Caltrain
To great fanfare, the Salesforce Transit Center opened on Saturday to thousands of visitors anxious to see the huge facility. Sunday was quieter, with the first AC Transit buses arriving on the third-floor bus deck. Train arrivals: TBD.
San Francisco Chronicle
Brisbane, a city of about 4,700 on the southern border of San Francisco, will vote on a controversial ballot measure in November to approve or reject a mixed-use development including up to 2,200 residential units on a 660-acre vacant brownfield.
San Mateo Daily Journal
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission could implement a 20 percent plan to offer fare relief for low-income riders.
San Francisco Chronicle
BART and VTA officials must come to an agreement about whether to use a single- or double-bore tunnel for transit extension in San Jose, and time is running out.
The Mercury News
For the second time at the same railroad crossing in Atherton, California, a motorist followed his GPS navigation onto Caltrain tracks. In both cases, the motorists fled their vehicles before being hit by an oncoming train.
(Palo Alto) Daily Post
A 51-year-old bicyclist became the second fatality in the first week of revenue service. It was the fourth fatality since the summer for the diesel train, which operates from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale.
Sun Sentinel
Transit adjacent developments have their downsides when the transit is a diesel-powered commuter train, and the location is a stub-end terminal. Case in point: San Francisco's Mission Bay.
San Francisco Chronicle
It is now up to the Bay Area's transportation planning agency to determine when to ask voters to hike tolls on seven Bay Area bridges, by how much, and whether to phase the increase. A bill to allow voters to fund Caltrain was also signed.
SF Gate
The California Legislature approved bills to allow voters to decide on hiking sales taxes and tolls for regional transportation. Gov. Jerry Brown already signed a bill to allow San Mateo County voters to hike sales taxes for transportation.
The Daily Journal
Gov. Jerry Brown, Peninsula congresswomen, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and state legislative leaders gathered in Millbrae with shovels-in hands to mark the beginning of a four-year construction project to electrify Caltrain.
The Daily Journal
In 1995, planners forecasted that the Millbrae BART Station in San Mateo County, where riders can transfer to/from Caltrain, would attract 16,500 weekday riders. Fourteen years after it opened, ridership is 7,000. Planners were off by 58 percent.
San Francisco Chronicle
The oldest commuter rail line west of the Mississippi is also unique in another way—it lacks a dedicated source of operating revenue. Legislation has been introduced to allow Peninsula counties to vote to increase sales taxes by 0.125 percent.
The Daily Journal
Apple's new campus contains thousands of parking spaces, but neither transit options nor daycare.
Wired
Nothing comes easy for high-speed rail, or anything connected to it, as the agency that runs Caltrain learned in February. But now that a $647 million federal grant has been approved, $713 million in state bond funds will be directed to the project.
Los Angeles Times
A week ago, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao indicated she would not sign-off on the $647 million federal grant for the $2 billion Caltrain electrification project. On Monday, she changed her mind.
The Mercury News
Electrifying Caltrain is low-hanging fruit for Infrastructure spending. Unfortunately, the fruit may spoil on the vine because the California GOP and Donald Trump have put the project on hold.
Medium
In one of her first major decisions, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao deferred a decision on a critical $647 million federal grant to electrify the 51-mile San Francisco to San Jose Caltrain line, which would also be used by high-speed rail.
SF Gate
California's GOP congressional delegation has written the U.S. DOT asking them to delay a vital $647 million grant needed to electrify the 55-mile, San Francisco-to-San Jose commuter line on which 92 diesel-powered commuter trains operate daily.
The Mercury News
Up against an unexpected federal requirement to produce substantially more funds for a crucial rail project, San Mateo County's transportation authority showed the importance of "self-help" counties that control local transportation sales tax funds.
The Daily Journal
A new survey has found that every day more than 800 tech buses are traveling on the region's roadways, carrying around 34,000 passengers daily
San Francisco Business Times
