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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013
SMART can make 3 car consists in the future, assuming they buy some "C" car DMU units like UP in Toronto did. Which should increase train capacity by 50%.
What do all of you think about the partially white (or almost white) seats and headrests? I would think they would look dirty quickly.
Last edited by electricron; Apr 17, 2015 at 1:01 PM.
Aren't the seats mostly light green? In any case, I'm sure they can be cleaned.
I'm very excited about SMART and can't wait to ride it. I think it will, over the long term, be a game changer for Marin and especially Sonoma counties.
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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013
The seat material is supposed to be easy to clean. I'm glad they went with green as the color scheme instead of red, it's "soothing" and very appropriate for the area.
My hope is that SMART is so successful that they will exercise their option to buy more rail cars, which, if ridership warrants it, they said they will do.
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"I firmly believe, from what I have seen, that this is the chosen spot of all this Earth as far as Nature is concerned." - Luther Burbank on Sonoma County.
Muni has unveiled its new fleet of electric and hybrid low floor, 60-foot articulated buses (coverage here and here). They are looking pretty sharp:
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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013
Are they going to have the same number of electric buses as before?
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"I firmly believe, from what I have seen, that this is the chosen spot of all this Earth as far as Nature is concerned." - Luther Burbank on Sonoma County.
I don't know, but I would bet they will replace the entire fleet without a reduction in size in order to implement the TEP (now called Muni Forward).
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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013
Perhaps my assumption is incorrect, but I would assume low floor vehicles would have a higher likelihood of bottoming out on hilly roads? These new low floor buses look very nice, but will they only be used on routes that don't traverse significant hills in the city?
Perhaps my assumption is incorrect, but I would assume low floor vehicles would have a higher likelihood of bottoming out on hilly roads? These new low floor buses look very nice, but will they only be used on routes that don't traverse significant hills in the city?
The articulated busses and trolleys run on main, flat streets.
There's not much of a difference in ground clearance between a low-floor and high-floor bus--that's all about internal configurations there, not external. But yes--the articulated buses only run on the busiest routes, which are in the flats.
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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013
Flew OAK-BUR mid-day today and got a nice view of the deconstruction of the old Bay Bridge and the new Treasure Island on/off ramps.
We turned too "late" to get downtown SF on my side of the plane, even though last time I flew the route, I was on the right side of the plane to look down on the financial district. It was so clear it would have been sweet to get a look down on the city, oh well, no complaints.
And bonus shot of the GG Bridge and Marin Headlands.
The big news being broken by mustache twins Matier & Ross today is a potential plan, unveiled in a closed-door meeting last week at City Hall, to drastically rethink the routing of Caltrain and the eventual hi-speed rail line so that it hugs the waterfront, passes by the Warriors Arena, and frees up the existing rail yard at 4th and King for future development. The idea would be to remove a large section of the 280 overpass as well, so that what is currently an industrial area cut through by a freeway would become a new neighborhood with big development potential.
The plan would call for a major, and extremely expensive track reroute and underground tunnel that would turn existing tracks at 22nd Street, taking them under the waterfront from there, along Third Street, past the new, 18,000 seat Warriors Arena — thereby eliminating more need for parking which is one of the arguments being levied by those shadowy opponents — and create a new joint Caltrain/Hi-Speed Rail/Muni station near AT&T Park.
The track would then go under SoMa more directly to the new Transbay Terminal at First and Mission, and this would replace the need to extend Caltrain tracks up 4th Street, which had the been the plan until now.
This article answers the question of when the SMART Larkspur extension would open at the earliest:
Quote:
Feds give SMART environmental clearance to go to Larkspur
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit showed off one of its train cars to attendees at a San Rafael public forum on transportation earlier this month. Robert Tong — Marin Independent Journal
By Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 05/21/15, 4:03 PM PDT
A planned extension of the SMART commuter train from San Rafael to Larkspur has gained environmental approval from the federal government, helping clear a path to connect the two cities.
The Federal Transit Administration announced this week there were no significant impacts to the environment associated with the project. Work started on the environmental plan by SMART more than two years ago, even though at that time funding for the extension had not been fully identified.
...
President Obama’s budget for 2015-16 issued in February includes $20 million to complete construction of the rail extension. And so far, so good.
“We (have) advanced in the federal budget from the subcommittee to the appropriations committee for the extension to Larkspur,” noted SMART board member Jake Mackenzie.
Federal approval of the environmental document allows SMART to proceed with a design for the extension. Mansourian hopes to convene San Rafael, Larkspur, Golden Gate Bridge and other local officials in the coming weeks to discuss aspects of the project. Ideally, the extension to Larkspur could be launched in 2017, although Mansourian acknowledged that might be optimistic.
...
Work has already been done on a key stretch to get service to Larkspur. In December 2010 the revamped Cal Park Hill Tunnel, an 1,100-foot tube, was opened at a cost of $28 million.
The federal funding would allow SMART to put rails from the transit center in San Rafael through the tunnel and connect trains to Golden Gate Ferry service, which can then take commuters into San Francisco.
Reach the author at [email protected] or follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkPradoIJ.
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"I firmly believe, from what I have seen, that this is the chosen spot of all this Earth as far as Nature is concerned." - Luther Burbank on Sonoma County.
Update on the SMART Operations and Maintenance Facility:
Quote:
SMART Contractor, Shimmick Construction, is working on the Operations & Maintenance Facility on Airport Blvd in Santa Rosa. Work is expected to be completed this summer.
American Ag Credit Building going up near Airport Station
Street construction by the tracks
Airplanes from STS
__________________
"I firmly believe, from what I have seen, that this is the chosen spot of all this Earth as far as Nature is concerned." - Luther Burbank on Sonoma County.
__________________
"I firmly believe, from what I have seen, that this is the chosen spot of all this Earth as far as Nature is concerned." - Luther Burbank on Sonoma County.
__________________
"I firmly believe, from what I have seen, that this is the chosen spot of all this Earth as far as Nature is concerned." - Luther Burbank on Sonoma County.
These werent my favorite of the four options. To me this LRV looks mean, and I dont like mean looking LRVs SF doesnt seem mean to me. The front end should look like a big happy face. As it is now it seems MUNI will soon become MEANI
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SF doesnt seem mean to me. The front end should look like a big happy face. As it is now it seems MUNI will soon become MEANI 
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