem with public transit as it exists in the US: the schedules are not posted at most of the stops and when they are they are often out of date. Maybe wireless devices will make this less of an issue soon. I took public transit (BART, AC Transit and other buses, MUNI, etc.) and while it worked fine it usually (with some exceptions like to Oakland Coliseum) took much longer to get where I needed to go. This is true in LA, too. I can take Gold Line and get there in 2 hours or I can drive and be there in 20 minutes - 30 with parking. \_ The answer is stunningly simple: don't live so far from where you "need to go" and you won't have this problem. \_ I used to live near San Pablo and worked in Emeryville, getting on the 72 RAPID was pretty sweet. better than a rollercoaster at Great America with AC Transit's new Dutch buses that throw old ladies everywhere, but that's another story. \_ Last time I was in LA, I drove a rental car from LAX to my aunt's house in Riverside. It took me over 3 hours to go 70 miles. I guess you think this is acceptable. I don't. \_ How long would it have taken you on a bus? What about Metrolink? It's not much less. Overall I can get to \_ His whole point was that LA really blows because it lacks *REAL* mass transit systems, defined as systems that work INDEPENDENTLY of the freeway infrastructures. When the bridge collapsed, people could take BART. But when 101/405 collapse in the future, what redundant system do you have? LA totally blows. PS. Buses are not real mass transit systems, mkay? \_ You do remember the BART strike back in 1997, right? And the 10 freeway did collapse in LA. It was back up in less than a month. Riverside in less than an hour unless I am unfortunate enough to go during rush hour(s). Driving is much, much faster than other methods 80% of the time and probably equivalent 10% of the time leaving only about 10% of the time where I'd even bother with transit. And then once at your aunt's what happens when you need to go somewhere? Wait another 45 minutes for a bus and then transfer to another one and then walk 5 blocks with your bags. Are you kidding me? That stuff works in Tokyo or NYC where it's really dense. Doing that in Riverside would be stupid. You made the right move even if it cost you 2 hours up front. \_ You are right, in LA I have no choice. Apparently you think that is acceptable. I don't. |
2008/6/18-22 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:50291 Activity:nil |
6/18 "June 19 is a Free Transit Day!" http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/info/spare-the-air.htm |
2008/5/7-9 [Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:49899 Activity:high 76%like:49910 |
5/7 Ride Bike question Is it worth it to put Slime in my inner tubes? I just had a big blowout and it blasted Slime everywhere. Good thing I still had my winter fenders on. \_ I'm not a big fan of any of the flat-reduction techniques. -tom \_ I'm not a big fan of any of the breast-reduction techniques. -tom \_ What about armadillo or other strenghtened tires? -op \_ "...any of the flat-rediction techniques." Tires with \_ "...any of the flat-reduction techniques." Tires with more rubber can be OK for commuting, but don't believe anything anyone tells you about "kevlar belts" or whatever. You'll still get flats. -tom \_ Of course you'll still get flats. The question is if you will get fewer flats, and if these extra work/expense is worth the reduction. Personally, I have never found slime to be worth anything. I didn't even notice a reduction in flats when I tried it. -jrleek \_ Do I need to spell out "I have tried a whole lot of different flat-reduction products, and have not found the reduction in flats to be worth the extra weight, expense, and wonky handling"? I thought that was implicit. -tom \_ Well, I was looking for more info than in your first response, so I was hoping you'd elaborate (which is why I asked about armadillo). I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at your hostile response. Do you actually interact with people in real life? -op \_ I rarely interact with anonymous cowards in real life. -tom \_ So? You were a jerk to me too. -jrleek \_ Reciprocating. -tom \_ In tom's world, all people have wronged him, so he's always justified in smacking any random person in the face. -op \_ What the hell is wrong with you people? Do you weep uncontrollably on BART when people give you mean looks? Tom just gave his opinion on shoving goo in your bike tires after you asked. Grow thicker skin please. \_ No, most of them are too misanthropic to ever ride BART. That is why they live in the suburbs, so they don't have to interact with potentially unpredictable strangers. \_ No, most of them are too misanthropic to ever ride BART. \_ The most effective thing you can do to prevent flats is to inspect your tires frequently. Look closely at the surface for things that are embedded in the rubber, or little cracks that have picked up debris from the road. Most flats don't happen suddenly; they happen slowly as road debris gets pressed through your tire, then gets pressed into your inner tube. Before you go for a ride, check your tires. Every square inch. Look closely. Pull out that staple, dig the grain of sand out, remove the chip of glass. If you're doing this, then tires made of slightly thicker rubber will make a difference (I ride on Vredestein Fortezzas, but my tire selection is somewhat limited by my wheel size -- 650C). --alawrenc \_ Do you ride a triathlone bicycle? \_ No, I ride a recumbent. --alawrenc |
2008/4/3-9 [Finance/Shopping, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:49656 Activity:nil |
4/3 What is cheapest parking near Embarcadero / Montgomery BART? Yes I know this is a weird question. \_ The St. Mary's Square garage was last I checked (2006). Anything at about $20 is good. Anything at about $20 is good (north of Market). \_ No, it is not weird at all. You can park in SOMA, at 2nd and Folsom, for $12/day. The address is 303 2nd St. You can park one block further away at 600 Harrison St, for $10/day. The area is mildly seedy after dark, but mostly safe these days. -ausman |
2008/2/25-29 [Politics/Domestic/California, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:49241 Activity:high |
2/24 so who here is up for giving FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to AC Transit so they can completely foul up east bay city traffic by making bus only lanes up and down shattuck all the way down International, closely mirroring BART (why? no clue), and to give San Francisco 1.5 billion to 6 billion dollars to build a 3 stop subway from Chinatown to the ballpark (they claim it'll cost 1.5 billion, this thing is going to go under the most densely populated spot on the entire west coast, yay sure it'll only cost 1.5 billion. \_ Roads are fucking expensive. Traffic costs a shitload of money to deal with. That's why the "trains aren't efficient" idiots don't have a leg to stand on. \_ Trains can be efficient, but you keep trying to cram that square peg into round holes. In *most* instances, trains are poor solutions to transit problems. There are *some* instances where they work, but they are few and far between. \_ yes, those few and far between places are called "cities" \_ Cities of a certain size and density that are also built around a central core of which there aren't many. \_ yeah, cities with downtowns are so rare. uh, not. \_ How many factors did I cite? Cities that possess all 3 are rare. For instance, LA and San Jose have only 1 of the 3 (size). Many have downtowns but not size or density. The concept of a downtown is a turn of the century idea and the concept of people commuting from suburbs to a downtown for work is from maybe the 1930s and 1940s. It hasn't been that way for a long time. How many people out of the Bay Area population commute to downtown SF for work? Not that many. Not even Tom. Isn't it like 5%? (350K out of 7M) And that's for a dense city with lots of high-paying jobs. (Note: LA and SJ obviously have downtowns, but these exist mostly in name only.) \_ Seriously, I bet I could name hundreds. Do you really want me to start? Anytime you have enough density of population trains are the way to go. \_ Just name 5 in CA. \_ SF, LA, SD, Sacramento all could benefit from significant rail infrastructure. Oh no, that's only four in CA! You must be right! -tom \_ All of your cities are too big and lack a real city center for a real train system. Trains can supplement an auto system but never replace one. The idea is simply ridiculous. \_ Oakland. There, that's five. \_ Yay! What do we win? -tom \_ Are you kidding? I didn't say to just list names of cities in CA. \_ Those are all cities in CA which were built on rail transit. It's absurd to suggest that rail transit can't work in them. -tom \_ Sacramento's farebox recovery ratio is 20%. You call that working?! \_ Better than the 0% that the roads bring in. Farebox recovery is a red herring. -tom \_ Roads are not 0%. Every car on the road is contributing through fuel taxes and through the purchase of the car itself. \_ If you count taxes, the train system is doing just fine, right? Enough with the irrelevanices. -tom \_ That's a disingenuous response. You know damn well that fuel taxes are equivalent to train fares as a 'use tax'. \_ And what percentage of the total cost of auto usage is recovered by fuel taxes? \_ I dunno. Feel free to calculate and share. \_ Oh, so *now* you come up with a new requirement. Any city built before 1950 is probably going to be dense enough to support rail. That does exclude most of California's flash-in-the-plan unsustainable California's flash-in-the-pan unsustainable suburbs. \_ $400M just for marking the lanes or paving new lanes? URL please? \_ I'm not a big fan of the BRT proposal. I'm not sure about the Chinatown proposal; it would be better if it went a little further into North Beach. $1.5 billion is not that much money for a major infrastructure project; the Bay Bridge east span is costing four times that much (before they calculate the overruns). -tom \_ $400M is also the ballpark for the Caldecott fourth bore and the Devil's Slide tunnel. -tom \_ It was stupid to build the caldecott with 3 tunnels and it was stupid how much politics has gotten in the way and increased the price of the 4th bore over the last few decades everyone knew it was needed. \_ Obviously the free market didn't think it was needed, then or now. -tom \_ Why should the free market provide what the gubmint provides? You cannot compete with the government. \_ The Caldecott was completed in 1937; the third bore was added in 1964. The free market had 40 years to put in a tunnel there. Why didn't they? The Bay Bridge could have been replaced, another toll Bay crossing could be done privately. Why aren't these things done? Because they're huge money-losers. \_ So if they are money-losers then why does the government waste money on them? Sounds like you are wising up. \_ The purpose of government isn't to make money. -tom \_ Sign I saw today: "Paved roads: yet another example of government waste." Maybe the government should consider what makes financial sense before committing to spend money that isn't theirs. \_ If it's making investments on behalf of the public, the investments should have some real value to that public. Of course the problem again is accurately quantifying the benefit of such shared resources, who receives that benefit, and who should pay. And what other things might we use those resources for? Do I, living in the South Bay, really give a shit about the Bay Bridge? I wouldn't personally pay to use it. Would it stimulate economic growth of the area? I don't know, maybe it just screws with the natural market-driven path of development in other directions. \_ There's no such thing as a "natural market-driven path". It's a tautology. Yes, the government should evaluate different ways to invest public money to "promote the general welfare" (remember that bit?) As I've already noted many times, the cost/benefit equation is much better for rail than for roads; the analysis has been done. The only reason the U.S. doesn't build more rail is politics and the power of the corporations. -tom http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/winston/200605-aeijc.pdf Every $1.00 spent on highway construction returns 11 cents in congestion reduction benefits. -tom \_ No point in drilling an extra bore. New roads become filled to capacity almost immediately anyway, mostly with frivolous trips. There is an almost unlimited appetite for "free" ways. \_ I like the way you think. Since there's no point in providing a service that will *gasp* just get used(!!!) we should only provide services people don't need or want. They won't get used and we'll save a lot of money. Bravo! \_ Why didn't they? Because government regulations make it impossible for non-government to do such a thing. Duh. You can't just build your own bridge anywhere you damned well feel like it. You're just trolling now, right? You can't actually believe this stuff. \_ Perhaps you could list all the proposals private companies came up with for building new tunnels and bridges in the Bay Area. Surely there would be some interest in a new Bay crossing, even if it required a toll. And private industry is (ideologically) so much more efficient than government, they should be able to do it cheaper, right? Why didn't they try to supply the demand? -tom \_ You are right, they should spend twice as much and run it all the way to Fisherman's Wharf. Someday they will, I am sure. We spend more then $1.5B in Iraq every week. \_ Iraq? Yawn. Has nothing to do with anything. "We've spent money on dumber things before!" is not a reason to spend money on some other dumb thing, even a somewhat less dumb thing. \_ Stop wasting all that money in Iraq and we will have money for all kinds of useful things, like transit. |
2008/2/22-26 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:49215 Activity:high |
2/22 How much does rail cost per mile as compared to a road both for design and acquisition and also ongoing maintenance? \_ How many lanes of a road? What's the price of land? Land for one lane-mile of road is certainly cheaper in rural Nebraska than in Bay Area. Of course the same applies to rail too, but rail ususally occupies much less land. usually occupies much less land. \_ key word! \_ Assume the land cost is not an issue. You are going to build on land you already own. As for how many lanes, something functionally equivalent. 2 lanes for a line going nowhere and maybe 12 lanes for a main artery. For sake of argument assume a 4 lane road (2 each direction) versus 2 tracks (1 each direction). each direction), but if you can compare each lane of road with each line of track that's just as good. \_ Why would you assume land cost is not an issue? A 10-lane freeway takes 3-4 times as much land as a dual-track rail line. \_ Because it's not one of my assumptions? I don't want the cost of land to complicate things, because then you get into tunnels versus surface and all kinds of other issues. Assume that the land is not part of the cost and we can add it in later if need be. cost and we can add it in later. \_ Until one of those tracks is blocked and the whole rail line stops for most of the day leaving all passengers stuck. You really need 3 tracks to avoid that problem but you'll never get 3 tracks in the real world. \_ An overturned truck can also block all lanes of one direction of a freeway. It happened on 101S in Redwood City on Jan 29. What's worse is that it also significantly slowed down 101N which was not blocked at all because of its spectator value. A stopped train direction of a freeway. It happened on 101 in Redwood City on Jan 29. What's worse is that a freeway accident in one directory also slows down the other direction because of its spectator value. A stopped train blocking a track doesn't slow down trains on the track in the opposite direction. \_ I'm on a train. It stops. I'm fucked. I'm in my car. There's a problem on the bridge. Unless I'm already on the bridge I can turn off and go another way, go home, go to Starbuck's, etc. If the train was your only means of transportation, then you and everyone else are 100% stuck, even people who have not left home yet. Car mobility >>> train mobility. \_ How often does this actually happen? I can imagine all kinds of catastrophies that effect cars more often than a grade seperated train, in fact that often than a grade separated train, in fact that is how it actually works in the real world. The variability for driving from Antioch -> SF is much higher than it is for taking BART. train reliability >>>> car reliability train safety >>>>> car safety \_ Anecdote: I took Amtrak in December. The train was stopped for 5 hours because someone decided to end his life by getting drunk and sitting on the tracks. I was told this happens a fair bit around Christmas time. Of course they had to stop the train for the investigation team to get there, and also to change the engineers (who had a right to a 'vacation' since they basically ended a human life and couldn't stop it). -- ilyas \_ Obviously, you don't commute to/from Los Angeles and suburbs on the 405, the 101, the 10, like most of the Angelinos. \_ According to this Keanu Reeves movie I saw once, one is to stay off LA freeways. -- ilyas \_ Anecdote: I routinely drive from SF to Sacramento to visit the in-laws. Twice out of the last five trips, a 70 minute drive took four hours, for no reason that I could figure out. I decided that henceforth, I would rather spend 2 1/2 hrs on the train than 4 hours stuck in traffic, especially since I have a toddler that would rather run around than be stuck in a car seat. Plus, my chance of getting killed by some bad driver is much, much lower. And it costs run around than be stuck in a car seat. Plus, my chance of getting killed by some bad driver is much, much lower. And it costs about the same either way. \_ If you are stuck on a train it's usually a lot nicer than being stuck in a car, or in stop+go. Unless you are in some fancy car with a chauffeur, perhaps. Then again, thinking of my old BART experience and the weird people that sometimes shared my train car, I might rethink this position. \_ I was stuck on the Bay Bridge for five hours when a truck fire closed it. \- me too. it took 20min to drive through the tunnel. people were running out of gas, falling alseep etc. \_ Rail is much cheaper to operate in a per passenger mile kind of way, but I don't know about in a mile kind of way. That question doesn't but I don't know about in a mile kind of way. You question doesn't really make sense, since an unused freeway or railway costs less to maintain. \_ If it's unused it still costs the same, at least the rail does, because it still needs to run regularly whether ridership is low or not. Maybe highways cost a lot less to maintain with less use. Not sure. You can assume both are used at full capacity if it produces some numbers. I know rail is cheaper per passenger mile if every train is full, but that's not my question. Also, there's still the whole part about the cost to build if you can't answer the maintenance question. I suspect that roads cost the government less, because a big part of the costs (the vehicle, fuel, and even some construction via fuel taxes) are paid for by private parties. How does this compare with the fares paid versus the rail costs? Two numbers fall out, which are overall cost and cost to the government. I suspect overall cost is higher for roads, but cost to the government is higher for rail. \_ That's a matter of the choices we make. We could make drivers pay the full cost and tax to pay for rail, instead of the other way around, if we wanted to. One could argue that that is the morally defensible position. -tom \_ I think the goal should be for the government to pay as little as possible and let the free market decide which makes more sense. These calculations are difficult, but the markets can find the efficiency. End all subsidies to rail and roads and see where you end up. I suspect in most places it will be roads and no rail system. \_ That's an ideological stance; do you have any facts to support it? It is well known that markets do a poor job of pricing externalities like pollution. And in places where drivers pay a larger portion of the cost of driving than they do in the U.S., they drive less and have better rail systems. -tom \_ Better question: Do you have any evidence that command economies do a better job than the free market, because there's a lot of evidence to the contrary. \_ There is plenty of evidence that countries which fund more infrastructure centrally have better infrastructure. This should be obvious. -tom \_ Well, duh. But is that the right choice? \_ That's not what he asked. \_ What he asked is a straw man; I'm not arguing for a command economy. -tom \_ Yes, you are when you are advocating determining what the market is or should be instead of letting the free market handle the problem. \_ The free market cannot handle the problem; the free market will choose the solution with the greatest cost externality. At the very least you need the government to internalize the costs so a market is plausible. -tom \_ Oh, I think the free market can handle it just fine. Why do you think otherwise? \_ how about, the work of various mathematicians and economists which shows that the free market is inefficient when dealing with externalized costs? -tom \_ Which externalized costs do you think are relevant here? \_ The cost of fuel acquisition and the effects of pollution, for two. -tom \_ Maybe you could provide one real world example of that happening. \_ Yes, the free market has been an unmitigated disaster, comrade. \_ Just answer the question, if you can. We both know there are no such examples, and it has been a failure when tried. Well maybe you are so ignorant of history you don't know the latter. Show me a free market example of a working transportation system. \_ Well, ocean and air lines... they