@taupeavenger.bsky.social
Urbanism. Transit. Religion. Junkposting. Come for the incisive commentary, stay for the dumb memes.
I think it’s hilarious that SB79 doesn’t affect Contra Costa County because it only has 15 (or 14, depending on if you double count Richmond) rail stations and it needs more than 15 to qualify,
October 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I think it’s hilarious that SB79 doesn’t affect Contra Costa County because it only has 15 (or 14, depending on if you double count Richmond) rail stations and it needs more than 15 to qualify,
Reposted
A lot of you really need to sit down and think about how easily you believed a huge, obvious pack of lies about this, in the face of clear evidence to the contrary, just because you heard it repeated a lot and found it ideologically validating. Barely distinguishable from MAGA conspiracy nonsense.
September 16, 2025 at 6:48 PM
A lot of you really need to sit down and think about how easily you believed a huge, obvious pack of lies about this, in the face of clear evidence to the contrary, just because you heard it repeated a lot and found it ideologically validating. Barely distinguishable from MAGA conspiracy nonsense.
The new CEO of CAHSRA (correctly) believes that to break even California HSR needs to at least sort of connect with a major population center and is making a push to extend to Gilroy by 2038 so the service can make a profit when it starts.
archive.ph/qVTQw#select...
archive.ph/qVTQw#select...
archive.ph
September 2, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The new CEO of CAHSRA (correctly) believes that to break even California HSR needs to at least sort of connect with a major population center and is making a push to extend to Gilroy by 2038 so the service can make a profit when it starts.
archive.ph/qVTQw#select...
archive.ph/qVTQw#select...
How is the federal government pulling $24m from the Caltrain downtown extension affect the project? Any chance of a rethink?
August 26, 2025 at 8:25 PM
How is the federal government pulling $24m from the Caltrain downtown extension affect the project? Any chance of a rethink?
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I took a family trip to Paso Robles on Amtrak's Coast Starlight route in May.
On the way home, I tracked its running speed via Strava, which you can see visualized here.
There are some fast parts between Gilroy and SJ, but you lose a *lot* of time in the deep East Bay.
On the way home, I tracked its running speed via Strava, which you can see visualized here.
There are some fast parts between Gilroy and SJ, but you lose a *lot* of time in the deep East Bay.
July 9, 2025 at 6:26 PM
I took a family trip to Paso Robles on Amtrak's Coast Starlight route in May.
On the way home, I tracked its running speed via Strava, which you can see visualized here.
There are some fast parts between Gilroy and SJ, but you lose a *lot* of time in the deep East Bay.
On the way home, I tracked its running speed via Strava, which you can see visualized here.
There are some fast parts between Gilroy and SJ, but you lose a *lot* of time in the deep East Bay.
If the US wants to eliminate the crushing poverty in California’s Central Valley (among the poorest regions in America) and improve food safety then stopping the flow of cheap, illegal foreign labor and replacing them with machines would be very good policy.
June 15, 2025 at 2:19 PM
If the US wants to eliminate the crushing poverty in California’s Central Valley (among the poorest regions in America) and improve food safety then stopping the flow of cheap, illegal foreign labor and replacing them with machines would be very good policy.
Perhaps the mayor of LA should focus less on grandstanding about federal law enforcement and more on expediting building permits for people who’s homes burned down due to her incompetence
Let me be clear — chasing people through a Home Depot parking lot does not make Los Angeles safer.
June 12, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Perhaps the mayor of LA should focus less on grandstanding about federal law enforcement and more on expediting building permits for people who’s homes burned down due to her incompetence
Welp. I see BART to San Jose is going well www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
Silicon Valley BART extension seeks new tunneling contractor in yet another setback
Desperate to stick within a $12.7 billion budget, transportation planner will recommend this week that the agency seek a new contractor to dig the tunnel for the 6-mile extension.
www.sfchronicle.com
June 10, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Welp. I see BART to San Jose is going well www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
$10 Billion to build a new rail bridge from Benicia to Martinez or Crocket to Vallejo is absolutely insane. Until California gets infrastructure costs under control, NOTHING makes sense to build. www.sfgate.com/travel/artic...
Bay Area transit agency predicts $10B price tag to replace historic bridge
A Bay Area landmark from 1930 has become a bridge too low.
www.sfgate.com
June 9, 2025 at 7:07 PM
$10 Billion to build a new rail bridge from Benicia to Martinez or Crocket to Vallejo is absolutely insane. Until California gets infrastructure costs under control, NOTHING makes sense to build. www.sfgate.com/travel/artic...
I’ll be getting back to trains, but first a reminder that Trump is more popular with Hispanics than any other group.
June 9, 2025 at 4:54 AM
I’ll be getting back to trains, but first a reminder that Trump is more popular with Hispanics than any other group.
Hey, if the Federal government is going to occupy and administer California cities, can they start with SF & Oakland? I mean it can’t be worse.
June 9, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Hey, if the Federal government is going to occupy and administer California cities, can they start with SF & Oakland? I mean it can’t be worse.
Waymo has cut off service to DTLA due to rioters attacking its vehicles.
June 9, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Waymo has cut off service to DTLA due to rioters attacking its vehicles.
