BRT Update and Creekside project approval tonight
November 19, 2008 by V Smoothe · 52 Comments
So there’s two meetings tonight that might be of interest to my readers. They’re certainly both of interest to me. Unfortunately, my job prevents me from attending either of them. But if you’re into transit and smart growth and not doing anything this evening, you might want to consider one of these options: Read more
Why put BRT on Telegraph?
October 20, 2008 by V Smoothe · 49 Comments
The complaint I hear most often about AC Transit’s BRT proposal is that it mimics the BART line. I find this claim utterly bizarre, and my immediate inclination is to dismiss such concerns as coming from people who obviously don’t use transit to travel the route and don’t really understand much, if anything, about bus service. And while it is true that this talking point doesn’t actually make any logical sense, and I don’t think public agencies should make decisions based on the will of the completely uninformed, I want to see BRT have buy-in from as broad a constituency as possible. So, in that spirit, I’m going to try to explain here why AC Transit wants to put BRT along Telegraph and International. Read more
It isn’t about speed, it’s about reliability.
October 15, 2008 by V Smoothe · 40 Comments
Aah, it’s been a while since I talked about BRT. The Berkeley Daily Planet, or, as I like to call it, the We Hate BRT Weekly, has worn me down with their incessant lying and uninformed ranting and I just don’t even want to have to think about it ever. Read more
Worth reading this weekend
April 6, 2008 by V Smoothe · 14 Comments
- Becks sounds the alarm about a new Berkeley initiative to halt BRT:
Regardless of any issues one may have with AC Transit’s current BRT proposal, this is just bad planning. This initiative would mean that anytime the City wanted to convert lanes to transit-only lanes, the decision would have to be made by the Berkeley electorate. Even if the dedicated bus lane only extended one block into Berkeley from Oakland or another neighboring city, Berkeley residents would have the final say. Projects could be held up for months or even years if an election wasn’t approaching (I don’t see the city holding special elections for this issue).
Confused about BRT?
March 10, 2008 by V Smoothe · Leave a Comment
Come out tonight to this ULTRA sponsored meeting and get someone nicer than me to answer your questions.
Does Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) make sense for Oakland and Berkeley?
Monday, March 10th, 7pm-9pm
Faith Presbyterian Church, 430 49th StDiscussion with representatives from Transportation and Land Use
Coalition (TALC) and AC Transit.
Is BRT redundant with BART?
February 11, 2008 by V Smoothe · 12 Comments
A new comment on my East Bay BRT Q&A post informs me that the BRT route actually overlaps BART, and that BRT is therefore not “the most efficient utilization of our TaxMegaBuxx.”
I would remind the commenter that BART’s per trip subsidy is nearly three times that of AC Transit’s, and that the projected cost of completing the entire BRT route is less than building 2 miles of BART.
Anyway, I maintain that for people actually using transit to get around, BART and the BRT route serve completely different functions. If they didn’t, the line wouldn’t have 25,000 boardings a day, making it among the busiest bus routes in the entire Bay Area. Anyway, here’s a map:
The BRT route is in green, and BART stations are the black dots.
What do you think, readers?
Berkeley City Council discusses BRT tonight
October 23, 2007 by V Smoothe · 2 Comments
If for some reason you read this blog and live in Berkeley, I urge you to attend tonight’s City Council meeting and speak up in favor of BRT. If you read the Berkeley Daily Planet ever, you know already that East Bay BRT is in danger due to pro-parking activists in Berkeley. Although there is strong support for BRT among some Berkeley residents, it is the anti-transit contingent that shows up in greater force at these meetings. Read more
East Bay BRT Q and A
October 18, 2007 by V Smoothe · 7 Comments
I’ve blogged here before about clueless anti-BRT whining in the local press. It seems like it never ends.
The Northgate News now has a story headlined “Opponents of BRT Fight to Expose Plan’s Potential Drawbacks.” A more accurate title might have been “Opponents of BRT lie every way possible to preserve their parking spaces.” The anti-BRT contingent’s arguments are a morass of uninformed speculation, deception, and half-truths. Of course, we all know by now that it doesn’t matter if something is true or not - to make people believe it, you just have to say it over and over again. That’s how we all know that social security is insolvent, inclusionary zoning provides housing to the poor, and BRT is a disaster in the making.
Pointless as my endeavor may be, I’d like to respond in one place to the so-called drawbacks of BRT. Below, I’ve taken several of the comments from Sunday’s Chronicle story about BRT, and provided my responses. As always, for an overview of the entire project, check out my Novometro story on AC Transit’s East Bay BRT proposal. Read more
More whining about BRT
October 8, 2007 by V Smoothe · Leave a Comment
Today’s Trib has yet another dumb story about the bus. Apparently, the 1-R is severely late a lot, which I believe (although I ride the 1 route fairly often and haven’t had problems similar to those described in the article). Anyway, the story somehow manages to be anti-BRT at the same time as it whines about the bus being late all the time.
This should be self-evident, but for those who can’t quite make that mental leap: the reason the bus doesn’t run on schedule is because it is stuck in traffic, which is unpredictable. The point of giving the bus a dedicated lane is that it won’t be stuck in traffic, and can keep to a reliable schedule.
For those curious about BRT, check out the story I wrote this summer for Novometro about AC Transit’s BRT proposal.
I am at a complete loss as to why this concept is so difficult to grasp
June 28, 2007 by V Smoothe · 2 Comments
As the deadline for comments on AC Transit’s Draft EIR on BRT approaches, the pro-parking activists are going on the attack. I can hardly look at my RSS feeds these days without being subjected to some whiny story or blog about how giving the bus dedicated lanes on Telegraph and E. 14th is going to cause traffic problems. The East Bay Express is the latest offender.
Since nobody seems to be getting it, I’m going to state this as simply as I know how. The entire point of BRT is that you get out of your goddamned car and take the fucking bus instead. O.M.G.! Why is this so hard to understand? Read more
