Comments on: the transit imperative

By: murphstahoe

murphstahoe — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:03:59 +0000

Yawn…

Caltrain Reaches Ridership Record

Peninsula commuters seeking relief from driving continue to head to their nearest Caltrain station, setting the all-time record for average weekday ridership: 36,993. Ridership last climaxed during the height of the dot-com boom in early 2001. The results of the rail agency’s annual ridership count were presented to its board of directors at its April meeting.

This trend will continue. Caltrain added 2 trains in March that will make staying later more feasible for more people. Whatever the Capitor Corridor is doing, Caltrain is starting to get *packed*. Now the Giants are starting up again, the evening NB trains will be SRO. I don’t think they can feasibly run more trains at peak time, but if they could extend peak time a little they might squeeze some more capacity in. And get more riders.

By: david vartanoff

david vartanoff — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:05:00 +0000

Count the on board operating crew versus full seated load. Buses are low volume solutions. Besides in the case of Caltrain AND uoltimately the Caitol Corridor, my picture is essentially the old PRR now known as the Norheast Corridor. HSR, medium speed (what Atk calls regionals), and commuter trains all zooming along underthe wires. aSo yeah four tracks, someplaces SIX.

By: Berkeley Mike

Berkeley Mike — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:38:39 +0000

I should have said energy, instead of fuel, efficiency, but in the U.S. an increased electric load from trains would probably mean natural gas or coal.

The $2 Bil set aside for BART is probably getting a reasonable (market) return now; I’m more concerned about the return on it when they convert it into track, cars and stations.

By: Capricious Commuter

Capricious Commuter — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:26:54 +0000

High-speed-rail is the most fuel efficient mode of transportation I can think of. It doesn’t use any fuel at all, unless you count the mileage reimbursed to the high-speed rail authority’s staff.

I’m not sure I get what you’re saying about invested money. Are you saying the $2 billion set aside for BART to San Jose could be getting a higher return?

And on the subject of real-life commuter trains’ efficiency, I’ll have you know that when my train got to Oakland Coliseum today (the final stop for that particular trip), there were still 6 people on it. That’s like three times the normal crowd.

By: Berkeley Mike

Berkeley Mike — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:53:47 +0000

The half-empty rail car touched on a couple of issues that bug me: the disparity between Amtrak’s and HSR advocates’ fuel efficiency claims, and the reckless way public transit consumes and accounts for capital (often treating invested money as near zero cost in a country whose consumption habits put a high price on capital).

I don’t create solutions; I criticize those of others.

By: Capricious Commuter

Capricious Commuter — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:23:09 +0000

Yes, Mike, it forces us uptight people to get close to other people. As long as you can still buy alcohol on the train, we can adjust.

So what’s your solution? Buses? Smaller trains? Boxcars?

By: Berkeley Mike

Berkeley Mike — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:40:18 +0000

“it’s getting darned hard to find two unoccupied seats on the train these days… used to have the luxury of spreading out or laying across two seats and napping. That’s become nearly impossible at peak times.”

Oh! Too bad! Does the train get uncomfortable when the load factor approaches 50%? Could explain why Amtrak’s website is bragging about fuel economy per passenger-mile that’s only about 20% better than a big car with 1.4 people in it.

By: Capricious Commuter

Capricious Commuter — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:30:57 +0000

What’s wrong with a busway, David?

By: david vartanoff

david vartanoff — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:27:52 +0000

yup, a real, four track main w/catenary!

By: murphstahoe

murphstahoe — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:37:07 +0000

this is happening on Caltrain as well. Service levels have grown substantially over the past 10 years, and the trains are more crowded than ever (well, I think at the very tip top peak of the dot com boom ridership was close to current levels with less total trains, so they were probably more packed then, but ridership is growing very quickly now and there is very little room left to grow). Hard to say how Caltrain can throw in more capacity at peak time, they are still investing in the system – upgrading platforms at Burlingame and Cal Ave to remove holdout restrictions, but without 4 sets of rails north to south it will be hard to squeeze more into the peak times. I am about to send off a letter asking them to expand peak times – an earlier bullet and a later bullet – but while that works great for the reverse commuters going to Silicon Valley, the peninsula to SF commuters are less flexible, and for every extra train running South, they need one running North.