don't need to build the tracks/roads, only use ports. When has a free market transportation system been tried, in a country that wasn't impoverished or in some anarchic state? \_ An anarchic state would be ideal for the free market to create solutions, right? -tom \_ What a stupid comment. -- ilyas \_ $1 billion dollar per mile 3-stop train in China town! trains woot! \_ Big Dig: $14.6B for 7 miles of road in Boston! Carz rule! \_ Exactly. Thanks for providing an excellent example of why we don't want government messing with anything it doesn't have to. \_ yeah, because private industry was chomping at the bit to run a project like the Big Dig. Not to mention the now $6 billion Bay Bridge project. Oh wait, all those cost overruns were due to private contractors; funny, that. -tom \_ Point is that if private industry didn't want to do it then maybe there's a reason for that and it shouldn't have been done. \_ The reason is that private industry does things which are profitable, not things which are needed. \_ If it's needed then there is profit in it. Otherwise, people don't really want it. Why do you insist on telling people what they want? \_ I want to breathe clean air, where is the market for that? \_ Have you seen ozonizers? Filters? Companies are working hard to capitalize on your the demand with alternative fuel vehicles, fuels, and so on. It's not an easy problem to solve but the market will solve it. \_ Wow... amazing... Private industry would never have replaced the eastern span of the Bay Bridge; it's more profitable to run it the way it is. Do you think the Bay Area will be better off with a bridge that will survive an earthquake? What is the value of being able to travel easily from Oakland to San Francisco? -tom \_ You are talking about building codes now, which is ridiculous. Sure, I agree that the government should safeguard the health of its citizens to some degree. (I oppose mandatory cycle helmets, but applaud meat inspectors.) However, the bridge was just fine for 65 years. It might make more sense to just operate it until it eventually collapses in a disaster. I haven't seen any actuarial tables, but hopefully someone did that study and how it made more financial sense to replace it first. travel easily from Oakland to San Francisco? -tom \_ So no one has any numbers? What are you basing your opinions on then? Some numbers would be nice and much more convincing than this socialist bullshit about how the government knows best how to spend our dollars. If I want to build a transit system that goes from San Diego to LA over land that I own then how much will it cost to do rail vs. road? \_ I know wher to get the numbers, but I am not willing to waste my \_ I know where to get the numbers, but I am not willing to waste my time arguing with a fool. You can use Google as well as I can. \_ But Google has a liberal bias! \_ Just post them. No need to argue if you don't want. The numbers should drive your point home w/o need for any arguing, hence the original (and unsatisfied) request. If you show me it costs 50% of the cost of a road to install a rail system with similar capacity then I'm on board with it. \_ You may wish to see: http://www.apta.com/research/info/online/how_transit_benefits.cfm that whole website is chock full of transit info http://www.apta.com/research/info/online/documents/weyrich3.pdf A Conservative Critique of 12 Anti-Transit Myths \_ No one is disputing rail can be effective. Is it *cost* effective? The "myths" article did a very poor job with that particular "myth" (and some others, too). For instance, can you replace all roads with rail? No? What % can you replace? How does that % compare to the % spent on rail? It's useless to know the total $$$ spent on roads. If everyone decided to commute by rail tomorrow then how much more needs to be spent on enhancing and maintaining the rail system? How much would still need to be spent on roads regardless? This is the kind of analysis I never see done. That is why I am in favor of the free market sorting it out. Every individual's decision will contribute to an efficient collective decision. If you are going to dictate transport then you need to do a real freaking analysis and it won't be easy. \_ Los Angeles is a perfect example of a free-market style of creating a city. City planning is too much work, so why don't we let the developers build wherever they want, whenever they want, and the rest of the solutions will come later. Is this Los Angeles your idea of free market utopia? \_ Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown. \_ What about Chinatown? \_ We get it. You have an ideology. Thanks for playing. -tom |
2008/2/11 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:49118 Activity:high 83%like:49105 |
2/8 Looking to buy our first home on a tight budget. Which east bay areas near a BART station (within walking distance) are generally considered safe? More criteria/info: limit = 400k, walking much more preferred than short drive, but acceptable if I don't have to worry about getting there early for parking space. School not high on priority. I'm mainly trying to see if there were any BART station areas I didn't realize was safe (Union City, for example.) Thanks for the info so far. \_ There's a ton of housing 5 minutes drive from the Dublin/Pleasanton BART and lots of parking. I did tiny drive to BART->SF for years. Walkable in that area are all apartments built around the BART. \_ Isn't that area pretty expensive though? \_ Depends on your idea of expensive. Is $600k for a yard, top scoring schools, near zero crime rate, clean streets and no gang bangers, all within a few minutes of BART expensive to you? \_ plus you have a beautiful view of the prison! \_ How soon do you have to get to the parking lot to get a space? Don't they fill up pretty early? \_ Does this have anything to do with the LOW INTEREST RATE? \_ Walking distance is a pretty high bar in the suburbs, but I will assume you can walk pretty far: El Cerrito - safe but kind of foggy, with not great schools Walnut Creek - safe, but not sure what your budget is Concord - safe probably a good bet Pittsburg - getting cheaper by the minute, you might have to drive to Pittsburg - getting cheaper by the minute, you might have to drive to [BART] \_ why walk when you can drive? -American \_ Union City. I see many people (compared to other suburbs) walking during the day and early evening in the BART station neighborhood. (along Alvarado Niles Rd, Decoto Rd, etc.) It's quiet at late night though. Schools are only okay. I don't actually take BART. I take the AC Transit Line M Bus that stops at the UC BART station. \_ What are the areas around the Hayward and Castro Valley BART stations like? \_ Hayward: many people walk during the day and evening, but the type of people that you see in the evening doesn't make you feel safe. Castro Valley: no idea. -- PP |
2008/2/8-11 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:49105 Activity:moderate 83%like:49118 |
2/8 Looking to buy our first home on a tight budget. Which east bay areas near a BART station (within walking distance) are generally considered safe? \_ There's a ton of housing 5 minutes drive from the Dublin/Pleasanton BART and lots of parking. I did tiny drive to BART->SF for years. Walkable in that area are all apartments built around the BART. \_ Isn't that area pretty expensive though? \_ Depends on your idea of expensive. Is $600k for a yard, top scoring schools, near zero crime rate, clean streets and no gang bangers, all within a few minutes of BART expensive to you? \_ Does this have anything to do with the LOW INTEREST RATE? \_ Walking distance is a pretty high bar in the suburbs, but I will assume you can walk pretty far: El Cerrito - safe but kind of foggy, with not great schools Walnut Creek - safe, but not sure what your budget is Concord - safe probably a good bet Pittsburg - getting cheaper by the minute, you might have to drive to \_ why walk when you can drive? -American \_ Union City. I see many people (compared to other suburbs) walking during the day and early evening in the BART station neighborhood. (along Alvarado Niles Rd, Decoto Rd, etc.) It's quiet at late night though. Schools are only okay. I don't actually take BART. I take the AC Transit Line M Bus that stops at the UC BART station. \_ What are the areas around the Hayward and Castro Valley BART stations like? \_ Hayward: many people walk during the day and evening, but the type of people that you see in the evening doesn't make you feel safe. Castro Valley: no idea. -- PP |
2008/2/4-7 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:49060 Activity:high |
2/4 Hey dimwit, I'm subsidizing for your wasteful LA freeways, what would you have to say if LA roads were toll roads like in the People's Republic of New England? \_ Go for it. We're headed there anyway. The carpool lanes are well on their way to becoming toll lanes. Maybe they won't have potholes once someone is concerned about them. I'm subsidizing BART which does nothing but lose money. How about we make it pay for itself, too? \_ How about we accept that there are some social goods (the ability to travel without having to be rich) that outweigh our fiscal investments? \_ The motd keeps telling me all these fees and taxes are for the services I get from local government. Now I'm told they are just a social good. Which is it? I don't have kids, should I pay school taxes? I do use the freeways which you say is a social good and thus should be free, but the op says they are wasteful and should be usage-fee-based which is contrary to your claims of free travel being a social good we should pay for with everyone's taxes. Which is it? \_ School taxes: yes; an educated populace beats an uneducated populace and has social side-effects that translate into less expenditures down the line. I'm saying that some things are worth paying for, no matter that they don't pay for themselves, BART and Amtrak included. -!op \_ Why is BART worth paying for if it can't pay for itself? Why not buy everyone a car, or a donkey, or a bike, or a helicopter? \_ Are you being disingenuous? Rail is the most space-efficient and energy-efficient way to transport large numbers of people over significant distances. BART itself is pretty fucked up, but public funding of rail in urban areas is way more obviously of public benefit than public funding of freeways. -tom \_ Rail is really inefficient if you have to go somewhere without rails nearby. \_ gee, so are roads. That's why you build infrastructure. -tom \_ Roads are cheaper infrastructure than building rail to the driveway of my house. \_ The freeway, the surface street, the residential street, and your driveway draw funds from several different sources. Mix and match and see what cost you come up with. \_ I'm sure it's cheaper than rail if only because I don't have to buy a train. If you advocate that we each buy our own train then I don't see how it's any better than what we have now. \_ Rail is much cheaper on a per-passenger basis. And enough with the straw men. -tom \_ These are not straw men. This is reality. I need to get from my house to my office. My neighbor needs to get from his house to his office. Rail is not a good way to solve this problem unless we are both going to offices very close to each other. Even in Europe, with great public transit, buses are vital. If you're going to use buses then you need roads, so what is the point of rail? I actually think rail is the least efficient solution. Rail is great to get large amounts of goods (or people) from point A to point B, but that's not often the problem that needs solving. \_ Are you really this stupid? Buses feed rail arteries. Obviously you still need local streets; it's not at all clear that you need freeways. Certainly freeways are far less efficient than rail. -tom \_ Are freeways really that expensive compared to the miles and miles of local roads which we need anyway? Replacing all freeways with rail sound freeways with rail sounds rather stupid to me. Even the Germans have the Autobahn. You are projecting your love of bike here against common sense. \_ The ROI on dollars spent on high-speed rail infrastructure is higher than dollars spent on freeway infrastructure. More passenger-miles per dollar, fewer emissions per dollar. That's common sense. -tom \_ Your ROI depends on the problem you are solving. Taking 1500 cargo containers from a port to a warehouse, sure. Taking 1500 people from their homes to 1500 places of employment maybe not. As I said, even in Europe and Japan they have roads and freeways. Rail is just an additional cost to add to that. It can help eliminate congestion at certain times, but your ROI argument leads me to believe that congestion is not your main issue and that relief comes with a high price you refuse to acknowledge. \_ That's because the price isn't high, relative to the costs of building and running a freeway and all the cars on it. -tom \_ But you acknowledge we need roads, so why pay more for rail, too? \_ How the hell did your brain get stuck in binary? \_ A helicopter? That's a truly great idea! I always wanted a helicopter. If you ran for office on the "helicopter on every pad!" platform you'd have my vote! I don't need a donkey or a bike, though. \_ Suppose there were 300K more cars on the road in the Bay Area. One thing you're paying for is your commute not to be even worse than it is. \_ I don't live in the Bay Area, so I'm really paying for not much of benefit to me. \_ You aren't paying for it then either, since BART is mostly funded by fares + the 1/2 cent regional sales tax. \_ "mostly" \_ Yes, 100% of the operating costs, in fact. Not sure how much of the capital costs, less than 100% though. \_ Bart subtracts 300K cars? Says who? How are they distributed? What else might those resources have been used for? \_ It's hypothetical. You can base it on the average weekday ridership of >300K if you like. Point is, do you remember what traffic was like the last time there was a major BART outage? \_ "No, I was in LA and it didn't affect me at all, therefore your argument is weak." -pretending to be dimwit \_ Another way of thinking about it is to imagine Bay Area traffic being like LA traffic. \_ Or even worse, Seattle. |
2008/1/9-12 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:48918 Activity:high |
1/9 How walkable is your neighborhood? http://www.walkscore.com I got a 72, but what got listed for my local bookstore is actually the local porn store. hmm... \_ 89. Ride Bike! The biggest distance was for movie theaters, which is wrong; it missed the Piedmont Theater. Other than that, nothing more than half a mile away. -tom \_ 89 for the Grand Lake Theater neighborhood as well. It missed that the Albertsons was replaced by a Trader Joe's. --erikred \_ This site is BIASED towards people who live near the city. It must have been written by yuppie urbanites. Nice troll. \_ Better if it included CRIME DATA. I mean, Detroit is pretty walkable to Pawn Shops, Cigar Stores, Hip Hop Heaven, and Aladin Bail Bonds, but do you seriously want to walk in it? \_ Porn store makes it more walkable by giving you a third leg. \_ Woo 15/100! Richmond Marina Bay area. \_ It doesn't take into account bus stops and BART stations. My in-law's place in Sunset District which is right next to a Muni streetcar terminal only gets 54. \_ Woo, 8/15! -- Marco \_ It doesn't take into account public transit stops. My in-law's place in Sunset District which is right next to a Muni streetcar terminal only gets 54. \_ Maybe you need to go to http://masstransitscore.com instead of this biased site. \_ They should include transit stops, I agree and give points for being close to transit, just like they give points for being close to a coffee shop. \_ Site is lame. They included junk like 'curves' and jamba juice as a plus for my area. At least they included the nearby park but they totally missed the walking trails. What is more walkable than a trail designed for it? \_ 86 for my little casa on the edge of Upper Noe. -ausman \_ 94 for living a few blocks from downtown SF in SOMA doosh doosh -eric \_ 95 for my old apartment in downtown berkeley. gosh I shouldn't have moved -ERic \_ My SoCal suburb netted me a 58 and it missed a *lot* of businesses and totally neglected the mountain trails. |
2007/9/13-14 [Science/Space, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:48055 Activity:nil |
9/13 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/13/MNFIS5MBO.DTL You poor bastards trying to get home from SF... I weep for you. \_ Good news for those that usually don't use the affected on-ramp. \_ My wife and her co-workers take BART, and they live in Fremont and Newark. \_ Time for another tax cut! |
2007/8/29-31 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:47812 Activity:low |
8/29 Wed 8/29 and Thu 8/30 are Spare the Air days. Ride public transit FREE! \_ Spare the Airbag days. \_ That too. Less driving, fewer accidents. \_ Uh, last I heard public transit is only free until 1 or 2 in the afternoon, not all day. \_ Well, don't give yourself too much credit or sell yourself short. Libido can be affected by you not doing the dishes or stress at her work, or just about anything. Try communicating, but be prepared to be patient; odds are good you're not going to get the whole story the first time around, and no good will come of a conversation that begins with "Why don't you want to have sex anymore?" Last, if it's hormonal, she ought to see a doctor. 1) It's often treatable, and 2) it can be a precursor to other medical conditions. Good look. \_ Only BART, Caltrain, ACE and the ferries are not free after 1pm. About 30 other transit agencies provide free rides all day. http://www.511.org/sparetheair_2007 |
2007/6/25-28 [Transportation, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:47054 Activity:high |
6/25 dim, what is it about LA you like and SF you don't like? \_ kchang, why do you insist on calling people out without leaving your name? \_ Huh? I live in LA and I love LA -kchang \_ why do people using various motd trackers call people out even though these tools are provably unable to accurately identity posters? \_ Mostly the weather. \_ If so, you may prefer San Diego. \_ I like San Diego, but it's a little bit too provincial for me. Maybe when I get a lot older. San Diego is basically a suburb of LA anyway. \_ Not as long as we have Camp Pendleton between us and them it's not. As for provincial, well, sure, but I thought the only reason you liked LA was the weather; SD beats LA. \_ A main (not the only) reason I like LA > SF is the weather. The weather is obviously not the reason I prefer LA to San Diego, since the weather is pretty similar (although San Diego's is *slightly* better). As for SD being a suburb of LA, it pretty much is. I even know people who live in SD and work in LA and vice-versa. Maybe people in SD don't like to think it is, but it is. \_ And people can think that SD is a 'burb of LA, but it isn't. Irvine is a 'burb of LA, as is Riverside. \_ What's the difference between Riverside and SD? They are both about equally far. In fact, a lot of North County SD people commute to Riverside and OC for work and there is commuter rail service between SD and greater LA. Why would you argue SD is not a suburb of LA? If SD was the bigger city I'd call LA a suburb of SD. \_ I don't live down there but I'd say it has more to do with the size of SD and the cultural identity of SD being distinct. Is Berkeley a suburb of SF? Whereas Irvine and Riverside, are pretty anonymous. \_ Yes, Berkeley is a suburb of SF. I'd even say San Jose is, even though SJ is bigger. What about Long Beach? Is it a suburb of LA? I'd say it is. \_ Merriam-Webster: "suburb: 1 a : an outlying part of a city or town b : a smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city" A city is, by definition, not a suburb. However, Irvine is most certainly a suburb of LA, so I concede that this may be a matter of opinion. \_ I graduated HS in '88 from San Marcos and my parents still live there. Although some NC folks may commute to LA, many, many more commute to San Diego. The Pendleton divide is both geographic and cultural. \_ Pendleton Divide? 15, dude. Do you really feel the culture in SD is any different from LA? How so? (My sister lives in Escondido and has for 20 years.) The culture is all "Southern California" \_ If by Southern California Culture you mean strip malls and pre-packaged Jamba Juice-Starbucks-Panda Express-Gap pods, sure, North County's SCC. Downtown SD is not so. \_ How is downtown any different from Santa Monica or downtown LA or other large parts of LA area? \_ Baseball team and stadium, among other things. \_ Huh? So downtown LA has Staples and Dodger Stadium is nearby. These are amenities, not cultural issues. \_ Isn't the weather better in Redwood City than in LA? |
2007/6/18-21 [Politics/Domestic/California, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:46995 Activity:high |
