SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[202_Cyclist]

Court ruling could impact Caltrain's electrification plans

San Jose Mercury
By Mike Rosenberg
08/27/2009

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_13221151?source=rss&nclick_check=1

This week's court ruling against high-speed rail may also force delays to Caltrain's plans to expand commuter service through electrification, and calls into question the agency's ability to fund the project.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny ruled Wednesday that the California High-Speed Rail Authority's early planning documents for the San Jose-to-Gilroy portion of the rail line were "inadequate." The ramifications of the ruling, in response to a lawsuit field by Menlo Park, Atherton and environmental groups last year, are still unknown.

But it may force the rail authority to backtrack in its planning process and redo some of its environmental documents. That would delay Caltrain's electrification project and disqualify the agency from receiving key stimulus funding, which it is relying on to bankroll the $785 million initiative, $516 million of which is still unfunded.

The San Francisco-to-San Jose portion of the bullet train is being planned congruently with Caltrain's electrification project. Along the Peninsula the two agencies will be sharing the tracks, which must be renovated to serve electric train cars.

Caltrain officials view electrification of their rail line as the only way to expand commute-time train service. The upgrade will allow trains to start and stop quicker, and will significantly reduce the agency's operating costs.

Both Caltrain and the state are relying heavily on federal stimulus funding — they are hoping for $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion — to complete the San Francisco-to-San Jose project, including the conversion to electric tracks. That money would then be matched by funds from Proposition 1A, a $9.9 billion state bond measure, bringing the riches at stake closer to $3 billion, high-speed rail board member Rod Diridon said.

Construction on the two projects needs to start by September 2012 for the agencies to receive stimulus funding. Diridon said any delay in the planning process brought on as a result of the court ruling would surely push them past the deadline, and disqualify both Caltrain and high-speed rail from receiving any stimulus funding.

Of the $516 million Caltrain needs to raise for electrification, officials are hoping to secure stimulus money, Prop 1A allocations and high-speed rail program funds, spokeswoman Christine Dunn said.

And the stimulus package is also one of the only ways for Caltrain to take advantage of Prop 1A funds. Money from Prop 1A can only be used to match another funding source, and stimulus grants appear to be one of the few options available at present.

Caltrain officials are still determining exactly what Wednesday's ruling will eventually mean for their project, and likely won't know until Kenny issues a disposition indicating what steps he will require of high-speed rail planners.

Seamus Murphy, Caltrain's manager of government affairs, said that he did not think the ruling would force Caltrain to halt its current planning process. But the agency won't be able to go far without an assist from high-speed rail, which Caltrain is relying on for funding and signed a legal agreement with in April.

It's also possible that the rail authority could decide to run its trains through the East Bay and across a rebuilt Dumbarton Rail Bridge to San Francisco, which would leave the Caltrain portion from Menlo Park to San Jose without high-speed rail funding.

Advocates for expanded train service seem fine with a possible electrification delay, as long as it allows more time to plan the high-speed rail project.

"I think the delay is a good thing because it allows us more time to do this (high-speed rail) process thoughtfully," said Burlingame Council Member Terry Nagel, who in 2006 helped form a local group called the Coalition to Expand Train Service.

[rs913]

San Francisco closing Market St. to eastbound private cars for 6-week test

Bay City News Service
Posted: 09/10/2009 01:13:57 PM PDT
Updated: 09/10/2009 01:13:58 PM PDT

(LINK)

San Francisco is implementing a six-week trial program at the end of the month to try to alleviate traffic on Market Street and begin a long-term revitalization process, a spokesman for Mayor Gavin Newsom said today.

Beginning Sept. 29, Market Street will be closed to private automobiles traveling east, starting at Sixth Street, spokesman Nathan Ballard said.

The street will still be open to westbound traffic, as well as Muni buses, delivery vehicles and taxis. Private automobiles traveling north and south will still be able to cross Market Street.

Similar attempts to eliminate private cars on Market Street have failed several times over the last decade, including last summer, when Supervisor Chris Daly proposed closing the street to cars.

Ballard said business owners opposed previous proposals because they worried that eliminating car traffic would hurt sales. He said, however, that the success of the Sunday Streets program, which closed major thoroughfares to cars for a few hours on various Sundays, helped pave the way for the city and transportation agencies to work with the business community on the Market Street changes.

