Nathanael Johnson's blog

The California High Speed Rail Authority met Thursday  to review the findings of an analysis on ridership projections for the $40 billion Los Angeles-San Francisco high speed rail.  But despite serious questions about whether ridership and revenues will meet goals, the members of the authority essentially essentially di

courtesy of the California High Speed Rail Authority

For months, watchdog groups and critics of the California high speed rail project have claimed that a study of projected ridership on the proposed super-train was wildly incorrect. The High Speed Rail Authority has acknowledged that one of its numbers was off by an order of magnitude, but has maintained that the model still produces valuable information. These statistical models are incredibly complex, and it’s impossible to assess these competing claims without considerable expertise and a lot of time.

This proposed walkway to new train has been cut from plans, which now call for riders to walk across these lanes of traffic. But

Streetsblog and the Bay Citizen are reporting that BART has a tentative plan to take money from local agencies to realize its plans to build a train to the Oakland Airport.

Only if Poizner, Whitman, and Brown join forces can they defeat the tiger that tried to eat Roy Horn

In California the gubernatorial candidates offer radically different visions for the future of transportation in the state. Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner are racing for the Republican nomination. Jerry Brown (barring a last minute scandal) has the Democratic nomination wrapped up.

This is a great idea: The group TransForm is organizing people who want to see what life without a car is like. They'll take the first week in June and try to go car-free.

courtesy of Troy Holden

Does this ever happen to you? I'd been producing a radio piece about fare enforcement over the course of a few weeks. Then the day it aired I learned that the mass enforcement had been suspended.

There have been some developments in BART's effort to come into compliance with the Civil Rights Act by revamping its modus operandi. If you haven't been following this story here are the Cliffs notes:

The moral - The tenure of the first black president is not a good time to flout the civil rights law.

courtesy of Elisabeth Goldstein

So BART has started the process of procuring a new fleet of rail cars (you can read all about it here), which raises the obvious question: Should we get rid of the scrofulous fabric seats?

In Washington D.C. yesterday, Carl Guardino, President of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, called for transit reform.

This summer San Francisco is going to endow 6,000 of its parking meters with intelligence. The idea is to have meters change their rates, so that market forces determine the cost of parking. So, hypothetically, meters in front of the Ferry Building during the Farmers Market might cost $5 an hour, but for those willing to park on Third Street and ride the T, the rate might be just 10 cents.