Newsletter Archive

2024

Issue No. 53 (1/15): San Jose’s Overpriced Subway Squeezes Rest of Region, Is Vision Zero the Wrong Approach?, Level Boarding for Caltrain…or Stairs Forever?, Why Big Projects so often Fail, AC Transit Struggles with its Routes, BART Link 21 Little but a Consultant’s Cash Cow

2023

Issue No. 52 (10/14): Muni: Struggling with Old & New Challenges :: SMART to “Educate” the Public :: VTA’s BART Phase II: Update :: Mayor Dutra-Vernaci’s Highway Just gets Worse and Worse :: Alternative Analyses; too Often Ignored :: Central Subway, a Way Out?

Issue No. 51 (9/13): DTX Project Update :: A Summary of Climate Summaries :: Caltrain’s Self-Inflicted Dilemma :: Hydrogen is our Salvation: NOT! :: Recent BATWG Letter to the SFMTA

Issue No. 50 (8/23): AC Transit: Nowhere to Go but Up :: Transportation Agency Performance :: Coping with Rampant Fare Evasion :: Should Commuter Rail Systems Carry Passengers? :: Needed Transportation Agency Changes

Issue No. 49 (6/15): A BATWG Letter to the San Jose Mercury News :: Adopted Caltrain Budgets and Looming Future Deficits :: BART Addresses Rampant Fare Evasion, Finally! :: How Not to Approach a Fiscal Cliff :: Letter to Mayor London Breed

Issue No. 48 (4/16): More Shocking BART/Phase II News; Time to Shut Down BART’s Link 21 Project; BART Gaining on Fare Evasion; Large Transit Agencies say Yes to New Funding, No to Efficiency; Caltrain Struggles to Pull It all Together; Bay Area Needs Fresh Thinking

Issue No. 47 (3/8): BART’s Very Able Inspector General Leaving; For Caltrain, More Hard Work to Come; Common Sense Gone Missing; Central Subway – San Francisco’s Great Loss; BART’s Link 21 Project: Questions in Need of Answers; Looking Forward

Issue No. 46 (1/7): The Folly of Adding Lanes :: Swimming Through Seaweed :: Another State Attempt to Grab Control over Local Zoning :: San Francisco’s Central Subway Opens :: Coordinating Across County Lines :: The Winners Don’t Always Win

2022

Issue No. 45 (11/20): Tribute to Ezra Rapport, Is Link21 Project on Auto-Pilot?, Getting Smart about Energy, VTA’s Subway Debacle, BART Phase II – Questions that Deserve Answers

Issue No. 44 (10/14): Yes on San Francisco Proposition L; Central Subway will Bleed Muni for Years; Alameda County Transit District: Key Upgrade Elements Identified (again); BART Phase II Needs Outside Professional Review; SFMTA Steadily Painting Itself into the Proverbial Corner; SFMTA’s Leadership in Implementing Transit First

Issue No. 43 (9/16): Why DTX Deserves Top Billing; Why BART Needs an Independent I.G.; California’s Climate Change Hoax; Caltrans Unit’s Mea Culpa; A Santa Cruz Beach Rail Line? SFMTA’s Big Empties; The VTA’s Big Hole; Big Transit Challenges Ahead

Issue No. 42 (7/13): Transbay Bus: the whole problem; Grand Jury reports on BART; CARB…reports, reports and more reports; A Plan for the Southeast Bay Area; MTC Oversight…New Steps

Issue No. 41 (6/9): Picking up the Pace; Valley Link Connectivity…Not!; Link 21 Mystery; Muni Metro Coupling; Golden Gate Sleaze Awards

Issue No. 40 (5/12): Central Subway…Fly in the MTA’s Soup; AC Transit’s Big Empties; Government Transparency…gone like the DoDo Bird; Things at SMART may be Looking Up;Covid, the Transit Aftermath

Issue No. 39 (2/17): Better, Faster, More Cost Effective; A Look Behind the BART Curtain; Caltrain Reorganization; Getting Muni Metro Right; SMART’s not Smart

Issue No. 38 (1/22): Bent Flyvbjerg: Why public projects often go sideways; Transit Fare Integration; Sonoma County Pilot Project; When is Research Relevant; Transparency at BART; Union City Fumble.

2021

Issue No. 37 (12/21): Alan Pisarski’s Seasoned Advice; Leveling the Boat (improving the process); SB 9 and SB 10: California’s Meat Axe Approach to Housing; Building a Good Regional Transit Network; Downside of Widening a Highway Leading into I-580

Issue No. 36 (9/21): TJPA’s Critically Missing Link to Market Street; BART Asked to Help Reinstate this Link; VTA’s Three Month LRV Shutdown; Moving a Project

Issue No. 35 (6/21): DTX Treads Water; Dream of Seamless Transit; Unscrambling Politically-Inspired Entanglements; SFMTA…Trouble Ahead but Plans Galore.

Issue No. 34 (5/21): Change for the Sake of Change; Eliminating the Dumbarton Transit Gap; The Case for Independent Outside Audits; Performance Measures for SMART?!