"Businesses were up in arms about Sunday Streets to begin with, but now they are overwhelmingly supportive," Ballard said. "That opened the floodgates for similar pilot programs."

[peanut gallery]

Got an email update from SMART the other day. I'll post the whole thing below, but the key points are:

• NCRA has rehabbed the line from Novato to Napa county for freight service.
• Rail rehab for SMART (in addition to what has already been done for NCRA), including 3 bridges, hasn't started but they are getting teams in place to do so.
• Real estate needs to be secured for some stations and the maintenance yard.
• Vehicles will be put out to bid by the end of next year.
• Station design firm will be selected by the end of this year.

NCRA, SMART release timeline for trains
Freight trains to start rolling in Marin by March
Staff Report
Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 11:23 AM PST

Construction work is finished on the railroad tracks that will carry freight trains through Novato. Now the tracks need to be inspected, and then freight trains are expected to start rolling by March 2010.

Meanwhile, planning and design work is under way for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter train, and construction work should start in 2011.

That’s according to officials from the North Coast Railroad Authority and from SMART. Both agencies recently issued updates about their projects’ status.

Allan Hemphill, chairman of the North Coast Railroad Authority, announced on Oct. 22 that $40 million in repairs to 62 miles of the Northwestern Pacific (NWP) railway between Napa County and Windsor have been completed. He said Federal Railroad Administration inspection of the repairs to the track, crossing signals and bridges between Windsor in Sonoma County and the national rail interchange in Lombard, located north of American Canyon in Napa County, will take up to 90 days.

At one point, NCRA officials had said freight trains could start running in October, but several months ago, “we updated that,” said the agency’s Executive Director Mitch Stogner. The target for freight trains to be operational on the 62-mile stretch of line is no later than March.

The NWP Co. hasn’t yet signed contracts to move freight, Stogner said. But NCRA officials said one immediate beneficiary of freight train service would be Marin and Sonoma dairymen who are suffering from escalating costs of feed grains that must be trucked in from the Central Valley. Other commodities expected to be moved on the line in the first year of service include merchandise such as wood products, building materials and cases of wine.

The NWP Co. estimates operations of three roundtrip trains per week in 2010, increasing to three roundtrips per day in 2011 and beyond.

Sonoma and Marin voters narrowly approved the SMART ballot measure a year ago. Now, the agency’s goal is to get trains running between Cloverdale and Larkspur by the fall of 2014.

SMART has launched several initiatives:

• Real estate acquisition: While SMART already owns the 70-mile rail corridor, several parcels still need to be acquired for station sites, a maintenance facility and other small real estate needs. Thirteen consulting companies have been awarded contracts to help SMART with work ranging from appraisal to environmental review. More than half of these firms are from Marin and Sonoma counties.

• Vehicle and systems specifications and design: SMART has contracted with LTK Engineering Services, one of the world’s leading rail vehicle consultants, to help write specifications for the rail cars and systems — the signals, dispatch center, communications, etc. The specifications process will continue into the second half of next year, at which time SMART will put the agency’s rail vehicles out to bid to manufacturers.

• Track and pathway design. Seventy miles of railroad and an equal length of multi-use pathway must be designed and engineered. Two firms, HDR Engineering Inc. and PGH Wong Engineering Inc., will lead this effort. They have teamed with a wide variety of smaller firms, including several certified disadvantaged business enterprises.

• Stations design: Thirteen teams of architects, engineers, planners, artists and other specialists have submitted proposals to design SMART’s 14 stations from Larkspur to Cloverdale. A design team should be under contract by the end of this year.

• Major bridge design: Three major bridges exist along the SMART alignment: the span across the wetlands and waterway at Gallinas Creek in San Rafael, the movable bridge across the Petaluma River and the historic steel bridge across the Russian River at Healdsburg. Six teams have submitted proposals to conduct design and engineering services for the rehabilitation or replacement of those spans. A single team should be under contract by the end of this year.

• Maintenance and operations facility design: SMART will have a central facility where railcars will be maintained and operation and dispatch of the rail line will be headquartered. The location of this building is still under consideration.

