Photo from http://www.iridethebus.org/

Amtrak may not serve Wooster, Ohio, but Isabel Francis now has a chance to ride the rails – perhaps out of Cleveland – with the compliments and the apology of the national rail system.

After being booted from Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor in Berkeley and failing to obtain satisfaction from Amtrak, Isabel and her father, David Francis, finally turned to Read the rest of this entry »

The High Falls (1855) by Thomas Almond Ayres, from http://www.cr.nps.gov/, photographed by Michael Dixon, Yosemite National Park 

I got another call from Ken Gosting, henceforth known here as the Voice of Yosemite, about the latest news from Mariposa County.

What, you may ask, does this have to do with commuting in the Bay Area?

The conceit here is that Mariposa County has, by accident of geology, become more like the Bay Area.
It all goes back to Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday I related the lamentations of David Francis of Wooster, Ohio and how his 15-year-old daughter, lacking ID, was rather brusquely ejected from a Capitol Corridor train by an Amtrak conductor.

This could only have been a sign from on high that I need to pay more attention to the downside of transit as I zealously attempt to keep my car parked and redeem my Commuter Checks.

But a call from Priscilla Kalugdan, the Corridor’s marketing manager, also reminded me that Read the rest of this entry »

Photo from www.trainweb.org 

Funny that just as I’m about to write a story about the Capitol Corridor’s triumph over our limited railway network, nearly doubling its service to San Jose and adding more trips to Sacramento, I get a call from someone who’s less than pleased with the service.

In the corridor’s defense, he’s not a regular rider, but this one-time experience was a doozy.

David Francis of Wooster, Ohio, was visiting his mom in Oakland in July when he agreed to send his 15-year-old daughter to see Read the rest of this entry »

Ok. It’s late. I missed my regular train on account of a poorly synchronized tavern clock, and had to take the late train. I’m tired and a Bay Bridge story I’ve been working on for weeks deprived me of the chance to write about how a $2.9 million security grant for BART might be spent.

So that leaves me with car sharing.

I received an e-mail recently from City CarShare inviting me to blog about their by-the-hour, keyless and paperless car rental service is a great way to avoid the hassles of the Labor Day weekend Bay Bridge lower deck closure. While they can be expected to promote their product no matter what, I believe they’ve got a valid Read the rest of this entry »

Photo of Mt. Saint Helens from http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes

Ken Gosting is a Yosemite institution. From his home in Midpines, he monitors major events in the park, such as the rockslide blocking one of the park’s three ways in, and transmits the news to media outlets in the Bay Area with remarkable reliability.

Call me parochial, but while it is sometimes interesting to hear how hard it is to get to the park, it’s not something the Bay Area transportation grid couldn’t  Read the rest of this entry »

Photo from www.centennialofflight.gov 

Speaking of rail service, I was surprised to see some discussion down the coast about not simply saving the pathetic Coast Starlight Amtrak route from LA to Seattle, but add to it.

According to this account, communities along the line between the Bay Area and LA would like to see a daytime route named Read the rest of this entry »

I was heartened to learn recently that one of CC’s avid readers and de-facto editors doesn’t commute any farther than his den each day. Talk about the sound of one hand clapping. Telecommuting is the Nirvana (spiritually, not musically) of the transportation universe. Highway maintenance, subway crime, bus service subsidies — all these problems would go away if everybody would just Read the rest of this entry »

Staff photo by Nick Lammers

This is not a stock tip column, but you should know that I really wanted to buy Google when it was first offered. Disclaimer proffered, this week I’m recommending Johnson and Johnson.

You should also know that last week, while this blog was getting stale, I was camping in Crater Lake National Park, with no cell signal, no radio and nary a newspaper in sight. It was glorious.

So I’m hoping to be forgiven for returning to Read the rest of this entry »

Being a commuter student, I never had to worry about not having a car. No, parking was my big problem, and it dogged me until I got a coveted sticker to the lot behind the dining hall where the student newspaper kept its offices.

But Flexcar, one of the area’s three car-sharing services, is going to solve that problem for students at U.C. Berkeley later this month. They’re going to become the first car-sharing service to offer membership to drivers under 21.

What a noble gesture. It’s like, well, giving credit cards to students. I had one of those when Read the rest of this entry »