6/18 TLC (The Learning Channel) featured "Building the Future" where other countries are building big ass dams, longest manmade rivers, planned cities, fast mass transits, levys, etc. None of projects on the show is in the US. What have we built lately to secure our future? \_ We're building DEMOCRACY in the MIDDLE EAST! \_ as long as Hamas or Islamic Brotherhood or anyone else we don't like didn't win the election. \_ i wish we built more fast mass transits. I don't think we need more big ass dams. What would we dam? we really should work on improving CA levies before CA gets turned into a vast desert wasteland by the next earthquake. \_ where exactly do you want to put these transits? \_We've built universities where all of the engineers come from that build these dams. We also own all of the banks that finance these projects. \_ We've also learned from studies that show that damming and concreting everything is neither as ecologically or economically productive as it first appears. A lot of countries that subsidize non-stop construction have hugely corrupt construction ministries. \_ We've built the strongest military force to secure whatever natural resources we want that are located in other countries. \_ This was a lot more successful in Civ1, not so much in Civ4. \_ I think you mean Civ2, Civ1 didn't have the same drive for natural resources. \_ We don't do 'projects' in the US anymore. EIRs and NIMBYism will delay or kill almost any project. What projects would you like to see in the US? \_ High speed rail. Maybe a big bridge somewhere. Personally, I would like to see something like another big water project, but I know this would be hard to build in today's environment. The sad truth is that the US is falling behind technologically. \_ High speed rail. Maybe a big bridge somewhere. Personally, I would like to see something like another big water project, but I know this would be hard to build in today's environment. The sad truth is that the US is falling behind technologically. \_ Where does your HSR go to/from? Where did we need a bridge where don't already have one? Maybe an island off the Alaskan coast? ;-) These are reasonably 'solved' technologies. The US is moving forward in materials sciences with nano-everything and a lot of really solid bio work in genetics and more traditional medicines/chemicals. \_ There are literally dozens of obvious corridors in the US for high-speed rail that would be cheaper, faster, better for the environment, and far more popular than flying or driving. SF to LA is the trivially simple example. -tom \_ There are literally dozens of obvious corridors in the US for high-speed rail that would be cheaper, faster, and far more popular than flying or driving. SF to LA is the trivially simple example. -tom \_ I wasn't saying there weren't. I was just asking for examples. More on this in a bit. Busy now. \_ As someone who has to fly a lot for his job, I say 'fuck flying.' I would vastly prefer high speed rail to flying. High speed rail stretching from San Diego to Seattle, say, would be awesome. -- ilyas \_ We fixed the MacArthur Maze? \_ the new bay bridge, should it ever get completed... \_ We still have the best space program. It doesn't secure our future but it's cool. We do get knowledge out of that although we don't hoard that all to ourselves. It adds to our civilization score. \_ We can barely get the shuttle into orbit anymore and the replacement is years away. The current program outside of the JPL robotics work is an embarassment. \_ This is an excellent example of the best not being good enough. We could be much, much more. |
2007/6/14-19 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:46953 Activity:low |
6/14 Look Mr. Urbanite. Many people don't want your urban lifestyle. I prefer to trade an hour of traffic for 12 hours of country living serenity. I grew up in Plano TX with strip malls and office parks and I LIKE IT ok? Stop imposing your beliefs on others. Fucking communist. \_ there may have been a time where Plano TX was a sustainable lifestyle, with its gas guzzling a beautiful mini-malls- however that time has passed. The rest of us live in the present and in reality. Won't you join us? \_ ??? s/Many people/I/g \_ I realize this is a troll, but wouldn't you rather have a nice quiet train speedily take you to your country castle? Or is sitting in a mass of motionless cars filled with toxic fumes part of your fantasy? Also, you could always go get a job in Tracy or wherever it is you are thinking. \_ nice quiet train? like BART? with all the rifraff and homeless folks making noise and stinking up the place? \_ You must be riding a very different bart then am I. Oh wait... you DON'T ride bart. \_ I've ridden BART on/off to work for about 10 years. Some days are good days. Other days are far worse than mere "rifraff and homeless folks making noise" the above person is complaining about. Maybe you got the special executive bart car the public isn't allowed to ride? \_ Maybe I've lived in cities and don't fear the other. \_ You're a superior form of life. Yawn. Come back to reality for a bit and you'll see how things really are. And oh hey, here's a shocker for you: you are not the only person to have ever lived in a city. \_ Bart is not a problem. No really, I've had very few problems with people on Bart being obnoxious to a point where it bothered me. Much less so than, say, obnoxious drivers on the roads I drive. Now the bus systems around here on the other hand, they can get pretty bad. There's some bus lines I just refuse to take because the psycho percentage is just too damn high. \_ Maybe I've lived in cities and don't fear the other. I've never had a problem on the bus. \_ right... so we need a better transit system... which was the point. Your prisons are in your mind. Sitting? crowded trains have most of the folks standing. Speedily? When theres no traffic, the train is 1/2 to 1/3 as fast as driving. The biggest problem with public transit is ... the public ride it. - Regular Bart Commuter \_ I ride BART everyday and I usually get a seat. I wish they were a bit cleaner, but I like sharing the car with my fellow citizens, many of whom are cute girls. Maybe I am just not the misanthrope you are. \_ So you're one of those guys that harasses the girls so much other people have to intervene? \_ One time a guy near me spent the entire trip masturbating through his sweatpants. Maybe it was motd boob guy. There was a 10yo city kid who found this quite amusing. See, that kid would never experience that if it weren't for public transit. \_ I have seen people masturbating and even getting a blowjob in their cars. At least on the train, you might be able to complain to someone and get them to stop. \_ Complain to someone? I'm from Plano TX. I shot his balls off! \_ it is quite sad that there many who grow up in urban areas living like rats in cage. Most of the US's pathologies can be attributed to the fact that a segment of the population who are a byproduct of that culture now has control of the media and government and financial now has control of the media, government and financial institutions. \_ No, people living in urban environments GET OUT and talk to people who aren't exactly like them. The cage is outer suburbia. Yeah it's a big cage, but it is still a cage. \_ You are right, those suburban Texans have gotten control of the government and made a huge mess of things. What is it about suburban lifestyle that causes people to end up so violent and selfish?? \_ Live however you like, just stop asking the rest of us to subsidize your wasteful lifestyle. \_ But people like him subsidize your precious BART. \_ they don't, actually \_ they do, actually. BART cost billions to build and is subsidized hundreds of millions a year. \_ And so are freeways. -tom \_ Plus freeways take up more land than BART tracks. \_ And they are much more useful. Anyway I never claimed they weren't subsidized, I responded to the "wasteful lifestyle" hypocrite. \_ I am a hypocrite because I use less resources than you? What??? How is a freeway "much more useful" than BART. You know that BART carries many more passengers per lane than a freeway does, right? \_ I don't know that you use less than me. Your life is wasteful, shouldn't you kill yourself? Stop having children if you're so worried about this. Anyway the hypocrisy was about the subsidizing. Freeways carry many more people than BART per day and the roads go everywhere. \_ Freeways carry less people per acre \_ Freeways carry fewer people per acre of land and per dollar spent and the roads only "go everywhere" because ridiculous amounts of money have been spent on them. It is probably not possible to live in America without using something that is subsidized, so by your logic, we should all just either kill ourselves, or shut up and accept the fate determined for us by our politicians. \_ Automobile drivers recieve a much larger subsidy than rapid transit drivers. rapid transit riders. \_ So stop subsidizing both and let's see what happens. BART will collapse and driving will be more expensive. \_ BART collapsing would be a good thing; then we could get a decent rail system in the Bay Area. -tom \_ I doubt it. Since driving a car to work would end up costing quite a bit more than BART, I doubt BART would collapse. Home prices in the suburbs might collapse though. \_ But see, BART doesn't go to most people's destinations or start from most people's locations. People generally drive to and from it in some form. Sure I'll use BART if it happens to make sense in instance foo but in general it doesn't. People could drive much cheaper cars if it came to that. \_ I walk to BART and then walk to work from BART. More people could do that. But yeah, cheaper cars are a start. If everyone drove little carts that got 100 mpg, that would help, but those carts don't go so fast, so people would have to live closer together. Then it wouldn't be the glorious suburbs anymore, would it? \_ You can go really fast on little motorbikes or trikes. I guess the issue is mainly safety when you have to share the road with huge trucks. So limiting vehicle weights in urban areas could help. Commercial vehicles could be limited also... giant trucks are often used when smaller ones would suffice. Smaller ones would have better performance and efficiency and at worst you need to hire another driver. Long haul should use rail a lot more. Those big trucks damage the roads more than anyone else anyway. Or maybe they should use... blimps! \_ Now you are talking! This is a sci-fi future I would want to live in... \_ And they should force all the little vehicles to be bright safety orange or yellow. I'm sure it would save a life now and then, and accidents slow down everyone else on the road. So allowing dull colors and blinding chrome bits etc is pretty pointless for the sake of vanity. And let's see, since the cars are so small they could have rail cars for them pretty easy, for long trips, just stack them up. And parking could be designed for them and be much more dense. You could stack them with machines, with standardized sizing and use that on those rail cars too. And the blimps could carry the same rail cars. And houses could be built with much more efficient garages and such. Oh man. \_ Did you ever see The Fifth Element? \_ Didn't it have flying cars? \_ They promised us flying cars decades ago and I'm still waiting. \_ I have nice quiet trains... -Smug John |
2007/6/4-10 [Transportation/Car/RoadHogs, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:46845 Activity:high |
6/3 Ahh, that good 'ole suburban lifestyle: http://preview.tinyurl.com/28quwx (Washington Post) \_ I spend 20 minutes commuting each way. That's pretty short. Having a short commute is the only way I have time to exercise 1+ hours/day, which is in turn the only reason I'm not completely fat. (I'm only a little bit fat.) I don't know how anyone can live the way this guy did. \_ Plenty of people are fat, stressed and ulcerated. \_ haven't we seen this before? motd necromancy! \_ I think the last one was a NYT article. \_ I live so far from the city my city friends never heard of the place. I also commute < 15 minutes each way, have lunch with my wife at least once a week and work no more than 40 hours a week over time. Just because some people choose to live their lives poorly doesn't mean everyone has. \_ You must work in the same small town where you live. \_ Wait, so you're saying you work between 40 and 80 hrs/wk? What's your average, 60hrs/wk? \_ I mean I have an odd schedule where I work 44 hours one week then 36 hours the next, so 40 hours/week averaged out. It is 9 hours a day M-Th + 8 F, then 9 per day M-Th and Friday off. I haven't done one of those 60-80 hour weeks in a few years. I make a few $K less than I used to but not by much and have a life now. \_ Which company is this? We just started doing this 9/80 schedule as well. \_ To be fair, not everyone has the skills that can give them that kind of job. Tech work is really nice that way. \_ When I used to BART into the city I'd see the same folks every day and chat with a few of them. Mostly they were non- tech people who would have been better off not coming in to the city for work. One guy was a counter guy at a deli shop who drove 30 minutes to BART and then another hour to the city. I don't know what he made but c'mon... counter guy at the deli with a 90 minute commute. \_ Bart time, while still suck, is much less suck when compared to driving. \_ Depends on how many hours/week you get stuck standing the whole way bodily pressed against smelly people. \_ At one job I worked at, I used to always come in late and work late, so I got to know the janitor. Turns out he drove in from Stockton (!) every day and had three kids. He made $17/hr as a janitor in SF and could only make $6.15 in Stockton. I guess 3X your salary is worth a 2+ hr/day commute. \_ Or better would be to move to another state where he could live on $5.25 and not waste 2+ hr/day commuting which he could spend going to school, starting a business or just enjoying time with his family. \_ The cost of living is less in other states, but it is not 1/3 the cost of living in Stockton. This guy was buying his own house, which you can't do on minimum wage anywhere. \_ It isn't just pure cost of living but the value of his time as well. If he spends it commuting it is lost. If he spends it in school or doing something useful he can move up in society and stop working as a janitor or sandwich maker. \_ I think that way and you think that way, but not everyone does. Once you have three kids, your options narrow considerably. \_ Once you have three kids, the *last* thing you should be doing is spending 3 hours a day commuting. -tom \_ Once you have +1 kid you're whipped and your wife will forbid you to make any drastic changes to their lives. I presume you never had kids. \_ Someone deleted my response, but the best thing for the kids is if this guy triples his salary and gives his kids a better lifestyle. Do you think the kids who have parents on welfare (and who are home 100% of the time) are better off? Studies show that education and income correlate to success, not "quality time with the kids", even if that seems illogical. I presume it's because beyond a certain age kids are influenced more by teachers and peers than parents. Getting your kids away from gangsters is worth 3 hours per day commuting. \_ Correlation is not causation. Kids need food, shelter, and good relationships with their parents far more than they need a huge house in Dixon or the latest Transformers toy. -tom \_ You think this janitor is working for a huge house in Dixon and a Transformers toy? What kids need are parents who are able to care for them. That doesn't mean being with them 24/7. Do you think a 3 hour commute is hurting the kids? Maybe a little, but it's a net positive considering the alternative is the dad at home and the kids in the slums. Kids need parents who care, not necessarily parents who are present. \_ reference please. -tom \_ I cannot find the study right now, but it stated that parents' income and education are the TWO most important factors for having successful children with everything else having just a slight effect. Here is one paper that states that the effect of employment of the father is negative, but small. http://tinyurl.com/2bga74 \_ uh, yeah, and how is commuting 3 hours for a minimum-wage job improving parental income or education? You're also reading the study wrong; it says that the effect of father's employment is small--that is, if the father is *unemployed*, there is a small negative effect. It doesn't say anything about an employed father who is spending 12 hours a day working and commuting. The same study also notes that children who experience single parenthood have significantly lower educational attainments. -tom \_ Why is it a choice of 3 hours of commuting to a janitor job vs. welfare and slums? He can work for lower pay in a cheaper place and spend that wasted 3 hours bettering his life so he won't be a friggin janitor forever. \_ As someone else said, nowhere is cheap enough to survive on minimum wage and a lot of the cheapest places are full of redneck hicks, which makes minorities uncomfortable. (I am assuming he is a minority. Please correct me if he is not.) \_ Minimum wage and a family of 4 puts you well below the poverty line which means you're getting piles of government assistance for food and housing, as well as a free education with those 2-3 saved hours a day so you don't have to die as a janitor or sandwich maker. \_ "Piles of government assistance?" \_ If I had 3 kids I'd definitely move far far away from the city. My options would narrow in favor of raising my kids away from such an incredibly negative influence. \_ Even plenty of us who think that The City is an incredibly positive influence would move away, because we wouldn't be able to afford to live here. I am kind of curious, have you ever talked to anyone who was actually born and raised in San Francisco? Most of them seemed to have come out just fine. \_ Yes, I have. What about it? \_ If fine == gay. \- you go past 19th ave, or on top \- you know past 19th ave, or on top of twin peaks, or beyond glen park SF is a very different place from the downtown, marina, pacheights, mission, assland, western add, inner sunset, noe areas. and bayview type areas are in turn different in a different way. like someone i know who grew up in st. francis wood and then was ucb/tridelt, might as well have grown up in menlo park or mill valley. although i think people form danville or saratoga are a little different. \_ While it may not be true of all large cities, I've met disproportionately larger number of SF born/raised people who didn't know how to swim or ride a bike. While this doesn't make them "not fine," it does give them slightly different background with which to view the world. |
2007/5/9-14 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:46571 Activity:nil |
5/9 BART set ridership record last week: up 10% while meeting or beating on-time performance standard. http://www.bart.gov/news/press/news20070502.asp \_ Well they also ran more trains... \_ And something about a detour for a large number of people in cars. |
2007/4/30-5/1 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:46483 Activity:low |
4/30 Free public transit in the Bay Area today! \_ I'm surprised that there was no surge in BART ridership on Monday. Usually there's a surge during Spare-The-Air free-transit days. |
2007/2/5-6 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:45660 Activity:low |
2/5 how did that guy from years ago forget BART cards? I think he went to jail? \_ hOw did subject parse article. OP does not make sense. Stupid I think he is. -dans \_ Check that, he may be a cross or self-referential post-modern genius jumping between soda's motd and http://csua.org's motd. -dans |
2007/1/31-2/3 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:45634 Activity:nil |
1/31 looking for a house to rent in the concord area near bart? if so, search http://homestore.com for 1519 allegro ave and mention to agent you saw posting here. \_ 4.2 miles to concord bart station is 'near bart' ? \_ Why not? It's only a few minutes by car. A friend of mine drives over an hour to get to the Pitsburgh(sp?) Bart to get to SF and then walks another 20 minutes to work. \_ Ride Bike! \_ My friend uses Linux. Does that count? |
2006/10/18-21 [Consumer/PDA, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:44854 Activity:nil |
10/18 Has anyone tried that BART pilot smart card program? Thoughts? |
2006/7/19-20 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:43731 Activity:nil |
7/19 What is the cheapest shuttle service to OAK ? \_ Used the SuperShuttle a while ago and it was pretty cheap (less than $20). Don't know about now. \_yeah, a number of years ago that was the price from Berk. But they quoted me $100 from El Cerrito. \_ BART to Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART Station, then AirBART shuttle for $2. |
2006/6/7-9 [Transportation/Airplane, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:43309 Activity:nil |