[AndrewK]

Originally Posted by Gordo

Good post from the Transbay Blog regarding the Oakland Airport Connector:

http://transbayblog.com/2009/08/13/is-th...od-tiger-tifia-project-part-1/#more-4687

I can't believe that we're seriously going to spend $550 million on this thing. That's more than Geary BRT and Van Ness BRT combined, for those of you keeping score (and will serve less than 10% as many daily riders, if you believe the wildly inflated estimates - my guess is that it will be more like 2-3%).

ive just been reading a blog called 21st century urban solutions (maybe you guys have come across it), and he lays out how for the price of the airport connector oakland could build its own streetcar system (which he maps out in detail in one of his posts) as well as a san antonio infill station between merritt and fruitvale. here are links to the two posts i mentioned:

oakland streetcar network:
http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/oakland-streetcar-network/

san antonio bart station:
http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/san-antonio-bart-station/

[viewguysf]

Originally Posted by AndrewK

ive just been reading a blog called 21st century urban solutions (maybe you guys have come across it), and he lays out how for the price of the airport connector oakland could build its own streetcar system (which he maps out in detail in one of his posts) as well as a san antonio infill station between merritt and fruitvale. here are links to the two posts i mentioned:

oakland streetcar network:
http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/oakland-streetcar-network/

san antonio bart station:
http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/san-antonio-bart-station/

Here is another interesting link from the same blog--something that has been much discussed here in the past, from the BART perspective at least.

http://21stcenturyurbansolutions.wordpre...-vta-light-rail-and-muni-metro-stack-up/

[CityKid]

Everyone else in SF has probably already been beaten over the head with this. This is from the SF Examiner:


Get ready to lose or gain Muni service
By: Mike Aldax
November 25, 2009
Changes rolling in: Mayor Gavin Newsom and MTA chief Nathaniel Ford announce Muni service changes during a news conference at a 38-Geary bus stop Tuesday. Service will be expanded on the 38-Geary, one of the nation’s busiest routes. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner)

SAN FRANCISCO — There’s about to be a major divide in the satisfaction level among Muni riders.

The most dramatic overhaul to Muni’s bus and streetcar route system in 30 years is set to take effect in just 10 days and will include service reductions for some passengers and additions for others, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Tuesday at a 38-Geary bus stop near Masonic Avenue.

“You’re either going to love this or you’re going to hate it,” Newsom said.

On Dec. 5, riders will see reductions of some kind to 37 of Muni’s 74 lines, including shorter routes, reduced frequency or slashed hours of operation said, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees Muni.

Those targeted for reductions had the lowest ridership, the agency said. Six lines will be nixed altogether, the agency said.

“We just don’t think there’s the ridership to justify the cost,” Newsom said.

To offset reductions, some of the busiest Muni lines will see more service, including a 15 percent capacity increase on the 38-Geary, which will run more frequently during peak hours, MTA Executive Director Nathaniel Ford said. The 38-Geary “carries about 54,000 people daily,” making it “the most heavily utilized bus route west of the Mississippi,” Ford said.

Some bus stops will also be eliminated — a decision that has tended to be as controversial as the many route changes, Newsom said.

Tina Berhane, 28, of the Western Addition said the service reductions were unfair considering recent fare hikes.

“We’re already paying $55 [for a monthly pass],” she said. “It’s not easy. There should be more buses.”

Then again, Berhane said she was glad to learn that some of the busiest lines, including her 5-Fulton, will see increased service.

MTA directors voted in favor of the changes earlier this year to offset a $129 million deficit for this fiscal year, along with fare increases that took effect in July. Newsom on Tuesday blamed the millions in state cuts for the hardships on riders.

Adding to its money woes, the MTA recently announced a new $45 million deficit, which it plans to accommodate by laying off 110 employees and positions starting next month, and also eliminated 140 unfilled jobs. According to Newsom, the new deficit will not lead to more service reductions.

There will be enough operators to service the bus system after Dec. 5, Ford said.

However, the route changes may not be permanent. Officials will gather public comment on the new service changes for six months and may modify the system based on feedback, Newsom said.

The reductions and enhancements were guided by the Transit Effectiveness Project, which showed that 75 percent of all 700,000 daily Muni boardings occur on the 15 most heavily traveled lines.