Issue No. 33 (4/21): Tribute to Jim Mills; Streamlining the VTA; Fasters Buses on the Bay Bridge? Dysfunctional Goverment; Seamless Transit; Is It Just Talk?

Issue No. 32 (2/21): BATWG Critique’s Valley Link; Union City’s Downtown Plan Needs Work; Freight Rail Advances.

Issue No. 31 (1.11.21): Valley Link Project a Bust; AC Transit’s New Website; Highway Expansion Myths; The State of California’s Highways.

2020

Issue No. 30 (12.7.20): Puncturing MTA’s Subway Balloon; Politically Scarring Union City; Valley Link High in Cost-Low in Benefits; Making Transit Work Despite COVID

Issue No. 29 (10/12/20): Valley Link…still in its Infancy; MTC’s Bay Area Plan 2050; VTA’s Overpriced BART Subway; COVID’s Long Term Effect on Transportation

Issue No. 28 (9/16/20): BART in Distress; Caltrain Success Story; DTX: A Planners’ Playground; Getting Muni Metro up to Speed

Issue No. 27 (8/12/20): DTX Gaining Favor; State Housing Juggernaut; Muni in Decline; Disfunctional Government

Issue No. 26 (7/11/20): Grab for Alameda Co. BB funds; BART’s Transbay Study; The Underutilized Muni Metro Subway; VTA’s Grossly Overpriced Subway

Issue No. 25 (5/18/20): Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, Restarting DTX, Unscrambling the San Jose Subway

Issue No. 24 (4/14/20): Transportation after COVID-19, Housing/Commute Problem, Reforming SMART

Issue No. 23 (3/7/20): AC’s Anemic Transbay Bus Service, Marin/Sonoma Voters Reject transit sales tax, BATWG Meeting Synopsis, SF Voters Lead in Effort to Balance Growth with Housing

Issue No. 22 (2/7/20): Region Fails to Deal with Housing/Transportation Problem, Demise of SB 50, SF Mayor’s MTC Improvement Task Force, Case for a Regional Bus System

Issue No. 21 (1/5/20): MTC Fails to Cut GHG emissions, Neglected Muni Metro Subway, Regional Traffic Mess, Gold Stars to TJPA and CCCTA

2019

Issue No. 20 (12/14/19): Faster Bay Area, Mayor Breed’s MTA Task Force, Second Bay Rail Tube, Ill-conceived Highway Planned for Union City

Issue No. 19 (11/13/19): MTC fails to address Region’s Traffic Problems, BART Fare Evasion and Bad On-car Behavior, SFCTA Torpedos Caltrain Extension

Issue No. 18 (10/13/19): $100 Transportation Fix???, Are BART Riders Protected? Fresh Thinking at SamTrans

Issue No. 17 (9/10/19): Faster Bay Area, BART Board v BART riders, Innovation at SamTrans, Agency Second Guessing in SF

Issue No. 16 (8/13/19): Union City Highway, SF Central Subway, Growing Lack of Ethics in Public Agencies, Continuing Highway Boondoggles

Issue No. 15 (7/16/19): BATWG Recommends Changes at AC Transit, $100 Billion to Fix Bay Area Transit?, Getting DTX Back on Track

Issue No. 14 (6/18/19 ): BATWG Opposes BART Fare Hike, Videographer Ken Bukowski: Regional Watchdog, Grotesquely Overpriced BART Subway in San Jose

Issue No. 13 (5/14/19): Should MTC Take on Housing as well as Transportation? Los Angeles Sets a New Transportation Standard, Causes of SFMTA Disfunction, SB 50 Fatally Flawed

Issue No. 12 (4/16/19): Lack of Vision at MTC, CASA, Trains and Bicycles, BATWG’s Ten Steps

Issue No. 11 (3/12/19): More on BART Security, The Neglected Dumbarton Rail Connection, The Decline and Fall of MTC, People-Carrying-Capacity of Muni Metro Subway Could be Doubled

Issue No. 10 (2/13/19) MTC’s HOT Lane Swindle, Corrupted MTC Board Selection Process, The Case for Congestion Pricing, Connecting the Sales Force Transit Center

Issue No. 9 (1/15/19): MTC Board Selection Process, CASA, AC Transit, Southeast Bay Report.

2018

Issue No. 8 (12/18/18): Bay Area Planning in Disarray, Who Should Sponsor DTX?, Union City Looks Backward, SFMTA Gets Sidetracked

Issue No. 7 (11/14/18): Regional Government Weak on Transportation, Peskin: Master Second Guesser, Caltrans Replays the 1950’s, Security versus Privacy on Transit

Issue No. 6 (10/13/18): Open Letter to SFMTA Directors, DTX Update, Road to Leadership at MTC, Transportation Alliance of SF Appeals to SFBOS to Facilite DTX

Issue No. 5 (9/6/18): Bay Area Rail Status Report, Muni Meltdown, Need VMT and LOS

Issue No. 4 (8/1/18): Getting Rid of Transportationi Czar, Addressing Regional Gridlock, Pros and Cons of SB1, State GasTax Fund, Cauthen on Bay Area Transportation

Issue No. 3 (7/14/18): Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Files Suit to Block RM3, Passenger Rail Opportunities, Comparing Cities, More Central Subway Problems