6/7 Private companies are more efficient at generating revenues, period. If BART is willing to cut 1/2 of its unprofitable stops/destinations, it would get a lot more profit as well. Ditto with toll roads and bridges and the production of milk, wheat, and other things. All of these services would get much more revenue if they're allowed to be privatized and cut its abundance of supply to maximize return. Wait, why don't we privatize FBI, CIA, and outsource our Marines to the Indians and the Chinese as well? It'll be a lot cheaper and efficient to run, and we'll all profit at the same time! Yeah! \_ FBI, CIA, the military and such, provide public goods, which means they're non-rival and non-excludable. The market can't provide such services efficiently. What about public tranportation? It doesn't necessarily have to be public. I heard the private urban rail systems in Japan are generating healthy profits. \- hello, a public good isnt necessarily non-excludable. so a lighthouse isnt like medical knowledge ["excluding" by IP law]. also the govt could contract a private agency to provide a public good ... of course you can get into a debate about who is doing the "providing" in that case [vaccine stockpiling], but this does take you into the area of efficient regulation, which is an issue when the govt desires to regulate a (natural) monopoly. i think it is better to say the govt has a role not in the when the govt desires to regulate a (natural) monopoly. [see e.g. (UCB Dept of Econ) Ken Train: Optimal Regulation] i think it is better to say the govt has a role not in the case of public good but in the broader case of 1. market failures 2. when "public policy" considerations trump "efficiency considerations" [like the post office delivering to each and every address for the same price]. [n.b. i am admittedly somewhat broadening this to "when should the govt intervene or regulate, rather than "provide". it's a somewhat slippery distinction when you consder something like say the SEC]. and now we return you to tom's ramblings ... failures (mkt fail not just public goods, but also address hold out problem, externalized costs, IO structural factors like natural monopoly perhaps in cases of high barriers to entry depending on your view of "contestability theory, and asymmetric information) 2. when "public policy" considerations trump "efficiency considerations" [like the post office delivering to each and every address for the same price or profitable bus routes to subsidize unprofitable ones or not letting rich people easily buy their way out of traffic congestion by making HoV lanes "for pay" lanes]. [n.b. i am admittedly somewhat broadening this to "when should the govt intervene or regulate, rather than "provide". it's a somewhat slippery distinction when you consder something like say the SEC]. \_ "Maximizing profit" is not equivalent to "efficient," or even particularly close. -tom \_ BART is not efficient. Why have a proprietary train system instead of something more common? Why have such an expensive system for such limited usefulness due to sprawl? Companies make more money by being more useful to their customers. Governments get their taxes either way. Military and police have different considerations so there's no point lumping that together. \_ I'm not exactly aware of BART's charter, and though I agree with the above poster about stupidity of their lack of standardization, a lot of private suppliers of exclusive goods (i.e. only 1 radio station can occupy a certain frequency in a given area, only one highway can be in a certain space) have a mandate/charter/whatnot to provide certain services (such as a train system stopping in a given locality, even if only 1 person gets on.) So they won't necessarily be able to either operate at top efficiency or maximize their profit by their very nature. -John \_ Amtrak. Nuff said. \_ what about it? They have the government undermining their business by building roads at taxpayer expense, and powerful airline lobbies keeping them from providing better service (bullet trains) which would make them more attractive. -tom \_ Amtrak should be allowed to go out of business instead of keeping it alive. Businesses can't manufacture demand for their products, but the government can continue to produce products no one wants. \_ Hello, is it not possible to also have products that people want and need which are simply not profitable to provide but which are convenient and contribute to better standard-of- living? \_ No. If they want them then they will pay for them. We aren't talking about a bridge which needs government subsidies. We're talking about a mode of transport that very few people use and which has been obsoleted. \_ you mean, auto traffic? Because there's nothing more obsolete and subsidized than auto traffic. -tom \_ Excellent. We should allow all airlines to go out of business as well, then. \_ Sure, if they cannot fund themselves. However, you would not see that happen if all subsidies were eliminated. You'd just see higher airfares and fewer carriers. \_ This is where the public good becomes impacted. It's in the interest of a vibrant economy to provide a means by which more people can travel to other parts of the country to spend their money, just as it's in the interest of the economy to keep the transportation costs of goods low. When these costs go up, the overall harm is greater than then amount saved by not subsidizing. But I have no figures to back this up, so I will admit to such now. \_ If it makes sense economically then it will happen on its own. You don't make, for example, transportation costs go away by subsidizing them. You just shift the cost onto the taxpayers. \_ I would agree but trains are not obsolete. They can be pretty efficient, especially long haul freight. We don't invest in them though. Investing in a good rail system is in the government's interest. The gov't basically subsidizes trucks versus trains which is kind of silly. Trucks take more drivers, more energy and pollution, impact traffic, and damage roads which are expensive. Perhaps passenger trains should go dodo though, except in denser areas. \_ Trains are obsolete as mechanisms for transporting people across moderate-to-long distances. The freight companies are doing just fine. \_ Passenger trains do just fine in every industrialized country which doesn't put impossible barriers in the way. Specifically, in Europe, high-speed rail's market share is at least 75% of traffic for trips 3 hours or shorter by train, and is still 25% for trips of 5 hours by train. Not many would take the train to NYC from SF, but a high-speed line between SF and LA would be enormously successful (again, if the state and the country don't let politics and corporatism get in the way of providing useful services to citizens). -tom \_ Passenger trains are heavily subsidized in Europe, population density is much higher, and distances are much shorter. What is a train going to get me that a $150 plane ticket (LA<->SF) won't except for a longer commute time? I used to dream about a bullet train between LA<-> Las Vegas, but after taking the plane I don't see the point to such a train, which is probably why the plans never get off the ground. \_ Airlines and roads are heavily subsidized, too. Trains are much less stressful, more flexible about luggage, and more enjoyable than planes. They also stop downtown instead of, you know, way the heck out at the airport. If there were a three-hour train ride between SF and LA, at least half of the people who currently fly would take the train. -tom \_ Not if it costs the same as flying. Last time I checked, it actually cost more. \_ EuroStar carries 71% of the London-Paris traffic and 64% of London-Brussels. How is that different than SF-LA? Do you have any facts at all? -tom |
2006/5/5-9 [Consumer/Audio, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:42946 Activity:nil |
5/4 earphone recommendation: I am debating between Etymotic ER-6 and Shure E2/E2C. Does anyone has experience with both? recommendation? I've lost my Sennheiser and I decided that I am going to try passive sound isolation. \_ I'm no audiophile, but I have both, and I prefer the ER6s. They fit better and seem to block out more ambient noise. \_ I am not an audiophile neither and I mostly listen to NPR. I actually prefer not having 100% sound isolation for safety reasons. Is E2/E2C uncomfortable? --OP \_ I like the foam tips on the E2Cs better than the silicone ones which take more effort to put in your ear. The foam tips don't last as long, though. The ER6s rubber tips feel more comfortable to me. \_ I have just the Shure E2c's and they're great. I wear them all the time on the plane too. You may want to check out Amazon, newegg, and epinion reviews of both. I had to make a decision between the 6i and E2c as well, and I went with the latter, probably because of the number and feeling of the Amazon reviews. \_ I have only the ER-6i but I've had it for long enough to get a pretty good sense of it. Sound quality is very nice but I'm sure audiophiles could find fault. They are close to the best sounding headphones I've tried. They do have 'consumables', filters and plugs. I go through about 1 fliter in 4 months and a new set of flange plugs in 8-12mos. Operational cost is probably ~$10/yr. Sound isolation is very frequency-neutral, and about 20-30db. I can hear people talking fine with the music off or shouting if the music is on. You can reduce the sound isolation by just not inserting them as far. Lastly, if you bump the cord or there is a big wind they will channel that noise up the cord. I can get rid of this problem if I wrap the cords over and behind my ears. \_ I've been trying to listen to movies and/or music while commuting on BART, and bart is DAMN LOUD, especially in the bay tube. I need new/beatter headphones. Are either of these up to such a challenge? Has anyone actually tried? -ERic \_ I use the ER-6i on BART every day and while I can still hear some BART, they work quite well for almost everything except classical music with a huge dynamic range (unless you're willing to blow out your ears for the loud parts). -Above poster. \_ it's interesting too that on http://cnet.com, user opinions give the E2c's the edge over the 6i http://reviews.cnet.com/4521-6531_7-5120625-1.html?tag=nl.e501 |
2006/4/4 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:42660 Activity:high |
4/4 For the folks who keep suggesting that building well-designed cities won't work, consider that the rush to suburbanization was artificially created by real estate developers and car manufacturers who aggressively destroyed public transportation and bribed public officials to pass no-mixed-use zoning laws to force out downtown businesses. This is not conspiracy theory. See "Home from Nowhere" for more details. \_ Great. Name one well-designed city. I am genuinely curious as to what it is you want your cities to be like (don't get me wrong, I love living in cities, and I rent, but I feel from your posts that you may be seeing things a bit simplistically.) -John \_ New York especially Manhatten, SF, Paris. Seattle, although less so than the others. Boston and Chicago but I haven't spent more than a few weeks in those. \_ You do understand that there are more jobs in cities than living space for people, right? It takes a *lot* more space per person for living than for working. So it is necessary for people to come from elsewhere to fill those jobs since the city lacks living space for everyone. We call the place where all those workers live "the suburbs". Now then, I do understand than in Utopiaville, the jobs/living space balance is in perfect harmony becaus our Beloved City Planners were able to magically predict population growth, demographic shifts, and drastic changes in the economy but outside of LaLa Fairy Land most of the rest of us live in the burbs and work in the city. Not because we like commuting 2-3 hours a day but because we can't afford to live in the city near our jobs. I think it's funny you'd choose SF as an ideal city since the public transit sucks and by plane, train, or auto- mobile it can easily take an hour or more to get anywhere. Manhatten is a shithole. Paris is hardly any better. I haven't been to the other cities you mention but I suspect they have suburbs and an inner city just like everywhere else. I suspect you've been reading too much utopian fantasy academic literature without taking a step back and looking at how real people live and why. People aren't little cogs or resource units for you to push around from one square to the next. \_ Singapore doesn't have any suburbs. Everyone (>4 million) lives and works in the city. \_ Ok great let's add 'caning' to the books, too. I can't wait to join your Utopiaville. \_ american cities were built when blacks still have to sit at the back of the bus. what's your point? \_ nah, the suburbs of chicago is utopia. very low crime, living is easy but rather boring. \_ or drives in on a motorbike from Malayasia --oj \_ are you from catholic high or hcjc? \_ Same with Hong Kong. \_ I have lots of colleagues who lives in the city and works in the suburbs here in Chicago. \_ As I said, I've never been to Chicago. Do you think your friends are typical of the Chicago area? \_ I don't know. I guess they like the city. I like to live near my work. I don't see why it should be difficult to have the jobs move to the suburbs. It's happening here in Chicago. I rarely need to go to the city. I don't have a problem with your conclusion, but the argument you are using - jobs are in the city, no living space there - may not be a valid assumption. Chicago suburb cities like Naperville or Schaumburg have lots of jobs, but you still need a car. \_ You have been brainwashed. It used to be that all workers lived and worked in cities. \_ This worked when you had servants willing to live in tiny closets. -John \_ Do most people living in the cities have servants anymore? \_ Do you think many of the gardeners, shop assistants, cleaners, maids, dishwashers, cab drivers and other fairly low paid but important blue collar workers live in Manhattan? Hint: no. Upshot: Yes, you can create much better public transportation to the suburbs than what most American cities have, but you'll never have some magical fairyland self-contained urban ideal. Nor do the Euro cities so many urban planning advocates cite as examples have it right. -John \_ You can afford to live in the city you work in. You cannot afford a 4000 sq ft house in the city you work in. My commute from one side of San Francisco to the other is 35 minutes on a bad day, using rapid transit. \_ I can't afford a 4000 sqft house in the suburbs either which means I could afford about 700-900 sqft in the city if I was lucky. I've lived in that before. No thanks. I'd rather commute 60-90 minutes. People are not rats or sardines. By the time most people hit their mid 20s, have spouses, a few kids, etc, there's no way 900 sqft is cutting it. Also, we've already done the school debate and your odds of getting your kids into a decent school near your home are tiny in SF. \_ Wow, you tihnk 900 is small? I grew up with a family of 4 and 1200 sq ft. 900 is plenty for a family of 3. For one or two people it is close to perfect. \_ Read "Home from Nowhere." \_ Even with downtown businesses, people seem to be willing to make the tradeoff of driving relatively far to commute there from suburbs. \_ Only because their living situation is massively subsidized. \_ If you actually had to pay the real costs of everything you use in life you couldn't afford to be alive. *Everything* is getting subsidized in one way or another. Let's end all those evil and nasty subsidies for everything, eh? My taxes will drop to near zero and I'll happily pay directly for any of the few services I still need. You think public transit has ever even come close to paying for itself? |
2006/3/30-31 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:42543 Activity:low |
3/30 Does anyone have technical details of why BART's computer system is fucked up? They installed a 'software upgrade' what software? They 'switched to a backup system' but that failed. Who is their primary IT consultant? \_ I bet BART is running a crazy ass minicomputer or mainframe from the early 80s. \_ Over the weekend, I saw a BART ticket machine reboot into Win2k. It was running on a Celeron 300A, I think 256MB RAM. \_ I doubt BART runs their system from the ticket machines. \_ I doubt the navy runs nuclear subs on windows. oh wait... \_ Faith-based IT (subs)! No, I didn't mean to imply that BART uses anything sane to run their back-end, just that whatever the ticketing machines are running is unlikely to reflect what they are running elsewhere. \_ General Railway Signal http://www.pst.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/dagstuhl http://groups.google.com/group/ba.transportation/browse_frm/thread/a70e26cedf2b8c17/a244742ac0b80044%23a244742ac0b80044 http://tinyurl.com/prsem (groups.google.com) \_ Thanks, that's pretty interesting. |
2006/3/22-23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:42376 Activity:moderate |
3/21 This was fucking irritating: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/22/MNGREHS8KD4.DTL \_ Gosh, that's too bad. Here in Texas we don't have that problem. \_ What, no fake bomb threats in Texas? \_ No meaningful public transportation. \_ The buses in the downtown Austin area didn't seem that bad to me when I was there. \_ Yes, but in Texas you can be arrested for being drunk in a bar. \_ Things like this make me understand why Singapore allows caning. \_ i'll irritate YOUR fucking |
2006/1/16-18 [Computer/SW/Languages/Misc, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:41387 Activity:low |
1/16 What do you need to do to set up a table at BART and start trying to prostelyze the masses? The Scientology people have moved their table inside of the Powell BART station that is shared by the Nordstrom mall and Powell SF MUNI stop with their stupid FREE STRESS TEST signs. Can I set up my own table behind them and offer FREE ANAL RAPINGS? Do I have to get a license somewhere? \_ It is a public area. You can get away with a good amount, but setting up a table is something you'd need to get a license for (possible obstruction of a public walkway problems). You can carry a sign or something similar, but you need to watch your language (disturbing the peace, public nuisance). I think there are also provisions against for-profit advertising not approved for BART. \_ "FREE RECTAL FEVER CHECK WITH WARM POST-CHECK LOTION" \_ LOWER GI MASSAGE ... \_ People might not make the connection as well as if you just stood there with a sign saying "Free Brain Washing" or "Free Cult Membership*" \_ When I see those bastards I usually jump around and shout "It's a cult!!!" "Don't talk to them, they're a fucking cult and they'll brainwash you!!" at the top of my lungs and wave my arms around. \_ That should convince any sensible person. \_ Well, it entertains me, and irritates the Scientologists, and that'e enough for me. Sensible people already know to avoid them and don't need to be convinced. \- the hari krishna activities have led to a lot of free speech in public but functionally dedicated spaces lawsuits. at one point there were inconsistent standars between airports, bus terminals ferry terminals railway stations etc. to the best of my knowledge these distinctions were some what arbitrary and as far as i know a higher court hasnt imposed a uniform standards. note also, it's not as simple as "is it a public space" because there is adoctrine about quasi-public. for the nTH time in the motd, see pruneyard [yes from the south bay] v. robins. \_ Please stop bastardizing the language, while there's still time. |
2005/11/11-13 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:40548 Activity:moderate |
11/11 "Caltrain Ridership Up 29 Percent Since Baby Bullet Debut" http://www.caltrain.org/news_2005_11_10_ridership_up.html \_ Public transit really works if it's done right. \_ I was in Holland and wanted to do some shopping in the small town where my grandmother lives ... I left at 3:30 and she warned me that the shops were already closed in town. So I took the train to Utrecht, a major city, which took just 25 minutes. When I got to the train station, I noticed there was a mall connected to the train station. I bought some candy & clothes, and then noticed a street market, where I bought marijuana, and then noticed a street market, where I bought stroopwafels (one of my favs) and other things. I got back on the train and managed to get back even before the time I said I would (within 3 hours). I've only driven a car once in Holland and I preferred the train. \_ one time, I was driving a car, and then I hit a train and I was sad and then I saw a flower and picked it up and when I stood up I saw that the engineer of the train was beautiful woman and we fell in love and thats why I know cars are better than trains. \_ also helps that the economy's picked up too. The streets seem a bit busier too -caltrain rider \_ Holland is smaller than my backyard and you took 3 hours to go shopping? You think an hour of travel time just to buy some candy at a train station mall is a good use of time? I can walk to the store and back in less time than that in my SUV ridden suburb. If you had an hour of travel time and it took 10 minutes to get a box of candy, where'd the other 2 hours ago? Smoking that pot? \_ Slightly less than twice the size of New Jersey, according to the CIA world factbook. New Jersey also has good public transit, by the way. \_ Gas prices over $2 / gallon probably helps too. |
2005/10/12-13 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:40052 Activity:kinda low |
10/12 BART to SF running 24/7 just this weekend http://www.bart.gov/news/press/news20051011.asp http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/safer/docs/wknd5flyer_web.pdf - danh \_ Finish the thought: "Because the bridge is closed." \_ isn't this all just some kind of homosexual code? \_ "the subway is open 24/7?" |
2005/9/12-14 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:39644 Activity:nil |
9/12 Use public transit, win an iPod and a Bose SoundDock: "Great Race for Clean Air -- 4 Modes in 4 Weeks" http://csua.org/u/dcj (http://www.sparetheair.org \_ Dang, 4 modes is a lot. I use 3 pretty regularly (bike, carpool, telecommute) but taking the bus from my house to work would pretty much blow, and it's too long for walking.-jrleek \_ I work in SF and live in Oakland; I use three modes every day (walking, carpooling, public transport), and I use a fourth (telecommuting) on weekends). Now where did I leave my digital camera? --erikred \_ When I lived in Albany for a week I used BART and bus, but it doesn't fit in the timeframe. :( Now I live too close to bother with public transit. -jrleek \_ You should send in a copy of your mortgage payment/ rent payment with an explanation of how your move saved the air much more than three people carpooling in an SUV. \_ Good point. -- OP \_ I live in Fremont and work in Foster City. I only use three (carpool -> bus; telecommute). My wife works in SF and she uses four (carpool -> BART -> company shuttle; telecommute), but I don't think she'd want her pictures taken. -- OP |
2005/9/6-7 [Health/Sleeping, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:39537 Activity:nil |
9/6 http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050906/od_nm/russia_train_dc Russian train goes over a man sleeping on the track. Apparently the man didn't wake up, and that was what saved his life. |
2005/8/26-27 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:39293 Activity:moderate |