[email protected]

End of the line

Six bus routes will be discontinued after Dec. 5.

4-Sutter
7-Haight
20-Columbus
26-Valencia
53-Southern Heights
89-Laguna Honda

Source: SFMTA

Shift in commutes

Dec. 5 changes to Muni’s most-used lines:

N-Judah: Portioneliminated on weekends
38-Geary: Frequency increased during peak hours, hours expanded, portions eliminated oceanside
14L/14X-Mission:Frequency increased, hours expanded, stops combined
30-Stockton: Service hours reduced; no changes to 30X
1-California: Portion eliminated, hours reduced
9-San Bruno: 9X/9AX/9BX to become 8X/8AX/8BX and will include increased frequency, route modifications; 9L to be new route
29-Sunset: Portion eliminated, hours reduced
5-Fulton: Frequency increased, evening service extended
44-O’Shaughnessy: Frequency increased
47-Van Ness: Service hours reduced

For more information, visit www.sfmta.com/cms/m1209/dec09service.htm

Source: SFMTA



It looks there will be more 38s and the 38L will now run outbound till about 9pm and inbound till about 8pm. I would have really loved that living in the Inner Richmond and later in the "Tendernob" with a boyfriend in the Outer Richmond the three years I lived in SF. I still haven't been able to figure out if they will now run 38Ls on Sunday.

[northbay]

For immediate release: Dec. 1, 2009
Contact: Chris Coursey, 415-717-9968

SMART Hosts Workshop on Rail Vehicles

Bikes on board? How about bagels, black coffee or maybe even beaujolais?
The public will have its first opportunity to weigh in on the types of on-board amenities that should be included on SMART’s new passenger rail vehicles at a workshop scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at Chop’s Teen Center, 509 Adams St., adjacent to the Railroad Square station site in downtown Santa Rosa.
Future users of the North Bay’s passenger train are invited to comment on vehicle specifications during a meeting of the Operations Committee of the SMART Board of Directors. While the Board has already decided the type of vehicles SMART will use – state-of-the-art individually powered rail cars – the detailed specifications for those vehicles have yet to be written. SMART has contracted with LTK Engineering Services to develop the specifications over the coming months.
In addition to the highly technical details, the vehicle specifications will include items that directly relate to passenger comfort and convenience aboard SMART’s trains. These include accommodations for disabled passengers, bicycle storage, rest rooms, wireless internet access, seating configuration, the ability to serve food and drink on-board and other options. The workshop is designed to gather public input regarding these choices.
SMART is a 70-mile passenger train and multi-use pathway project that will provide daily train service to 14 stations between Cloverdale, in northern Sonoma County, and Larkspur, in Marin County. Voters in both counties approved Measure Q, a one-quarter percent sales tax to fund the project, in November 2008. Train service is scheduled to begin in Fall 2014.

i wanted to go to this, but having a newborn makes it difficult for me to find time for this stuff (why i dont post much anymore), so i just emailed them my opinions. which are: basically screw the wine bar and make as much room for passengers and bikes.

the last thing we need are tourists throwing up in the trains bathrooms

[peanut gallery]

Originally Posted by northbay420

i wanted to go to this, but having a newborn makes it difficult for me to find time for this stuff (why i dont post much anymore), so i just emailed them my opinions. which are: basically screw the wine bar and make as much room for passengers and bikes.

the last thing we need are tourists throwing up in the trains bathrooms

Hey, I've been wondering where you've been. It seems like many of the locals have been infrequent visitors the past few months. Congrats on the new baby! Hopefully, you'll get to enjoy sleep again before too long.

Good call on the train spec input.

[BTinSF]

Creation of a regional or city transit thread here seems to be what others are doing and there are some transit developments in the Bay Area that people may want to know about and discuss but aren't worthy of a separate thread so I hope this will be useful.

To begin:

Friday, December 18, 2009
Ferry authority to start building S.S.F. terminal
San Francisco Business Times - by Eric Young

A plan to triple ferry ridership on the San Francisco Bay is taking a major step forward with the construction of a new terminal in South San Francisco.

