In 2017, Marin Transit is committed further to reducing carbon emissions by displacing its oldest buses in its fleet and replacing them with electric buses. As early as November 2016, the transit agency persuaded the Marin County Board of Supervisors to purchase two BYD all-electric, 35-footer buses worth $1.527 million, in which it will have a slow-charging mechanism just like a regular Tesla car. The Board unanimously approved the plan, in which deliveries will take place by December 2017.
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With every large transportation agency, evolution and change are the major constants. Not only because planners have to consider the population shifts in the areas they serve, but also because communities evolve in terms of housing and job opportunities. The case of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's (Santa Clara VTA) Next Network program provides a testament to the ever evolving shifts in transportation and urban planning, in which there will indeed be winners and losers in terms of having quality public transportation. This story, however, focuses on one of the main losers of the Next Network program, Almaden Valley in San Jose, and how I want to address that issue first hand.
Geneva Avenue is a major arterial road linking neighborhoods as the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, and Sunnydale in southeastern San Francisco. However, its role in the eyes of San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority is as a major transit corridor, which takes advantage of the medium-density commercial and high-density residential structures lining the thoroughfare. SFMTA's short-term goal for Geneva Avenue is to convert it into a bus rapid transit corridor, similar to what is being done along Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard, with a long-term vision of converting it into a light rail corridor. The question I have in mind for Geneva Avenue is, how much time and money are needed to upgrade one of the city's busiest thoroughfares into a transit-friendly corridor?
Since today is Election Day (and I actually voted last May for the Philippine Elections that brought Rodrigo Duterte to power), I've thought about creating a special post today to see which bus, you think, gave you the best impression as it debuted this year.
Last Saturday (5 November 2016), County Connection executives and officials from Federal, state, and local governments have convened outside the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek to debut the transit agency's first set of electric buses. Made locally by Gillig in Hayward, the four 29-foot, all-electric trolleybuses are the company's first attempt in developing such buses for transit agencies like County Connection, in collaboration with BAE and Wave that provide the electric battery propulsion and charging systems for the electric buses.
Last Sunday, I brought along a friend of mine visiting from Vermont to MacArthur BART to view the upcoming Fleet of the Future train by BART. Developed and built by Bombardier near Montreal, this new train will feature more passenger-friendly amenities, from 3 doors on each side instead of the current two, to more bike spaces and hanging straps. Perhaps the coolest feature would be brand new, digital route maps and station annunciator systems, features that have been long overdue and badly wanted by passengers. A train test engineer from Bombardier told me that it will start operating the new train (as a 10-car consist) from 2017 as more cars are being brought in from the East Coast.
Bagging a local scholarship for this year's Rail-Volution Conference in San Francisco was by far one of the most intriguing things I've ever received. With a grant of $550 to attend the conference, I've committed myself to attending each and every single day of it, which consisted of dozens of workshops (at the hotel and on the field) to choose from, many social events, and a bountiful of opportunities to meet transportation professionals from around the United States and beyond. I've even made quite a lot of new friends too, for which I am grateful that a wonderful group of transportation planners and staff members from Salt Lake City adopted me as "Utah".
In this series of reflections, I will break it down into multiple parts, in which I will do it on a chronological (day-by-day) basis, full of images I've taken throughout the conference. Heck, I might throw in transit photography as well for good measure! I attended this year's Muni Heritage Weekend, in which I got to see some of the agency's older vehicles, all of which have been retired from passenger service many years ago. This year's attendance would be my second time attending this event, the first time I went there was last year.
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