8/26 What happened at San Leandro BART? \_ 08-26) 09:15 PDT San Leandro (SF Chronicle) -- BART is experiencing major delays this morning and the San Leandro station has been shut down after a man was struck and killed by a train there. Today is the 26th... -ax \_ A badly formated motd post caused some BART trains to run late which resulted in stations that were more crowded than usual with a few dozen people being pushed at the tracks by the growing pressure of body mass. \_ 08-26) 09:15 PDT San Leandro (SF Chronicle) -- BART is experiencing major delays this morning and the San Leandro station has been shut down after a man was struck and killed by a train there. Today is the 26th... -ax \_ Suicide or homicide? \_ Two witnesses have said suicide. \_ He deserves to die man! Doing this in rush hour and tying up thousands of other people. He should have jumped tying up thousands of other people. He could have jumped the GG Bridge with much less impact instead. \_ Deserves to die because he died? That's like saying a lollipop ought to be sweet because it's, uhm, sweet. Or that badgers deserve a fearsome reputation because they are fearsome!!!1! \_ No, he deserves to die because he needlessly tied up thousands of people's lives by choice. \_ Right -- ie, 'he deserves to die because he needlessly tied up lives...by dying' He wouldn't have held up traffic if he hadn't died. \_ He doesnt deserve to die, but we should at least throw these type of people in jail. \_ or the 11:30pm train \_ If you ever decide to commit suicide, please do not do it this way. It is not painless way to die,not just because it ties up the commute. |
2005/8/26 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:39290 Activity:nil |
8/25 What happened at San Leandro BART? 08-26) 09:15 PDT San Leandro (SF Chronicle) -- BART is experiencing major delays this morning and the San Leandro station has been shut down after a man was struck and killed by a train there. Today is the 26th... -ax |
2005/7/26 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38827 Activity:kinda low |
7/26 Spare the Air Day. \_ So claimed the crazy Microsoft bicycle guy standing on the caltrain platform. Fuck you crazy MS bicycle guy, maybe if you stopped yelling about how people bungee their bikes you'd have some credibility. -- bought a ticket, proud to support caltrain \_ Caltrain rules, BART drools. |
2005/7/25-27 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38812 Activity:nil |
7/25 Commute with public transit for free tomorrow (7/26) morning (4-9am)! http://www.sparetheair.org \_ not entirely free, as it is a one-way free ride, and you still have to pay to get back! \_ I said morning. |
2005/7/7 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38455 Activity:high |
7/7 You think BA public transit is bad? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4659243.stm -John \_ I can't tell exactly which tube lines were bombed and where. I have several friends in London and I'm wondering if they were affected. --lye \_ Goddammit. None of the American media seem to care WHERE the bombs were, just that they happened. --lye |
2005/7/5-7 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38416 Activity:nil |
7/5 BART Strike? Union sucks: ... Managment sucks: They both suck: . Huh?: . Heard of it, but don't care enough to work out the he said/she said: . RIDE BIKE!: . LA Traffic beats them all: . Less time for morning masturbation: . \_ Anyone has any insider news on what the final agreement is like? \_ 7% raise over 4 years + $300 single lump payment. Monthly health contrib goes from $25 -> $75 + 3% annual increase starting next year. Some job descriptions will be rewriten. Front cab masturbation privileges after five years service. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/07/06/MNBART.DTL \_ Sounds like managment got the better end. |
2005/6/22-23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38245 Activity:kinda low |
6/22 What is 'THE STANDARD' way to transfer between BART and Caltrain in downtown SF? I've tried walking and it takes 21 minutes and is not so pedestrian friendly. I don't know how much I should trust MUNI having almost no experience with it... \_ The problem with the Metro is that the Caltrain bound trains don't come very often, so it will likely take you just as long to get there via the Metro as it would walking. It will be more pedestrian friendly than trying to walk, though. I will note that the Muni Metro is probably the only form of mass transit in the Bay Area that makes BART seem great. \_ And yet Muni carries more passengers per day than all the other transit systems in the Bay Area put together. \_ Wow. Where can I see the numbers for various systems? \_ Is "Metro" the light-rail thingie in SF? The Muni buses seemed fine when I used them a long time ago. The drivers seemed to drive pretty fast. \_ i think there's a regular bus between montgomery BART and townshend caltrain station \_ Which BART and Caltrain stations are your origin and destination? Would it make more sense to transfer at the Milbrae Intermodal? \_ Wait for the new train/bus superstation to get built. \_ 5 years >>> 21 minutes. \_ Take the N Judah. It takes 12 minutes and runs every 6 or 7. It is also on the nextbus network, so you can either go look at the sign and see when the next one will be running or check the schedule on your cell phone. schedule on your cell phone. If it looks like the wait is too long, you can always catch the 15 or 30 or 45. -ausman |
2005/6/17-18 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38169 Activity:moderate |
6/17 In response to this: "Speaking as someone who gets around without a car, you're wrong. The combined Bay Area transit miasma is one of the most expensive and least effective systems in the country, and it shows no signs of abating as the biggest, most expensive, and least effective part of it (BART) keeps sucking up all the mind share and funding. Woo hoo, a billion dollars for an extension to Warm Springs, that'll help! -tom" See "BART named #1 Transit System in U.S." http://www.bart.gov/news/features/features20040824.asp \_ The APTA awards are self-nominated and self-congratulatory; they mean nothing. -tom \_ Reference please? \_ http://www.apta.com/services/awards. And your above URL, which lauds BART's airport extension that came in 2 years late, more than a billion dollars over budget, and has less than half the ridership BART was projecting. -tom \_ $1 billion over budget? WHat was the budget? Although, since it's basically the only part of BART I ride regularly, I like it anyway. \_ The budget was originally $1.2 billion. Actually, if I recall correctly the budget was $700 million for a multi-modal station west of 101, where you'd get the monorail, but BART insisted on going directly to the airport, which had an estimated cost of $500 million more, and made the trip slower. And it wound up costing over $2 billion. -tom \_ Hmm, people think BART sucks because they don't ride it, and people don't ride BART because they think it sucks. \_ People ride BART when it's an easy hop from it to their destination, and when their destination has high parking or toll costs. Other than that, its integration with the rest of public transport, and the imbalance in funds making for lower quality in the rest of public transport makes BART suck. \_ Hmm, people think BART sucks because people don't ride it, and people don't ride BAR because they think BART sucks. and people don't ride BART because they think it sucks. \_ I see many bus lines stopping at every BART station. SF MUNI's light rail also stops at BART stations. And there are free BART shuttles to employers. (I used to take the one going from Hayward to Foster City.) How is it not integrated with the rest of public transport? Suggestions for improvement? \_ Take a trip to Singapore and experience the MRT system. They use a single RFID card to deduct money each time you enter and leave a train station or bus anywhere in Singapore. That doesn't work with BART,MUNI, AC Transit Cal Train, etc. \- SINGAPORE IS THE STANDARD: http://home.lbl.gov:8080/~psb/Singapore/StandardCard12.jpg Of course there is also this aspect of SIN: http://home.lbl.gov:8080/~psb/Singapore/ForeignWorker34.jpg \_ There is no "transit pass"; if you want to take AC Transit to BART to MUNI you need to pay three different times. BART, when partnering with other transit agencies, insists on BART service being offered at something like 90% of full price, which makes monthly passes pointless. -tom \_ That is not the way politics works. BART is nice so more middle class people ride transit, so more money is allocated to transit overall. The money would go to freeways instead. \_ Obviously, this hasn't worked, as nearly all the money which goes to "transit" goes straight down BART's money pit. Been to Warm Springs lately? -tom \_ NYC's MTA won the same award in 2001. \_ I was there in 2000 and I didn't like MTA at all. Trains are slow, mainly because they stop every two blocks all the way from Coney Island until Manhattan. Seats are not very comfortable. Stations are dirty and ugly, water leaking from the ceilings in some underground stations. I thought BART was so much better than that. \_ Exactly. The award means nothing. \_ BART was designed by people who think public transit should be like Disneyland. -tom \_ OOC, if you were designing public transit, how would you do it? --dbushong \_ UBAHN! The TUBE! There are successful models the whole world over. We'd rather subsidize the auto industry than have good public transit. \_ The Tube? The Londoners I know bitch about the Underground every goddamn day. It's really just grass-is-greener syndrome, they have no idea how good they have it. \_ I would be a lot more careful about things like survey results and customer satisfaction. Cushy chairs may increase customer satisfaction, but if they don't increase ridership, the money spent on cushy chairs should be spent somewhere else. I would build in incentives to use the system a lot (monthly passes at significant discounts). I would build it so transit users are prioritized over auto drivers (instead of transit users subsidizing thousands of free parking spaces as they do on BART). I would notice that the most successful stations are the ones that are located in neighberhoods, not the ones that are located in the middle of acres of parking lots. I would use standard rail (unlike BART) to allow for flexibility in use of the right-of-way, and lower build and replacement costs. For long-haul runs, I would use trains which are fast. I would make runs like Dublin to Bay Fair short shuttles, rather than redesign the entire schedule (poorly) just because two stations were added. For example. -tom \_ I was there in 1999 and thought it worked pretty well, but I was only in Manhattan/Staten Island. I rode VTA (mostly bus) and CalTrain in the south bay in 1997-2000 and it was miserable. \_ that's nice. tom is still right. |
2005/6/15-17 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:38132 Activity:high |
6/14 If money is not a concern, where would you settle down for retirement? And why? I'll start: \_ Florida: . \_ Because it's old people friendly. And people speak English. And there are lots of places built for ACTIVE and healthy old people. Weather is nice. And you won't get lonely because there are lots of other old people just like you. \_ *shudder* everything I know about Florida says that it is hell on earth. There's a *little* bit of hyperbole there. A little. -dans \_ Not sure about all parts of FL, but Orlando seems to be okay. \_ No, all of Florida sucks. Weather is bad. People are conservative. If I had to choose, the keys or Gulf Coast are the best. Orlando is a swamp, man! \_ Isn't the keys in the state of FL? \_ if he had to choose somewhere in FL \_ Bay Area: ... \_ Uh, how about Bay Area minus Berkeley? \_ Great weather, good transit system, reasonable culture, amazing restaurants, can walk everywhere I want to go, tolerant social climate, diverse mix of people, safe, beautiful, top notch research hospitals. \_ the transit system sucks, but other than that the Bay Area is hard to beat. -tom \_ It certainly has one of the best mass transit systems in the nation. There are far better ones in Europe, granted, but for the US, it is above average. You cannot even get around without a car in most of the US. \_ Speaking as someone who gets around without a car, you're wrong. The combined Bay Area transit miasma is one of the most expensive and least effective systems in the country, and it shows no signs of abating as the biggest, most expensive, and least effective part of it (BART) keeps sucking up all the mind share and funding. Woo hoo, a billion dollars for an extension to Warm Springs, that'll help! -tom \_ Uh, compared to Los Angeles, BA transportation is like, totally and utterly superior. Have you ever been to Los Angeles? \_ Yes, Los Angeles transit sucks. There is a world outside California, you know. NYC, Chicago, Boston, DC, and Atlanta spring to mind as US cities with better transit than SF. -tom \_ Hi Tom, just curious, where do you live? \_ near Piedmont Ave in Oakland. \_ sheesh, buy a car already \_ yeah, there's a great solution to a shitty transit system. -tom \_ I don't have a car, I get around just fine without one and I think BART is great. Have you ever tried to get around LA or Las Vegas or Phoenix without a car? The Bay Area is much better. In fact, outside of NYC, no place that I have ever visited in the US has a better mass transit system. BART won an award as the best transit system in the country, so your opinion is obviously in the minority. car? In the Bay Area it is much easier. In fact, outside of NYC, no place that I have ever visited has a better mass transit system. And BART won an award as the best transit system in the country, so your opinion is obviously in the minority. http://www.bart.gov/news/features/features20040824.asp \_ so why is BART great, eh? Is it because it's expensive, loud, and slow? Is it because they offer no monthly passes, and they don't have any agreement to share tickets with any of the other transit agencies? Is it because the elevators never work? -tom \_ During rush hour, the BART goes from Glen Park BART to downtown every two or three minutes. And the ride is 12 minutes, much faster than even taking my motorcycle. It is also faster than taking a car to Berkeley. And my Fas Pass works on both Muni and BART And my Fast Pass works on both Muni and BART in The City. It is too bad that AC Transit and BART don't have such an agreement. \- i think BART is ok if by coincidence your route coincides with the end points. but to have to bus/fight to park at one end and then take another bus at the other end is nuts. If you live off T'graph and are trying to get to the Ho Theater in the 'Loin, BART works. If you live near the Moron Temple in OAK and want to visit your associate in the Richmond (SF) BART is insane. \_ BART doesn't pretend to go everywhere. Isn't a Oakland -> Richmond trip the job of AC Transit? \_ BART named #1 Transit System in U.S. by APTA http://www.bart.gov/news/features/features20040824.asp \_ Australia: . \_ New Zealand: . \_ The fact that there are so few people in NZ is very attractive to me, but if I had to restrict myself to the US, I'd go w/ the Bay Area or Hawaii. \_ I hope you're not Oriental. I've been told that NZ is terribly biased against them. My information might be skewed since a (former) relative is currently married to a NZ nationalist politician. \_ Surprised no one chose the Central Coast. It would be my choice and is the choice of many super-wealthy (like Oprah). Large tracts of land, beaches, nice weather, close to LA when you have to be but far enough away to make you forget about it. There's a reason the area from Santa Barbara to Monterey is laden with multi-million dollar homes. \_ Why didn't you choose it? \_ "It would be my choice" \_ The go like this: California Central Coast: . \_ Oh, it would have to be somewhere that is relatively inexpensive, has favorable weather, safe, and (recently added) politically stable. Morocco: Bay Area-like weather, inexpensive, politically stable (until recent terrorist attacks). Bali: ditto, plus unpleasant rainy season. Perhaps Phuket or somewhere else Thai-ish, except the rainy season is also unpleasant. Shanghai, but the air quality is awful. Buenos Aires: considered it quite seriously a few years ago, still a contender if I decide to cash it in. Since I am Chinese, that opens up some options and removes others. \_ When you're all old and wrinkled up, it's hard to tell what your ethnicity is, assuming you have a perfect English accent. \_ Alas, I expect to retire years (decades) before I become old and wrinkled up. And while it may not be obvious from physical inspection, I assume my racial information would still be in a local government data base somewhere. This would be suboptimal in places where discrimination is sponsored by the government. \_ Oh, and I forgot the requirement for world-class medical care. That removes all my options except Shanghai (the American-run clinics are very good, if expensive) and possibly Buenos Aires. Perhaps Vancouver, so long as I can winter somewhere favorable. In fact, picking 2 or 3 places that, in aggregate, provide a good year-round retirement experience might be much easier, and certainly much less expensive, than picking 1 overall winner. \_ Northern and central Thailand are gorgeous, with good infrastructure, a stable economy, nice people and you can live like a king. The highlands aren't as hot as Bangkok. -John \_ I'd definitely go to Hawaii. Island girls are exotic and the legal age is only 14. What more could you ask for? \_ Try 16, they changed the law. Pervert. \_ The Playboy Mansion. I might die of heart attack but I'd die very happy. \_ Speaking as someone who has met Hef and some of his bunnies... yuck. \_ Really? Care to elaborate? Thx. |
2005/5/4-6 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:37512 Activity:kinda low |
5/4 I ride BART daily and listen to music. I currently have Sennheiser MX500 earbuds but am considering the Etymotic ER-6. I like that my MX500 are fairly comfortable (for earbuds) and have good 'articulation' or whatever you call it. What's people's opinion on the ER-6, and does its noise-canceling help a lot or a little on BART? \_ 5-6 ppl I work with (music related company) really like the ER-6. At least two also got an amp that goes with it. I think the amp is USB powered and basically acts as a sound card detached from the computer \_ Again, as before deletion: Shure earbuds are kind of nice, albeit awkward the first few times. -John \_ noise cancelling is only going to save a few dB and only in certain lower frequencies. the isolation of the in-ear plugs helps too. but BART is horribly noisy across a wide frequency range. the electronic cancellation will reduce the rumbles a bit and the plug will cut some of the howl, so you lower the noise floor a bit. but it won't go away nor stun you with a huge drop unless your current ones are not isolating at all and you have never used ear plugs or ear muffs of any kind. \_ ER-6 are passive noise canceling by virtue of being in-ear and as such are more or less earplugs. \_ I actually just switched from MX400(MX500 w/o volume control) to ER-6i, primarily for the BART ride in fact. I don't go cross-bay, but I can barely hear any of the train noise. Even less so when I turn the music on. When it's in right, it's clearer than MX400. But when it's not completely sealed, sounds kinda muddy. ER-6i is supposed to be better than ER-6 for portable devices if you're not planning on using amps. It only comes in white, though, which I hate. Can the above poster tell me which amp is usb powered? \_ I have a Senheisser. My biggest complain is too many wires. \_ HeadRoom Total BitHead http://headroom.headphone.com/layout.php?productID=0000010004 \_ I have a Sennheiser PX300. I actually prefer active noise reduction, as I would be more aware of my environment (e.g. streets + scooters that doesn't follow traffic rules) than a passive NR headphone. My biggest complain for PX300 is too many wires(it has a seperate switch/battery compartment) and my hands/body movement tend to get tangled with it. if you walk alot, take number of wires into consideration. |
2005/3/11 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:36643 Activity:moderate |
3/11 Let me now sing praise to the woman on the BART wearing a denim bikini top on her way to work. Praise spring time! I'm headed to El Rio tonight to celebrate the weather. Who's with me? -- ulysses \_ Score! We still have m4d snow, but I give it 2 months before the high-rise stringy thongs start showing up again! -John \_ Those of us who don't live in California anymore are not as enthusiastic about this month's weather. I'll get excited about spring in another month and a half when it comes. \_ Those of us who don't have 40" chest muscles are not as enthusiastic about this month's weather. I'll get excited when it gets cold again and I can cover up my skinny body with designer jackets. \_ Those of us who don't have 42" chest and 20" bicepts are not as enthusiastic about this month's weather. I'll get excited when it gets cold again and I can cover up my skinny body with designer jackets. (It's not a joke.) \_ for every girl you can find who likes '42" chest muscles' I'll show you 10 who'd prefer a skinny guy \_ Has anybody here dated extremely thin women? Like size 0 whose limbs you could encircle with your fingers? Did you ever worry you might "break" them in bed? \_ Yes. Yes. No. -dans \_ That's very nice of you to say. I hope it's true. \_ it is \_ It's true. My spouse would basically only date scrawny guys up until a year before she met me and she's a total babe. Her sister, on the other hand, prefers 'em bald and meaty. Go figure... \_ obviously written by a guy who has'n been married too long \_ is this backed up by a reputable scientific study, or is it backed up by The Bible? I'll take either one. \- Do they have food at El Rio? Are you familar with El Stew? \_ Uh, no. What's that? \_ What's the significance of bikini in the Bay Area? -don't live there \_ BART is the subway train here in the Bay Aray. \_ The weather here has been really nice for that last week. \_ A 42" chest is not that big. 20" arms are probably one in a million. -ax |