The right answer is to just shut down most Amtrak routes.
Amtrak's operating cost model is just a huge unforeseen killer for all the Corridor ID projects. Like what's the solution here that isn't just DOGEing everything
How can the @amtrak.com Heartland Flyer cost over $3,600 per revenue hour to operate?! Nearly $30,000 per day. www.newson6.com/story/680c47...
June 7, 2025 at 7:38 PM
The right answer is to just shut down most Amtrak routes.
A reminder that while SB79 is a good bill it is still weak sauce compared to what is needed.
June 5, 2025 at 3:58 PM
A reminder that while SB79 is a good bill it is still weak sauce compared to what is needed.
The Odd Lots episode on how Jersey City built so much housing is very good & probably interesting to my followers. The politics there are SO different than CA podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...
Jersey City's Mayor on How the City Built So Much Housing
Podcast Episode · Odd Lots · 06/05/2025 · 40m
podcasts.apple.com
June 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
The Odd Lots episode on how Jersey City built so much housing is very good & probably interesting to my followers. The politics there are SO different than CA podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...
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Mexico is a great case study for how a widespread housing subsidies and restrictive zoning fostered cities that are denser in the suburbs.
Moscow gradient in a market-based economy.
Moscow gradient in a market-based economy.
May 26, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Mexico is a great case study for how a widespread housing subsidies and restrictive zoning fostered cities that are denser in the suburbs.
Moscow gradient in a market-based economy.
Moscow gradient in a market-based economy.
In LA it is. Transit in LA is essentially useless to all but the handicapped and indigent
In addition to thinking that new construction raises prices on existing homes, the modal LA elected official also thinks that mass transit is a charity program for people who are too poor to afford cars.
Huge kudos to @awalkerinla.bsky.social for all she’s done to champion and normalize transit use in LA!
We’re working towards a world where nobody’s mind will be blown if you tell them you took transit to get where you were going.
We’re working towards a world where nobody’s mind will be blown if you tell them you took transit to get where you were going.
May 23, 2025 at 3:34 AM
In LA it is. Transit in LA is essentially useless to all but the handicapped and indigent
Silly question: The Hanford Viaduct in the California High speed rail project is 100’ wide, suggesting they are planning 4 tracks near the Hanford station. Is there a diagram anywhere showing what the intended track design is?
May 21, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Silly question: The Hanford Viaduct in the California High speed rail project is 100’ wide, suggesting they are planning 4 tracks near the Hanford station. Is there a diagram anywhere showing what the intended track design is?
Your periodic reminder that the tolls on the SF Bay Bridge are way too low and should be set high enough that the metering lights would be unnecessary and that these tolls should vary throughout the day. My guess is they would vary from like $0.5 at 2AM to like $30 at 8AM.
April 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Your periodic reminder that the tolls on the SF Bay Bridge are way too low and should be set high enough that the metering lights would be unnecessary and that these tolls should vary throughout the day. My guess is they would vary from like $0.5 at 2AM to like $30 at 8AM.
The Federal government has been trying to get rid of the land for 25 years and Alameda has gone through two different master developers because there is no way to develop this land and make existing city residents happy.
Alameda Point, a few miles from San Franciso and Oakland should have 100,000 residents on it yesterday with ample transit connections if we are serious about developing on prime federal lands.
March 21, 2025 at 1:31 AM
The Federal government has been trying to get rid of the land for 25 years and Alameda has gone through two different master developers because there is no way to develop this land and make existing city residents happy.
I think at this point it’s clear DTSF isn’t going to recover in the next decade. How hard would it be to convert BART’s fleet of the future to have a reasonable number of seats because right now they have too much standing capacity & not enough seated?
March 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
I think at this point it’s clear DTSF isn’t going to recover in the next decade. How hard would it be to convert BART’s fleet of the future to have a reasonable number of seats because right now they have too much standing capacity & not enough seated?
If it evaporated in 5 weeks it didn’t really exist.
American soft power evaporates in 5 weeks. Impressive.
Merz just said on German TV that the primary priority of his government will be to ensure that Europe can achieve full strategic independence from the United States in the defence against Russia.
Merz was once a die hard Atlanicist. Now, after Trump he is a Gaullist.
Extraordinary.
Merz was once a die hard Atlanicist. Now, after Trump he is a Gaullist.
Extraordinary.
February 23, 2025 at 9:45 PM
If it evaporated in 5 weeks it didn’t really exist.
Reposted
I gotta say the de minimis exemption and treatment of single packages that allowed the rise of Shein & Temu is one thing I’m pretty okay with handing it to them on.
👀 News: USPS has suspended inbound parcel service from China and Hong Kong.
February 5, 2025 at 1:37 AM
I gotta say the de minimis exemption and treatment of single packages that allowed the rise of Shein & Temu is one thing I’m pretty okay with handing it to them on.
One reason I don’t post much here or on X is that until we fix our constitution cost problem transportation in the Bay Area and the US will just keep getting worse and there is no feasible way to fix it.
December 31, 2024 at 2:29 PM
One reason I don’t post much here or on X is that until we fix our constitution cost problem transportation in the Bay Area and the US will just keep getting worse and there is no feasible way to fix it.