With the $26 million South San Francisco project getting underway, the region’s ferry agency finally is able to foresee the first of seven new ferry routes expected to crisscross the bay in coming years . . . .

The authority has been in planning mode since its creation in 1999. Over the years the agency has had planning slowed or stopped because of its high dependency on volatile state funding. If it can complete the buildout of seven new ferry terminals around the bay, the authority estimates about 10 million commuters a year will use the new routes, up from about 3.3 million now . . . .

The authority gets the bulk of its $18.3 million budget from bridge tolls. Another major source that has been promised but not consistently delivered is $25 million annually from Proposition 1B, the 2006 California infrastructure bond . . . .

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Ferry route moving forward with terminal construction:
Route: South San Francisco to Oakland.
What: Terminal construction, 2010-2011.
When: Initial ferry service projected for 2011.

Other planned ferry routes:
Antioch/Pittsburg to Martinez to San Francisco.
Berkeley to San Francisco.
Hercules to San Francisco.
Redwood City to San Francisco.
Richmond to San Francisco.
Treasure Island to San Francisco.
Source: Water Emergency Transportation Authority.

Source: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/12/21/story6.html

[Okstate]

Look out Seattle!

[sammyg]

Why Redwood City to San Francisco and not Oakland?

Caltrain does a good job getting up the Peninsula, but it's a pain to get from Redwood City/Palo Alto to Oakland and Berkeley.

[northbay]

great. we needed this thread in the main transportation forum. thanks bt.

[Smiley Person]

Originally Posted by sammyg

Why Redwood City to San Francisco and not Oakland?
Caltrain does a good job getting up the Peninsula, but it's a pain to get from Redwood City/Palo Alto to Oakland and Berkeley.

Being able to get off at the Ferry Building downtown instead of at 4th and King would be advantageous for those coming or going from points downtown.

[fflint]

I guess new ridership statistics count as news...

Note: No data given for Alameda County Transit, which would vie with VTA for third, IMO.

All data from APTA:
http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2009_q3_ridership_APTA.pdf

Agency - Average Weekday Ridership

San Francisco Muni - 805,600
Bay Area Rapid Transit - 354,800
Santa Clara VTA - 143,600
SamTrans - 48,200
Caltrain - 40,300
Golden Gate Transit - 29,600
Eastern Contra Costa TA- 8,700
Livermore/Amador Valley TA - 6,200
Capitol Corridor (shared with Sacramento) - 5,000

[bmfarley]

I see you're including all modes together.

Central Contra Costa TA: 14,800... I believe that is bus only.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by bmfarley

I see you're including all modes together.

Central Contra Costa TA: 14,800... I believe that is bus only.

APTA does not give numbers for average weekday ridership for Central Contra Costa TA, which is why I left it out. Your figure is for something else--looks like total ridership for the month of July--which does not correspond with the rest of the figures I listed.

[fflint]

KRON 4 reporter Mark Jones reported on the 6pm show this evening that BART moved 88,000 passengers out of downtown San Francisco within one hour after the New Year's Eve fireworks show. That's twice as fast as moving a slightly smaller crowd last year. They did it by splitting passengers up, according to final destination, between Embarcadero and Montgomery stations. BART officials intend to do this next NYE, as well as other big event nights including the 4th of July. They also beefed up the police presence 50%, and there was not a single arrest.

I'd say BART deserves some credit for keeping it together this time.

[peanut gallery]

Splitting those stations is a great idea. Boarding must have been much faster without people standing around waiting for a different train, not to mention one less stop for Richmond/Bay Point trains.

[fflint]

AC Transit reports its weekday ridership for 2Q 2009 is 236,000, so I'll update the list:

Agency - Average Weekday Ridership

San Francisco Muni - 805,600
Bay Area Rapid Transit - 354,800
Alameda Contra Costa Transit - 236,000
Santa Clara VTA - 143,600
SamTrans - 48,200
Caltrain - 40,300
Golden Gate Transit - 29,600
Eastern Contra Costa TA- 8,700
Livermore/Amador Valley TA - 6,200
Capitol Corridor (shared with Sacramento) - 5,000

Not bad!

[northbay]

heres a interesting article regarding the soon to be built transbay terminal

http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/...begin-construction-on-transbay-terminal/