2004/12/22-23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:35398 Activity:insanely high |
12/22 I'm considering a job in the south bay that would mean ~2:15 commute by BART + Caltrain with minimal layovers. I'm thinking I can get a new laptop and unlimited cellular-internet and make the commute time a reasonable facsimilie of how I spend many evenings. The big downside is I'll have *much* less time to spend with my (live-in) girlfriend and my non-computer-based hobbies. Am I completely insane for considering this arrangement? \_ I did this for almost a year. The most important thing is to work from home one day a week; I can't describe how much this helps. (And you need to negotiate for it before you accept the job. It'll be way harder otherwise.) It's also nice if there are people you can carpool with occasionally instead of taking BART. Anyway, it's tolerable for at least six months, but don't plan to do it long- term. \_ I did this for almost a year. It really, really helps if you can work from home one day a week. (And you need to negotiate for it before you accept the job -- it'll be way harder otherwise.) It's also nice if there are people you can carpool with occasionally instead of taking BART. Anyway, it's tolerable for at least six months, but don't plan to do it long-term. \_ Where are you commutting from and where are you commutting to? If you tell us someone may be able to offer a quicker route by car. \_ It should be about 1:30 by car but I don't like driving and can't use a laptop while driving. \_ you could become crazy aerobic workout on train guy! \_ The key is to get a co-worker to take the same commute and become the crazy kung fu battle workout on train guys. \_ Why not just move? \_ GF just bought a house right next to BART (good commute for her) \_ I commute ~1 hr each way on daily basis. I really hate it when I get the urge and have to use the bathroom during my commute. \_ Bragging on soda the fact that you have a (live-in) gf? \_ That's bragging? \_ This is soda. \_ he lives at his gf's house, no less. what a man. \_ Pff. I pay rent. \_ What a man! I bet she can't wait until you stop being a sponge. \_ What's that? Oh, that must be the sound of somebody talking out of their own ass. \_ I'm not the pathetic loser with the 2 hour commute paying rent to live in his gf's house. \_ It would be more impressive if she let you live there for free. \_ Oh. \_ I did this once for six months to go work for Taos. I gave it up and took a 15% pay cut to get a reasonable commute and my life back. I guess it depends on what you think your time is worth, but for me, spending 8 hrs (work) + 5 hrs (commute) really was not worth it. I got up at 7AM, didn't get to work until 9:30, left at 5:30 and got home at 8PM. I was too tired and hungry to do anything but order out and then crash. When I switched to a job at HotWired, my life improved immeasurably. Taos even offered me a 30% raise if I would stick around, but I decided against it. -ausman \_ Wait a minute, you gave up a 45% raise so you wouldn't have to waste time commutting? Couldn't you have just rented a nicer place closer to Taos for a 45% raise? Did momma raise a fool here? \_ Right on! I used to commute and life is so much better now that I do not. I recommend the OP find a job closer to home. \_ This was before wireless internet though, so that changes the equation quite a bit. I spent most of my free time surfing the net and it sounds like this guy does, too. -ausman \_ extra hour of free time on daily basis is extremely valuable to me. it will hit you after a while. so, don't do it. \_ Don't be a fool. The commute will ruin your relationship. Even with the laptop, you're burning time better spent doing something you really like. \_ http://partypoker.com \_ the point is that you can do that on the train commute. |
2004/11/19 [Recreation/Food, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:34975 Activity:very high |
11/19 So, in roughly five years time, when food and travel costs are >2x current costs with little increase in salaries due to fuel cost increases, how will the motd readers continue to live in the Bay Area and pay mortgages? Google "peak oil" if you don't know what I'm talking about. \_ ride bike and tuna over rice \_ some won't. market forces will prevail. \_ perhaps a better question would be how will all folks who've moved to the suburbs get by, where they don't even have a shred of a public transit system, and the people there live even further away from work than those in the bay area. I can ride-bike+BART to work. Someone with a 'cheap house' in say Tracy doesn't ahve that option. \_ Never heard of the train, huh? (ACE train runs from Tracy into the bay area.) \_ If that happens life will change. People will work closer to home and will find ways to make that happen. If food prices double people will stop eating out so damn much and learn how to cook again. People adapt. Life goes on. |
2004/9/15 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:33549 Activity:high |
9/15 To whomever wanted to beat up on sca ppl. Thursday evenings, Rockridge bart. Both rapier and medieval combat. You don't have to bring anything but your soon-to-be-bruised body. Any more details mail me. -pst \_ What the hell are sca ppl and why would anybody want to beat them up other than beating up people can be a good thing? \_ Can I bring my .50 cal desert eagle? someone on motd said it was teh suk. \_ Then go subscribe to dharry@csua and lets all go to jackson arms. \_ that's Aquila Deserae (help, mr latin?) 1/2 \_ Uh, sir! You acknowledge that you are talking to a chaotic-neutral 8th level half-elf ranger-illusionist, and you treat me with that respect! I did not sew these leather breeches myself so that I can't get a goblet of non-alcoholic mead when I ask for it! Oh mighty Odin, where is thy cleansing thunder bolt? |
2004/7/12-13 [Science/Space, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:32232 Activity:very high |
7/12 Question about the BART ticket encoding system. Do they attach a unique id to each card, and have all the stations connect to a central computer that keeps track of the states (which is more secure but less reliable because in the 70s the network communication was not as reliable as now), or do they encode the actual amount of money onto each card (which is more fault tolerant to network noise, etc)? ok thx. \_ I can't speak for BART but Singapore's MRT system uses RFID cards for both bus and train services. AFIK, it would be really expensive to have RFID cards self modifying (especially when they have no batteries). It would be easier to use a centralized server and that's probably what they do. \_ Are you sure it's RFID and not some sort of induction mechanism? I think that's what RATP (Paris metro) use. About contactless smart cards: http://tinyurl.com/6su5r -John \_ The latter. I have fantasized about getting a card reader and writer and making my own BART cards. It uses some simple encoding, if I remember correctly. I can dig up my research no this, if you like. \_ You know this is how one of the hosts of Off the Hook got a felony conviction, right? It's not worth it. If they catch you, expect the whole paranoid Mitnick style treatment by the courts. \_ He got a felony conviction for making a fake BART card? I find this hard to believe. URL please. \_ it was MTA in new york, and not BART. I don't have a url, and he doesn't discuss the details of his case on the radio, but he's definitely on probation from felony charges, and whatever he did was definitely involving MTA cards in some way. \_ "Your honor, he was 'hacking' BART, a vital public resource. If his plan had been allowed to spread, it would have had serious impacts upon BART's ability to evacuate people in the event of a disaster. We ask that the court consider the defendant to be an enemy combatant." \_ Dude, you don't have to be declared an enemy combatant for the government to make your life into a living hell. I think the PP is pointing out that a felony crime coupled with any electronic fu is likely to make a prime target for investigation by the Dept of Homeland Sec. Welcome to the New America. \_ it's not the New America, and has nothing to do with DHS. The paranoid idiocy about computer related crime goes back to at least when I was in highschool in the early 90s. My highschool physics teacher atually testified that some idiot who was caught with bomb related stuff on his bbs and some stolen shit in his home (which the cops raided swat style) was "neither evil nor a genius." They really wanted to throw the book at him becuase prosecuters get all excited about the "evil genius" thing for some reason. also, google "ed cummings" to learn just how far law enforcement will go to brutalize a small time hacker, even before 9/11. \_ And soon I will have understanding of videocassette recorders and car telephones. And when I have understanding of them, I shall have understanding of computers. And when I have understanding of computers, I shall be the Supreme Being! \_ could you please? My point is to not hack the system, but to research how engineering decisions are made, why, in what time frame, etc. I'm conducting a technology literary survey, thanks, -op \_ Does it have to be bart or can it be any other eng. system? Applied Crypto and Practical Crypto have several examples of eng. design decisions. Also look for books about Gemini and Apollo (the story of why LOR was chosen is good example of eng. in the real world) \_ What's LOR? \_ Lunar Orbit Rendezvous. There were three different proposals to get to the moon: 1. Direct 2. Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR) - Launch the bits into space separately, link up in Earth orbit, go to the moon, land and come back 3. Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) - Launch this bits into space separately, link up, go to the moon, land only part of the craft on the moon, link back up in orbit around the moon and come back. LOR was the most/least complex depending on your point of view. Most complex because it has so many places where it could go wrong. Least complex because it required smaller rockets and smaller simpler lander. Gemini is also of interest, because that was the platform that proved that rendevous and other systems could work. For more info see: http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Rendezvous.html \_ I've thought about this before. I decided it's very unlikely that they have unique tickets that are tracked by a central server. If they did that, the server would have to be able to store hundreds of millions of unique tickets (dating back 30 years) and there would have to be a way to instantly process transactions from about 1,000 terminals spread over a 50-mile range. Nowadays it's more-or-less doable, but in the 1970's it would have been a huge PITA. \_ ah yes, but they could have easily done it with well known techniques like database duplication, local caching, database merging, backup modems, etc. \_ BART can't even get the machines working well enough to print the fucking ticket values. -tom \_ Each ticket record would probably need to store 6-8 bytes in a unique-tickets situation. Then you need to be able to store several hundred records at every station in the 1970's. How did a meg of disk cost in 1975? Like I said, it would have been possible, but huge pain for marginal benefit. \_ The amount of money is encoded in each card. It used to be printed in human readble form on the card every time it was used as well (not sure if this is still the case). The start point of your journey is also encoded so that when you exit it knows how much to deduct. \_ It still is printed, BART is just really bad about changing the toner ribbons in the turnstiles. \_ 1) This is true, they do need to replace the toner cartridges more frequently, and 2) your ticket is supposed to have the amount remaining printed on it _when you exit BART_. Many ppl think the amount is written when you buy your ticket or enter BART, but that's not the case. \_ It IS printed (fairly reliably) when you buy your ticket. It gets printed sideways next to the mag-strip. \_ I remember my dad (who worked at BART as a techie since 1972) telling me of a fraudulent cards they came across in the 80s. they were made out of index card stock w/ VHS tape glued down for the magnetic strip. but if you're interested in tech politics ignore the ticketing system and try to find out about hte train control system and the wayside communications. what a mess! |
2004/7/7 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:31202 Activity:moderate |
7/7 How come some BART trains have announcers to the destinations and some are silent? \_ the Train operator on the silent train is mute. \_ I prefer they remain silent. Except the guy with the southern accent who told jokes. The rest are just annoying. |
2004/7/6-7 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:31178 Activity:high |
7/6 Does any app exist that maintains a window onscreen with, say, the next three train departure times for, say, BART? -- ulysses \_ Probably an RSS feed somewhere? \_ nextbus for muni, don't think it exists for BART \_ Yeah. I was specifically thinking of NextBus and I was wondering whether there was something for BART. Bummer. -- ulysses |
2004/2/27-28 [Reference/BayArea, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:12435 Activity:nil |
2/27 What is the BART stop that is right under Union Square? It's one of those cluster of 4 San Francisco BART stops. \_ I haven't taken BART in years, but I think it is Powell. \_ The only thing beneath Union Square is a parking garage. Powell St station, however, is two blocks downhill. \_ Powell is indeed the one. Drops you off right at SF Shopping Center or BofA / Gap, depending on where you exit up the stairs \_ I think he's asking about the Civic Center stop -- though Powell and Civic Center are only a short walk apart. \_ Civic Center BART is further away by a couple of blocks. \_ Duh, yeah you're right. I ought to remember that, but, uhm, last time I was at Union Square the evening ended... well, actually I don't remember how it ended. Oh but the stories. \_ I usually avoid the gauntlet of people by getting off at montgomery and then walking up post. It's a short walk and there is more window shopping on the way. --gabriel \_ Powell was perfect. Thanks. -op. |
2003/2/21 [Computer/SW/Security, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:27485 Activity:nil |
2/21 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/02/21/MN240732.DTL Crowd counting article restored, you censoring bastard. |
2003/2/21-22 [Politics/Domestic, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:27482 Activity:very high |
2/21 The Mythical Crowd Count: When told of The Chronicle's survey, Alex S. Jones, the director of Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, said, "The number of people (in a crowd) is a mythical number, and now you're going to turn it into a fact, and that won't be welcomed." http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/02/21/MN240732.DTL God fucking forbid we should really know how many people showed up at a protest anywhere. It's much better to feel good about a made up number. Facts aren't welcomed. \_ none of this will ever make both sides very happy, it's all a guessing game. There wasn't a single hour period where everybody who went was there at the same time, it was over several hours. Some people arrived late, some early, some (like me) bailed on the actual rally. Even if you put up turnstiles to count people you're not going to get an accurate count. I do think it's interesting that the chronicle devoted a few column inches to sunday's events, but published over 2 and a half pages on their big "overcounting" story. Maybe the ChronWatch guy has their children hostage? - danh \_ Oh man, please don't tell me you're a column inches counter like Mr. "Manufacturing Consent"? \_ gee, a counting method that apparently has never been used before, and is based on eyeball estimates of the number of people in photos taken at one specific point in a 4-hour event. Great "facts," for sure. -tom \_ Read the article. Your description of the method is simply wrong. Is that intentional? \_ they divide the photo into boxes, estimate (eyeball) how "full" the box is, and estimate how many people would fit in the box if it was full. This will not give you a "factual" count. It's just another method of estimation. -tom \_ No. They count how many are in a box. The Chronicle did their own count using the same photos and came up with similar numbers. They also reported BART, bridge and ferry traffic as compared to the week before. It sounds a hell of a lot more accurate than "200k makes us feel good so don't mess with us!" \_ what was that about "Read the article"? "Overlaying the photographs with a grid, surveyors from Air Flight Service estimated crowd density in the plaza and along the route. Each grid was evaluated and assigned a density of people, from 10 percent to 100 percent full. Most were judged at 25 percent or 50 percent full. This is the first time the firm has used its equipment for crowd estimation." -tom \_ Nice way to extract just what you wanted out of context. Those who read it will get it. Those who don't aren't reading this thread anyway. \_ no, you're wrong. it's inconceivable that 200k people did not attend the demonstration. \_ no, you're wrong. it's inconceivable that 200k people attended the demonstration. (see how your grade school quality 'logic' works?) \_ see, i'm a well-meaning idealistic lover of peace who gets lots of high-quality liberal pussy, and you're a fascist pig. of course i am right and you're wrong. \_ I get fascist pussy. Fascists shower. \_ It's so cute when two conservatives pretend to argue with each other. Get a room you two! \_ So tom, you've never heard of polls? Statistical sampling? This has never been tried before? \_ Jebus. It's the Chron, and what interest do they have in publishing an article which repeatedly asserts an accurate low count? What, they want to cash in on the new Republican wave overtaking the country? \_ Dude, repeat after me. The press is an unbiased reporter of events. It has no political agenda, and it does not bias its reporting to favor one political ideology over another. |
2002/4/11 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:24420 Activity:nil |
4/11 Q: Has BART ever had a fatal train crash ? A: No. The original 23 million mile BART cars which hurtle 90 mph down original tracks, over stressed concrete all-elevated structures, rusted steel support beams and narrow tunnel 300 feet below mean high water in a major earthquake zone has, so far, remained crash-free. Why do you ask ? \_ If the train derails in a narrow tunnel, how is it going to rescued? |
2002/3/31 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:24272 Activity:high |
3/30 What's up with SFO BART station? Wasn't it supposed to be open back in December? \_ it was actually supposed to open in 1998, I think. \_ What's up is it's a 1.5 billion-dollar boondoggle--a torturous solution to a non-problem. If they'd just done the wise thing with an inter-modal station west of 101 hooked up to the monorail and CalTrain, it would have been half the cost and been done by now. Thank Quentin Kopp. -tom \_ Can you run more than the current 40 train schedule (about every half hour) without grade separation? If you can't expand the schedule, and have to build overpasses and underpasses, wouldn't you also run into the same issue? \_ You mean CalTrain? The CalTrain issue is orthogonal, but you could electrify it and do grade separation for the entire system for less than BART-to-SFO cost. -tom \_ I'm unfamiliar with this plan. Is this something that was considered and rejected? Is there a report somewhere that says why? \_ They wouldn't have had that tax revenue for the city for all the hotels that they expected to be built next to the BART station. I think it was Millbrae. --oj \_ Nobody wants to transfer 10 bazillion times to different buses/cars/trains just to go between SF and SFO. If *you* still want to do it go ahead, then *you* carry your luggage in the rain before going to your meeting with some COO who you hope buys your product. Oh yeah, that's right you have a job that gives you no sense of reality. \_ You'll still have to transfer to the monorail unless you're going to the international terminal. There wouldn't be any "luggage carrying in the rain" with an intermodal station--have you ever been to an airport with a monorail? And BART-to-SFO means that people coming from the south on CalTrain will have to transfer to BART at Millbrae, and then to the monorail. It's a planning disaster. -tom \_ if you have the kind of job where you're meeting with COO's, take a fucking cab and expense it. tom is not the one with no sense of reality - public transportation should designed for the common man/woman. \_ Oh my God! And THINK OF THE CHILDREN! \_ Do you believe in babies? \_ Do they vote or donate to political campaigns? |
2002/2/17-19 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:23894 Activity:high |
2/16 How does taking a bus across the bay compare to BART? \_ Since you don't tell us how close you are at either end to a bus or BART station it's almost impossible to answer this question. If you were equally close to both at each end I'd take BART. \_ I have a friend who loves taking the bus. no dealing with parking at bart, picks him up in alameda (where he lives), faster across as long as there isn't horrid traffic. \_ Also cheaper and faster than walking to BART if the line stops nearby. \_ traffic vs time it takes to reach BART is the constraint problem \_ Having done both, I'd take BART. The only advantage the bus has is that it runs 24/7. --dim \_ when did it start running past 1 or 2am? \_ The bus that crosses the bay runs all night. I got to see all the fun parts of Oakland by bus in the middle of the night. Here are the "night owl" routes: http://www.transitinfo.org/AC/owl.html \_ Cool, good to know. I was only thinking about the F line. I wonder how it compares to current taxi rates because other useful bus lines (like the 51 and the 43). the A line doesn't exactly drop me off where I want to be. \_ Look at the rest of the AC transit night service -- the A line gives you free, timed transfers to several other useful bus lines (like the 51 and the 40). |
2002/1/24-25 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:23650 Activity:high |
1/24 Just got back from visiting Japan. They have anti-groping notices on the BART. What a fucked up country. \_ Damn, if I only knew groping was okay when I worked there 5 years ago ... \_ "on BART" not "on the BART" \_ "on the transit (system)" or "on transit (system)"? \_ "on Bay Area Rapid Transit" or "on the Bay Area Rapid Transit"? \_ Go to http://www.bart.gov and see their usage of "taking BART" \_ Does it really fucking matter? \_ Oh just get on the 880 and shut up about it, stupid nocal ho. \_ You mean "on 880" and "NorCal." LA-isms suck. \_ BART goes to Japan? \_ The Trans-Pacific tube is boring as shit. Bring a book. \_ and damn those popping ears. \_ the ear problem is nothing. don't want to relive the popping rectum phenomenon again though.... |
2001/11/3 [Reference/BayArea, Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:22919 Activity:high |
11/2 Anyone crossed the San Mateo Bridge or the Dumbarton Bridge today? How's the situation there? \_ Seemed normal. A couple of CHP cars on either side. Traffic was about average for a Friday. \_ I was so paranoid this morning that I took 880S -> 237W -> 101N to go from Hayward to Foster City. go from Hayward to Foster City to avoid any bridges. \_ THAT must've sucked. it must have added 1-2 hours to your morning commute. 880S from Union City to 237 is horrid, tho 101N should've been ok. \_ It took me a whole 1.5 hours, but that was because there were one construction site running a jack-hammer and one accident on 880S, and two accidents on 101N, all of which caused moron drivers to slow down and look even though no lanes were blocked. \_ stayed home altogether and will do bart next week. Better safe than dead.. \_ you're a moron. \_ got laid off this week. No bridges for me. Can't afford the toll. |
2001/9/16 [Transportation/PublicTransit, Academia/Berkeley, Reference/BayArea] UID:22480 Activity:nil |
9/15 I have a room to rent near North Berkeley BART for $400/mo. It's a bit of an improvised affair but fully furnished and good for a temporary situation. Email me if you're interested. --ulysses |
2001/8/30-31 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:22300 Activity:insanely high |
8/30 Average salary for a BART stattion agent is $41k. How much does an average college grad made these days?? And they still want ~9% raise every year? What's the average salary raise (or, better, decline) in this economic downturn?? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/27/MN55851.DTL And they still want to go on strike? This morning I saw a BART employee at Hayward station who's suppose to be vacuuming the carpet but was actually standing still and talking to his buddy. I was so tempted to yell at him "With that kind of pay, go to work, fucker!" \_ At 41k, you have a take-home pay of 2500 or so a month. Rent or moetgage payments in this area can easily be half of that or more. Ever here of cost- of-living? Just because yer mom is paying your tuition doesn't mean everyone lives the upper-middle class lifestyle \_ I have no dispute with the pay, I have dispute with the +9% a year. \_ Oh fuck off. "Can be" is not the same as "is". You can easily live well on 41k. Get a roommate if the rent's too high. Vacuuming carpets isn't exactly hard. \_ moron, these are head of households, they have to take care of a family twink \_ Thank you. My point exactly. \_ So what if they're head of households? Why do they deserve more if they are? It's their choice to have a family. If they were responsible they wouldn't have 4 kids if they can't support them. Dumbshits. They deserve no more than people are willing to pay them. \_ moron again, i am talking about bringing in a stranger to rent a room in a family's house. get a roomate? that\ your resolution is dimwitted \_ did you read what I said? if they can't support living in that house they shouldn't have bought the fucking thing. it's all quite simple really. \_ My mom isn't paying my tuition. I put my sis through Cal paying out-of-state tuition when I was making $40k and now I support my parents. And according to your logic, a high-school dropout flipping burgers at McDonald's or filling gas at a station also deserves $41k and 9% annual raise, because he also deserves owning a home and living the upper-middle class lifestyle just like some other who works hard to graduate from a prestigiuous college and gets a high-pay job, right? \_ Wow, the food service industry has to accomodate philosophy majors, history majors, AND high school dropouts? This must be some competitive industry. \_ I don't see how people who work hard and went to a good school "deserve" better lifestyles than people who didn't. I say we should have minimum living standards and let the market decide the rest. College grad or not. What are you, some kind of commie? I bet you're a FOB. \_ This has nothing to do with communism. This has everything to do with moderately skilled and/or unskilled labor being able to live in this area. You drive all the janitors, bus drivers, and bart attendents out, and what do you have? \_ If they are driven out, the wages will increase and many more will come to take their place. There's also the large pool of high school and college kids. \_ and this is different from raising current wages how? Are you trying to retort, or just stating the wildly obvious? \_ i'm saying we don't need raises unless they can't find anyone to do the job which isn't the case. \_ So, create a mass exodus of lower-skilled workers, then deal with the massive wage spikes necessary to lure employees to take those positions? \_ where's the shortage? we have a higher unemployment rate than the nat'l average. schoolteachers and nurses don't make much more than these bart broompushers. \_ actually they make less, but that's a different problem. \_ nurses make more than that here \_ If the market of BART labor is free, then yes, I agree with you in that we should let the market decide BART employees' salaries. But the BART market is not free, because there is the union which disallows BART to let-go of the employees. In other words the union forces BART's demand curve to go up with the supply curve when the union decides to move up the supply curve. And the union is indeed moving up the supply curve because it also disallows BART to hire non-union workers. If it's a free market like the CS engineering labor market, we should allow them to set their prices freely. But since it is not, we (maybe the govt. or some regulating body) shouldn't allow that. \_ BART is a horrible attemt to make a subway. Only slightly better than the LA subway system. \_ the only problem with BART is that it was state of the art when it opened in 1976. \_ 1972. \_ And the fact that it doesn't go to the South Bay \_ The "South Bay" governments didnt want BART. they opted to spend their money on TA instead. \_ So what? BART still suffers from not reaching the South Bay. \_ The subway in Hong Kong also opened in 1976. They now carry 2.2M passengers a day in the city of 6M population. Their ticket machines and turnstiles jam much less frequently, and their train runs at 1.5 minute intervals during rush hours. \_ I think the key thing you are missing is a city with 6M people needs a very differnt subway system than a large spread out area with much less population. Of fucking COURSE HK has a better subway system. \_ HK is cool. Isn't Maggie Cheung hot? |
2001/8/16-19 [Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:22140 Activity:nil 61%like:21405 |
8/15 Quasi-Geek bike ride this Saturday; meet at 9:00 AM at Rockridge BART. Mail ride-bike-request for details. |
2001/6/15-16 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:21539 Activity:kinda low |
06/15 Studio sublet avaialbe now through Aug. 20. One block from Bart, across street from campus, located on Oxford St, btw. Center and Allston Way. All utilites are paid. And it is furnished. If interested, please call 510-540-4834. \_ Price? \_ "Free" to the right person. |
2001/6/6-7 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:21442 Activity:high |
5/6 Good news everybody! AC Transit line 217 goes from Fremont BART to Tasman/McCarthy Rd. Now you can take public transit to get from the East Bay/Fremont to Cisco land! --jeffwong \_ BART AND ALL FORMS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ARE EVIL COMMIE LIBERAL IDEAS. SEE THREAD ABOVE FOR PROOF. \_ Are the lines 2xx and 3xx new? The Fremont BART web page doesn't list any of these lines. \_ AC Transit revamped the routes and didn't want to use teh same numbers. Check out http://transitinfo.org. \_ why is a bus line that would take more than 1.5 hours for ten miles good news? "Oh boy, I can go from an hour drive to 3 hours public transit! Take my car, please!" \_ good news, everyone! you don't have to eat meat! I've got enough gazpacho for everyone! \_ It actually only seems to be 58 minutes. |
2001/6/1-3 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:21405 Activity:high 61%like:22140 |
6/01 Low-key bike ride on Saturday, 6/2, meeting at 10:00 AM at Rockridge BART. Route at http://www.best.com/~doosh/bicycle/tiburon.html. Mail ride-bike-request for details. \_ "4 legs is better than 2." \_ Four legs good, two leggers BETTER. \_ car train. Meet on Sat, drive around bikers and laugh at them. Hand out training wheels and diapers. \_ I'm in. My wife and I will bring our matching Suburbans. \_ is it true bikers are gay? \_ the gay ones are. \_ Yes. \_ No. \_ It's okay. Those strange feelings you have are completely natural. Come out and let your inner beauty shine! |
2000/6/28-29 [Transportation/PublicTransit, Reference/Tax] UID:18558 Activity:very high |
6/28 Anybody opposed to extending the sales tax to fund Bart to San Jose? Sales tax is a very regressive tax. The poor are paying for this BART extension. \_ Taxes are evil. BART should be fully private. The whole institution of public [transportation|housing|schools|utilities] is an evil remnant of the pro-communist New Deal. \_ The New Deal, New Society, blah blah blah, the luser COMMIES (I mean democrats) FDR, JFK, LBJ forced on America are the worst thing that has ever happened to this great nation. We would be 10 times the nation we are today if not for the liberal communist junkies holding us back. \_ It's all the fault of the Illuminati. Fortunately the Majestic 12 have splintered off and are ready to kick some ass. \_ Majestic ... MAJESTIC! \_ It's not that taxes are evil, per se. Some amount of tax is necessary for services such as the police, fire, and cal from Fremont for 3 1/2 years (93-97) and in that time the ticket price went from ~ 2.50 to ~ 5.50. They more than doubled the ticket price, with the promise of better service, but they never got around to fixing the ticket machines, elevators or even increasing the train frequency. emergency medical folks. The military can't be privately funded either. Sales tax for BART is ridiculous. There are cities such as Livermore that have been paying the BART taxes for decades which have yet to receive their promised BART station. BART is corrupt. I hate seeing public money go to corrupt public institutions. The water board is the same. And no, this is not a troll just because I disagree with tom. There's more to be said about BART but it makes \_ then go find a machine at stanfurd to me ill. I'm going to stop now. It's only the motd. \_ Well said. What is your name? \_ Can't say. I'd ruin my rep as an anonymous coward and worthless troll. :-) \_ who said I disagree with you? I'm the one saying BART's a disaster below. -tom \_ tom, you are not allowed to agree with people who talk sense. and Stanfurd? -tom got around to fixing the ticket machines, elevators or even \_ We disagree about taxes in general. Not BART. \_ BART is exteremely corrupt. I rode BART every day to cal from Fremont for 4 years (93-97) and in that time the ticket price went from ~ 2.50 to ~ 5.50. This increase was made under the promise of better service, but they never got around to fixing the ticket machines, elevators or increasing the train frequency. Near the end I started driving to cal since it cost less. The Light Rail in SJ is almost as bad. It is fairly expensive per day and it doesn't stop anywhere remotely useful. I only rode it with my ECO pass from Cisco to get between the old bldgs (A-P) and the new ones (1-12) while I was at Cisco. \_ The assertion that SJ light rail "doesn't stop anywhere remotely useful" depends on where it is you want to go. I found it particularly useful for going from downtown to the airport. Now that it goes all the way up to downtown Mountain View, I'd say that it goes to many more "useful" places. I think the *real* handicap of SJ light rail is that it travels at *30 MILES AN HOUR* for much of its route (and there's no signal preemption, so it stops at traffic signals). It'd seem a lot easier to pry carheads out of their cars if they could see rail moving faster than their auto traffic. For now, it's worse than the bus. -- kahogan \_ The day public transit is cheaper and faster than driving and runs on my schedule, I'll think about it. In the meantime, keep pumping the oil. \_ get a life, troll. -tom \_ Stay out of my wallet you fucking liberal. \_ Liberal means open minded. I think you were looking for the word 'leftist'. \_ Stay away from public places and services, ASSHOLE! \_ I learned to stay away from anything 'public' when a private alternative exists (it's always a better choice anyways). \_ then go find a machine at stanford to troll on, weenie. -tom \_ Does your little liberal mind understand the difference between something paid by coerced money (i.e. taxes) and something paid for, and maintained by volunteers? \_ does your trolling ass understand the difference between UC Berkeley and Stanford? -tom \_ note to nweaver: spelling it "stanfurd" isn't funny. -tom \_ no, my ass doesn't understand anything except farting and pooping. \_ Anything that gets BART to san jose is a good thing. Even if "the poor" pay for most of it, they will be the ones to benefit from it, too. \_ The MTC did a study on south bay rail transit. According to the study, extending the existing light rail system to Fremont would be *one-seventh* the cost of a BART extension and would have *more* riders than the BART extension. BART is a disaster. -tom \_ Tom, is this study online somewhere? I'd love to see it. \_ BART is a disaster? Now look who is a troll? \_ What would you call a system that costs 7 times as much for fewer riders? -tom \_ I don't trust that study. BART is immensely useful in practice, though regretably too subsidized. \_ BART is useful to a small segment of people. It is just barely sufficient for many others. In general, BART is a corrupt waste for most everyone. BART wasn't done right in the first place and politics have ruined what little was good. \_ It would be better to use some of the money they're cutting from vehicle license fees instead of sales taxes, but that will never fly politically, so we're stuck with the sales tax. \_ Gotta give those lexus owners their tax break. -nweaver \_ I bet you ll change your tune when you get out of school and get an actual job, instead of leeching off your parents like you do now. \_ He won't get a job if the Lexus owners don't get a tax break. If the richest have money to spend, the invest it in things that can make them more money, which creates jobs that employ people like nweaver. If you threaten the wealthy, you threaten all of society. \_ Voodoo economics, whee! Go, Reagan! \_ Ya, so? It worked. \_ I can tell you unequivocally that Nick is not leaching, but instead being exploited. He gets "paid" for doing research, and doesn't cost his parents any money by being in school. However, the "pay" is about 1/2 to 1/3 industry rate for the same work, though it is sufficient for a meagre living. --PeterM \_ It's a choice he's decided to make. He'll get out of school eventually and pay more in taxes every year then he took in in total every 3+ years as a student. We'll see how he feels about it then. \_ tis true. For, once on your own, you lose all sense of civic responsibility. Shit, and a lexus is $$$, doncha know!!!! \_ Duh, poor people have cars too. Don't be stupid. Cutting the fees helps all car owners. Where'd you get the idea the poor don't own cars? Get out of your little ivory tower and go visit East Palo Alto, Oakland, Richmond, etc. Cars are everywhere and plenty of nice ones. \_ Truly poor people own older, less valuable cars that have a much lower VLF than a new car. The current proposal to implement the \_ Actually, most of the SUV drivers are women. I'm not sure that they want to get a penile implant. VLF cut by taking half off the bill and then refunding the other half is nothing but pure political stupidity. \_ Let's punish people for having greater success in life than others. \_ Let's say we were to implement this that kind of a position in life. for grades instead of cars: Anyone one or more SD's above the Mean ought to be punished for greater success. Is that equitable? No one would agree with this, but when it comes to income re-adjustment, liberals are all for it. \_ "Incomng readjustment" is also known as tax the successful to feed the lazy, stupid, and inept. \_ I'd vote for a special car registration tax for gas guzzlers. Say increase the registration fee for SUVs and Minivans or anything that gets under 20 miles a gallon. And for those people that drive monsters like Suburbans that get 8 miles a gallon, we'll hit them even harder. \_ Let's punish people for driving a vehicle I don't like. \_ Let's punish people just because it's fun! \_ Actually, this sounds more like "let's punish people for driving a vehicle that I can't afford". Get over your jealousy. Some people are successful others aren't. Stop whining and figure out how to make it into the top 1% of wage earners so that you don't have to worry about stupid shit like what the BART costs in taxes. I paid AMT this year in excess of Bill Clinton's salary. It hurt and I think that it was unfair, but I made enough money that I can just say screw it and get on with my life. \_ typical small penis male driving a big SUV assuming that everybody else makes less money than you. Punishing SUV owners has nothing to do with money and everything to do with the environment. I suggest that you spend your money getting a penile implant rather than buying a big SUV. \_ Actually, most of the SUV drivers are women. They like SUV's because they are "safer" for themselves and thier kids. And I'm not sure that these women want to get a penile implant. \_ Obviously, they need a BRAIN implant, because they aren't safer for them, and they're a hazard to OTHER people, too. I don't drive a SUV, but I do drive a larger luxury car (that I bought used so it cost less than a camry) whose MPG (~ 15) puts it into your punishment category. It is unfair to punish those of us who chose to live life well and have the resources to do so, just because you are incapable of reaching that kind of a position in life. And like I've said before, if my car contributes to global warming, so much the better. We could do with warmer weather and more beaches. I just don't get the Liberal attachment to the "environment". People are part of nature too. Technology is created by people and thus it is part of nature to. Stop getting in the way of mankind's destiny. And while you're at it stop preventing the access of ordinary people driving cars and mountain bikes to the national parks. \_ My wife wants an SUV. she does NOT want it because it's "safer for the kids". She wants it because it puts her above everyone else. \_ Because so many other idiots bought oversized vehicles. Get them all off the road and then no one will need one. \_ Your sense of scale is sadly lacking my brainwashed friend. Even the wishes of a penis-waving male have higher precedence than 'native rocks' and wild beasts. Man is, and should be, the master of his environment. Our days of worshipping nature are thankfully over. \_ Hi, Ilya. \_ Hi! \_ ssssssssstarsssssssssss \_ I stand corrected. I was groping around for "can't afford" but missed. Well put. \_ Grope harder. \_ My AMT tax $'s are probably being used in this manner by Bill Clinton. \_ I groped sufficiently, thank you. \_ Is a person earning $60 an hour actually contributes 5 times what I am contributing to the society with my $12 an hour job? My job would have been worth much more if they hadn't let all these cheap foreign labor, and cheap foreign software coolies into the country! Why don't they let in some foreign lawyers and doctors too! Why do they allow foreigners to study computer science and not let them enter medical school ! Does some arsehole lawyer earing $100 an hour contribute more to society than a dedicated elementary school teacher, or a pastor, or a research scientist?! The market for labor is neither free nor fair! Why do you assume it is so?! \_ When I drive on the bay bridge, stuck behind the toll plaza, and I look in the next lane and see a giant 11 miles to gallon tanker monstrosity SUV, WITH ONLY ONE PASSENGER, I want to kill you all and join Jason Meggs in his glorious revolution. On BART yesterday I saw someone reading "The Complete Ayn Rand", hopefully she drove to the BART parking log in something large and obnoxious. \_ In terms of his/her ability to give back to society, Yes. \_ That's why you get huge tax breaks when you donate to charities, but pay lots of taxes when you just wanna spend it all on luxury goods. In terms of his/her ability to pay taxes, Yes. \_ Yes, what about your dedicated firemen, policemen, and members of the USAF! Their pay are relatively low too! \_ Yes, like those filthy rich CEOs just buying up the congressmen to allow in more foreign workers, so that instead of earning 1 billion, they can now earn 2 billions while American workers suffer! \_Yeah! Just like that Survivor show! I can't believe they haven't kicked Richard off yet. \_ i'd just like to say that this thread sucks ass. hahaha, i had thae last word! \_ No, I have the last word! -your hot gay pal Richard \_ Actually. No. You don't. -anonymous troll coward |
2000/5/29-31 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:18361 Activity:very high |
5/27 I have a job in Santa Clara and trying to find housing. Is Fremont a pretty bad place to live (in terms of commute time)? \_ Assuming you drive it between 0700 and 1000 like most commuters, 880 from Auto Mall to Dixon Landing will take way too long. Past that, it should be mostly okay. If your company doesn't already do some sort of carpool or vanpool thing to/from BART, raise a stink. Commuting via car sucks. Public transit takes longer, but at least you can stay far less surly. \_ Get motorcycle. \_ We need more organ donors. \_ hey, if you ever donate a kidney, a lung, and a cornea, you can be a millionaire for that sacrifice..just to be off topic. \_ Where's a good place to start looking for apartments? \_ Montana. \_ The commute is a bit hard. Maybe you can telecommute a few times a week. \_ It worked for Mod Flanders until she died. \_ it's going to hurt \_ any good side street shortcuts? Is it better on 880 south of 237 junction? \_ the 880 cooridor is prob the worst traffic in the bay that isn't caused by a bridge. the only way around it is to get over to 680. it clears up ALOT right after the stretch from Dixon to 237. -shac \_ Bad as it is, 880/237 is now only like 3rd or 4th on the list of non-bridge-induced traffic spots. \_ 880 is damn clean right after 237 and down until it hits 280 or so (haven't been much south of there); but job in Santa Clara involves 237 which is also awful for the first couple of miles after the 880. If you're heading south from Fremont, use Mission or Driscoll, and then Warm Springs to take city streets down to Dixon Landing. Dixon Landing itself is packed, but it's still better then rotting on the 880. On average, expect 60-80 minutes (ie from center of Fremont to center of Santa Clara). Definitely not under 40. -alexf [commuting from Fremont for 2nd summer now] \_ Though you must take into account that in terms of any sort of entertainment, you have to drive at least 30 minutes just to get OUT of fremont in either direction. All commuting and no play makes Jack a dumkopf \_ What? It took me 90 minutes average to get down from Cal to Nvidia and ATI Research. I doubt the drive from Cal to Fremont takes only 10-20 minutes. \_ You should also note summer traffic is easier. \_ Isnt there still the 101 bottleneck south of 880/237? something like 5 lanes becoming 2? \_ My girlfriend takes 50-60 minutes from Palo Alto to Freemont. \_ That's against the popular direction; Fremont -> Palo Alto is ~80 minutes (via Dumbarton, at least). -alexf \_ 15 minutes for me (Fremont to Menlo Park) at 8:30am Gotta love the carpool lane. \_ Turns tricks in Fremont to afford Palo Alto? I'd think the PA tricks would pay better. \_ Your girlfriend drives slow. More like 50-60 minutes from PA to Berkeley. \_ Sure, Fremont is nice, but why do you need to live there too? Why not live in Mt View/Santa Clara/S'vale and avoid the traffic? You get a consistent 15-minute commute. If you're working at Exodus or the new Sun campus I can give you some commuting tips/tricks on where to live. \_ Fremont is nice? \_ Fremont is a pit. Dunno where s/he came up with the idea that Fremont is nice. Dirty slum wouldn't be too far off. \_ Bits of it suck... so what? Bits of every town suck. Much of it is drab suburbia, some of it is nice. \_ Uhm, no. I'll be kind and say you have a different understanding of 'nice' from me and leave it at that. \_ Mission San Jose is a dirty slum? You have high standards indeed. \_ it's a shithole, not much better off than union city. the only thing from there was christy yamaguchi, if you consider that anything good. and the original home of a certain big-eared freak that has plagued the lives of certain berkeley alumni to this very day. |
2000/4/12 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:17977 Activity:low |
4/11 I need web site that lets you enter address A and address B in a particular city and tells you how to get there via public transportation. That displays bus/bart/muni/whatever schedules and displays a map of the trip. The works. Does such a thing exists? If not, can somebody at Yahoo get working on it? \_ use the infinitive. Thanks. \_ http://www.transitinfo.org for the schedules and maps, but no point to point info that i know of --oj \_ It's called a telephone. Call the transity authority and they can help you plan it all out. |
2000/3/23 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:17827 Activity:high |
3/22 Why do people advocate BART + bike-ride? I can never find a friggin' place to park @ the BART station, and during peak hour (working hour) I can't even take my bike to BART. Fuck BART, bike-ride, and the environmentalist hippies. I'm taking my SUV. \_ I'm moving out of the bay area, buying a house, and biking 1 mile to work. \_ Then during non-peak hours, you can do it, right? \_ I'm living in an apt. within walking distance from Rockridge staton. And I'm moving to a new home in Fremont where there's a bus stop right across the street from my door that goes to the BART station. |
2000/2/25-26 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:17620 Activity:moderate |
2/24 What's the easiest way to get to San Francisco Airport from Berkeley without a car? Doesn't have to be the cheapest, but needs to be reliable (on time). - brendal \_ don't you have a car? why not use the long term parking lot? -jeff (cs 152 proj partner) \_ I've never had trouble with Bayporter. door-to-door shuttle. $16 from Berkeley to SFO. -PeterM \_ Prices recently went up. It's $19 to OAK, I think SFO is also $19. \_ take bart to colma. there's a bus that takes you to sfo. bayporter requires reserving and shit like that. \_ Take BART to Embarcadero. There's a SamTrans bus outside the Grayhound terminal going to SFO. \_ that SUCKS! i've done it a dozen or so times becuase i didn't have much money to blow on fancy van services, but if you do have money, don't do this. samtrans fucking sucks. they are unreliable, slow, crowded, infrequent, and have rude asshole drivers. \- unless it is at an inconvenient time [really late or rush hr], find a friend with a car and buy him or her dinner.--psb |
1999/12/30 [Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:17123 Activity:very high |
12/29 Bike or take public transport. \_ I used to bike to work ... but then the co. was very small and now I share the room with several other employees -- how do you deal with showers/sweatiness/stench? \_ It's not a problem for reasonably short rides. For longer ones, bring a change of clothes. -tom \_ Glad I don't share space with you. \_ Public transit and/or bike just isn't feasible for certain commutes. I.e. berkeley<->palo alto. 45 minutes drive (outside of traffic hours), 2.5 hours+ via caltrain+bart \_ 46 72 69 6E 6B 20 72 75 6C 65 73 21 \_ 1782^12 + 1841^12 = 1922^12 \_ e^(pi*i) = -1 \_ I've always preferred e^(pi*i) + 1 = 0 \_ But that's just because someone _defined_ e(i*x) to be cos(x) + i * sin(x), right? \_ P = NP |
1999/11/4-5 [Academia/Berkeley/Classes, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:16825 Activity:high |
11/3 Job opening for students on University Ave. Can start now or in January. See /csua/pub/jobs/ACT for more details. \_ You are dreaming/smoking if you think you can get what you are looking for at the $ you are offering. \_ Is $20/hr for students not having to commute not considered decent? I'm making less than $12/hr on campus. Also, most students who have taken 61B probably have the requirements for that job. Java, HTML, knowledge of network protocols... that's all stuff that people should know by the end of their freshman year and they can pick up the other details as they ^^^^^^^^^\_ BWAHAHAHAHAHAH -- an ex-TA \_ Most dumbasses in industry know less than us elite Cal students right after 61B. go along. Fine, the neural network stuff was a little too much to ask of most undergraduates, but other than that? Can you site other companies close to campus that are willing to pay part-time students that much? \_ for "experienced"? how much did you know at the end of your freshman year? if you're willing to make a 15 hr/week commitment i'm sure there are better opportunities out there. \_ Can you name _one_ in Berkeley? \_ BART isn't that far away. \_ BART + waiting for the BART + time on BART + walk from BART to work doesn't compare with being in Berkeley. \_ ah, but if you *work* for BART, you make over 50k plus benifits, you only have to know how to press two keys, and you dont even need 61a! \_ Depends on the pay. A jobless hungry student's time has zero value so hungry student is better off BARTing to a better paying job then walking to a shitty job nearby, assuming the BARTable job pays well enough to cover the BART fees plus some. \_ Sure, but a jobless, not hungry student who wants good work experience (so that he can make more later) and some extra cash on the side that is easy to earn would probably take the local job. \_ I disagree. When I was in the situation of jobless but not hungry student I rode BART to a job.--oj \_ For a shitty job? Why would you BART to a shitty job when you can walk to a better one? |
1999/10/26-27 [Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:16774 Activity:nil |
10/25 I just spent $500 on a nasty car scratch I got in Oakland and realized that I could've spent that money on many years of BART or bike-ride. FUCK CARS!!! \_ Go away, troll. If BART was a useful form of transport for you, you'd have been using it for years already. Go away. You're full of shit. This never happened. Sign your name. \_ Troll or not, $500 would only get you 100 days on BART. You'd get a pretty kick-ass bike for it though. --PeterM \_ Yeah but if you're riding a $500 bike in oakland, its likely it would get stolen. \_ Hell you could be walking for FREE!!!!!!!!!111 \_ You could just not fix the scratch. Go see Fight Club. It's inspired me to live in a slum and forsake all my worldly possessions and become a terrorist Siddharta. \_ wow, you lived with arvin too? \_ And then you could RIDE BIKE! up to a federal building with a few tons of explosives on the back. |
1999/9/27-28 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:16608 Activity:very high |
9/27 San Francisco software localization company needs engineers. Many openings, entry level to high end. Good things to know: Oracle, jsp, SGML/XML. Wanna sunbathe in South Park with startup geeks? Contact mgp@soda \_ How much do you guys generally offer to a 2-3 year software Engineer? If the money is right, who cares if I have ride bart or bus. =) \_ which company? do they have a website? \_http://www.translate.com \_ No thanks. Only if I already lived in SF. Parking already sucks and thanks to Da Maya! building a stadium down the street and destroying hundreds of parking spots to do so, it's going to be completely impossible soon. Your company picked a trendy, but stupid place to setup. I was incedibly happy when I stopped working in that area. Oh yeah, "RIDE LINUX BIKE!" for the drones and clones that spew that stuff. \_My company picked a cheap place to setup, five years before the "trendy" companies moved in, thank you very much. As for parking, if you can't handle a six-block walk from BART, you probably need to work from home anyway. Oh, yeah, I ride bike. 15 minutes to work. \_ You implied it was a startup, but I guess not. I can easily handle a walk from BART. You ever tried parking at a BART station so you could take BART? I worked up the street and it was faster *and* cheaper to drive and that includes wear and tear on my car. Fuck BART. It's easy to spout off about how easy it is to use BART when you've never done it. \_ I guess the 200,000 people who do it every day don't do it either. \_ They do it because they *have* to. I don't *have* to. No one with half a brain is doing so. Just because a lot \_ its called poverty you fucking idiot. not everyone in the bay area is a programmer. of other people are stupid and slavish doesn't mean stupidity and slavishness are good. If they all jumped off the bridge would you use that as a reason to jump off the bridge, too? I can't believe you're trying to use such cheap high school boy logic. Fuck BART and fuck stupid people and fuck high school boy logic. BART is expensive and takes too damned long. It'll be even worse when they kill more parking and even more people take BART. And if you're a woman, you'll get harassed on BART. Yes, it happens. It happens a lot. This may not be an issue for the women you know, however. Come to think of it, SOMA isn't a neighborhood a woman can walk through safely, either. \_ Of couse, you can bike to/from a BART station, but that pretty much makes your work hours either late (get to work at around 9:30) or early (before 7am). IT sure does beat driving to the south bay though. -- been there done that \_ you can bike to BART any time, park your bike there and walk to SOMA. \_ can you post some job descriptions in /csua/pub/jobs? \_ And make sure it's world readable. \_ Done. /csua/pub/jobs/translate.com |
1999/8/10-11 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:16283 Activity:high |
8/10 Does anyone know when CalTran is going to expand/fix/speed up the 80 to 580/880 junction? Or if it happening right now, and when it will get done? It is horrible. \_ CalTran is the worst excuse of a D.O.T I have ever seen in my life. \_ Ride a bike. \_ Infinity and beyond the millenium. \_ Yeah right, good luck. Even if they started yesterday, it would still takes several years to fix anything and by then there'd be so many more cars it would remain about the same as now and it would suck in the mean time because of construction delays. You should try to arrange your job/home so that you don't have to go through there or go through at off hours when it's not quite so bad. Or you could RIDE BIKE! as the trolls would suggest, even though that doesn't answer your question and won't help you out in any way at all. \_ Or worse yet, you could RIDE BART!!!! \_ Not much different from RIDE BIKE! since neither can get you anywhere useful or get you there when you need to be there, but sure, as long as the BIKE! trolls are out, we can add the BART!!! and other public transport trolls to the mix. What the hell, they're all stupid answers anyway. \_ Huh? \_ I take BART to SF to work everyday; it beats the hell out of waiting over an hour to get across the bridge during the morning commute, and then paying $7+ to park for the day. \_ sure it sucks, but what state are you from? as far as i can tell, they're all abou the sam: spend 90% of money on highways, and overspend on highway projects due to mismanagement. name one american state excluding washington D.C. that consistently deals with transportation issues inteligently. this is an american problem, not a california problem. |
1999/6/10-11 [Transportation/Bicycle, Science/Space, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:15938 Activity:nil |
6/10 SQUIRT RIDE TOMORROW!!!! 100 water pistols, a couch, and you and your bike! Gatehr 5:30 pm to leave around 6 pm, downtown BART |
1999/3/12-13 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:15585 Activity:nil |
3/12 THE COUCH RIDES TONIGHT! Join the bike parade 5:30 PM downtown Berkeley BART to ride at 6 PM. http://xinet.com/bike/COUCH!!!!! (it's our SIXTH birthday and there's a party afterwards) |
1999/2/1-3 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:15337 Activity:very high |
2/1 I'm looking for a terrorist organization to join so that I can become a rabid protransit freak and blow up BART so that it can be replaced by something decent. Any suggestions? -lila \_ BAMN, CalPIRG, CSUA... \_ SAS, ASUC... \_ AUA, CSA, AAA... \_ a-a-a-a! -militant kirby \_ urg nig! rugga grf -militant furby \_ BART needs a dozen RAF-style assaults. I am starting a cell. Muni is beyond salvation. \_ I'll join. I have the whole unshaven militant eurotrash terrorist thing going... -John \_ You think BART's not decent? Wait till you try Muni. They *often* stop their trains 28 blocks away (20th Ave.) from the destination (48th Ave.) without any advance notice, and tell you to wait for the next train in an unlit neighborhood. \_ i was comparing BART to decent rail transit, not MUNI. neither system is really decent, despite being a whole hell of a lot better than public transit in most places in this country. \_ It's better than anything they have down in L.A. \_ exactly...if you're from the west coast of the U.S., you probably wouldn't know a working transit system if it bit you in the ass. that someone would even bother comparing one shitty pathetic california transit system to another illustrates this. \_ komiteh@csua is recruiting. please mail resume and references. admission is competitive, so please only apply if komiteh if you feel you will meet our rigorous selection criteria. -ali. \_ Where do I list giving oral sex in my resume; skills or objective? --monica l. \_ Interests. \-Hobbies --psb \_ Extracurricular activities. \_ Political activities. \_ profession \_ She didn't get paid. \_ She didn't get laid either. "No pay, no lay." \_ Ha ha, ours works. -John |
1998/11/13-16 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:14949 Activity:nil |
11/12 Couch: the couch rides again tomorrow night -- lotsa bikes in a big fun group, some hauling furniture/friends/doggies..PARTY after 5:30 PM downtown Berkeley BART, leaves 6PM, party 2295 Shattuck http://xinet.com/bike/couch |
1998/9/11 [Transportation/Car, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:14575 Activity:very high |
9/11 Why do we need a rail line on the new bay bridge "to reduce car flows"? Doesn't BART already cross the bay? \_Maybe to accommodate Amtrak, freight and other commuter line trains? Such a solution would help divert some car and truck flow. \_BART's resources are already somewhat maxed out, as any BART commuter can tell you. We're packed like sardines in there during peak commute hours. \_ They're trying to pack more trains in, but I don't think it will work that well. People still need to enter/exit at stops and the trains stop in the tube often already. \_ BART is non-standard rail, for one thing. It's also run incompetently and, as noted above, is near maximum train capacity already. A train line over the bridge could, for example, hook up with CalTrain's tracks and provide a way to get directly to the Peninsula or San Jose from Oakland, for example. -tom \_ BART's train spacing could be much shorter, tho. And, you would have to replace 20%! of the bay bridge traffic, shifting them to mass transit, to even break even, which I find highly doubtful. \_ if you put a new rail line in, you double the person-capacity of the bridge. If car traffic gets worse, there is impetus to use more responsible means of transporation. -tom \_ THE STATE SHOULD PROVIDE BICYCLES FOR EVERYONE. \_ No, they should provide cars, since that is the most responsible way to get around. Remember, consumption keeps our economy strong. Buy stuff. Work your ass off. eat stuff. \_ I wish the new bay bridge had double the lanes as well. Car's rule! I don't like waiting in line to go to the northern peninsula.. \_ Umm, the new bay bridge only goes from oakland to treasure island - what would the point of double the lanes be? Get to treasure island fast, then wait there forever? \_ No, they should have a conveyor belt instead that runs at 50mph. That way cars could cross much faster. And for pedestrians they should have a giant catapolt and a net on the other side. Those damn civil engineers don't know what they're talking about. \_ Me too, but without the net. \_ On the side of ludicrousy, there should some mass relocation of where EVERYONE lives so 90% of all people are within 5 miles of where they work. But I really do want to see the catapult idea implemented. \_ Better yet, we should build really tall sky scrappers so that way the entire bay area lives within a few blocks of each other. \ \_ It's for the psycological impact. To get people sitting incars to be forced to watch the people in the trains grinning at them as they whiz by. |
1998/5/26-28 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:14132 Activity:nil |
5/25 Intermediate/advanced cyclists; we'll be doing a metric century (100km) with a 70km bailout point this Saturday, 5/30, leaving Rockridge BART \_ Wimp! at 10:00 AM. There will be no beginner's ride on this one, but we'll have a beginner's route on the Solstice Century ride on 6/20. Mail ride-bike-request for info. |
1998/5/19 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:14103 Activity:nil |
5/19 EMERGENCY THIRD RAIL POWERTRIP |
1998/4/1-2 [Transportation/Bicycle, Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:13885 Activity:nil |
3/31 Ride Bike! There will be another ride this Saturday, 4/4, meeting at Rockridge BART at 11:00 AM. Mail ride-bike-request for more information or to be put on the mailing list; you can see the planned routes at http://www.best.com/~doosh/bicycle/happyvalley.html The beginner's route is the easiest we do all year; no cyclist is too wimpy! |
1998/3/20 [Transportation/PublicTransit] UID:13845 Activity:nil |
3/20 The El Nino Memorial Bike Ride will be tomorrow, Saturday 3/21, meeting at Rockridge BART at 11:00 AM. The first draft of the route is at http://www.best.com/~doosh/bicycle/moraga.html; the draft is accurate except for the last paragraph, which will change tonight. Cyclists of all skill levels are welcome. |
12/24 |