Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Alexander Hirji

Seamless Bay Area @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social · 21d

Yay, SB63 signed into law, authorizing a regional transit funding measure for the SF Bay Area, essential to save and improve service for BART, Muni, AC Transit, Caltrain! Bill allows a signature-gathering effort that would passage with 50%+1 of the vote. www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/u...

www.gov.ca.gov

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Oct 1

Muni had to remain a part of the project, including financing most of the overall cost, because that 2022 bond failed, which took away the major dedicated funding source for this project. If that had passed, then things likely would have turned out very differently.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Oct 1

I mean the idea was more along the lines of traditional joint development, provide a needed resource (housing) in tandem with the bus yard and also bring in revenue for the agency. That whole equation fell apart in 2020 when D9 and D10 supes mandated it be 100% affordable in exchange for approvals.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

I think in a way yes the federal money did flood the market almost too much, but at the same time that observation is tricky because the global supply chains were so screwed for 2 ish years. So I’m not sure exactly what the true impact is, but I’d still hazard that it did have an impact.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

I think you see the issue with federal cash wrt how many people tried to order and rush BEBs into service during the Biden years, and how people tried to reform things too late. Doing a clean slate PCC style reform would have been a better start rather than working backwards to standardize imo.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

Add in global tensions and trade wars, and the risk of having to pay ransom to get bus parts in the country for your random Greek bus manufacturer becomes a giant issue. Going with the somewhat reliable but expensive choice is 100% going to seem safer for a public utility.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

And finally a note about why others can’t break in: risk. Agencies can’t afford to place risky bets nowadays on things like buses. Money is tight and they need something reliable. New flyer is expensive but a known player, random European company is unknown and a risky proposition wrt reliability.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

A certain Bay Area agency literally has one of their buses condemned and set aside because it’s a fire hazard since proterra hasn’t been bothered to fix it for over two years. Bottom of the barrel bus manufacturer - yes they’re bankrupt now but that wasn’t always the case!

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

The bigger thing that I think is also at play is that parts/support game. It comes as no surprise to me that Nova left given that New Flyer has so much of the market cornered with its parts and support game. Likewise with why NF has such a hold on large agencies and others can’t break in.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

If a vendor cannot send a tech to fix their broken product for over a year, it comes to no surprise that said vendor will get a bad rep. If that vendor also tweaks with battery safety settings and lies to agencies about that, it also comes as no surprise that said vendor will go under.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

bsky.app/profile/davi...

Of note here, this isn’t exactly true. Proterra went under because their product was inferior to the big players product, they cut corners with safety, their price point was out of touch with reality, and their customer support was beyond pathetic.

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · Sep 26

I’ll emphasize that point about customization, which includes flooring, windows, panel colors, etc.

70% of US bus procurements are unique, meaning no other agency bought identical buses.

Individualized designs inflate costs. They helped kill Proterra and push Volvo out of the US market.

A Bus is a Bus: The Costs of Excess Customization - The Eno Center for Transportation

November 3, 2023 - There is concern that the over-customization of new buses could be leading to higher costs for transit agencies and reducing the competitiveness of U.S. vehicle manufacturers.

enotrans.org

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

bsky.app/profile/davi...

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · Sep 26

I’ll emphasize that point about customization, which includes flooring, windows, panel colors, etc.

70% of US bus procurements are unique, meaning no other agency bought identical buses.

Individualized designs inflate costs. They helped kill Proterra and push Volvo out of the US market.

A Bus is a Bus: The Costs of Excess Customization - The Eno Center for Transportation

November 3, 2023 - There is concern that the over-customization of new buses could be leading to higher costs for transit agencies and reducing the competitiveness of U.S. vehicle manufacturers.

enotrans.org

Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

Furthermore that “duopoly” is more a monopoly, and the one big player a) has massively jacked up its prices, but b) has had its quality go down the drain a decent amount and c) is having its own problems with vendor lock for things like diesel hybrid buses, which further constrains the market

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

A couple of thoughts though:
- agencies have already eliminated a ton of their customization, the main things that differentiate different buses like seats don’t cause too much price changes
- the fact that the market is a duopoly is far more impactful than this paper makes it out to be

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 26

Very neat paper www.brookings.edu/wp-content/u...

www.brookings.edu

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 25

They’d have to hire up + remain extremely competitive. Muni has a pretty decent issue with not losing linemen and other overhead lines employees to utilities with higher pay.

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Reposted by Alexander Hirji

Kirsten Bladh @kerstanley.bsky.social · Sep 7

To put this loan amount in perspective:

California is spending $500 million to widen a 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 in the northern Bay Area (through a wetland, no less).

But $750 million to save the *entire* Bay Area’s transit systems is apparently infeasible.

Senator Scott Wiener @scottwiener.bsky.social · Sep 6

We’ve been informed by the Governor’s Department of Finance that it won’t agree before our legislative session ends (on Friday) to finalize a $750M bridge loan to Bay Area transit.

This loan was agreed to in our June budget. Without it, BART, Muni, et al will cut service.🧵

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Reposted by Alexander Hirji

Cyrus Hall @cyrushall.bsky.social · Sep 4

Gov Newsom still hasn't signed the $750m loan to Bay Area transit agencies that would get us to the Nov 2026 funding votes. He has eight days to act.

Please take a moment to call his office at (916) 445-2841 and use the attached script, copied from a @transbaycoalition.bsky.social.

Hi my name is (your name), I live in (your town), and I was so relieved in July when I heard that the state budget would include a $750 million emergency loan to BART, Muni, AC Transit, and Caltrain to stop massive service cuts, before funding starts to flow from a regional funding measure) . These transit agencies provide essential service to our communities and I depend on them to get where I need to go.

However, I’m very concerned that with just eight days left to issue the loan, the Governor hasn’t followed through on his promise to protect our communities from these devastating cuts. I’m calling to urge him to make good on his promise and issue that loan ASAP to these transit agencies and stop these terrible cuts. Thank you.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Sep 6

If I recall correctly he paid salaries for random staffers in his own office with the MTA budget! Not just random other departments raiding Muni, his own office 🙃

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Aug 27

To an extent, it probably would have received a small sum of that money (like $5-10m for overall subway systems renewal of which the special trackwork project is a part).

Though this has been languishing since pre pandemic. Funding aside there’s never been an easy time to actually do the project.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Aug 27

Just ancient, overdue for replacement switch components. All of the subway interlockings are due for replacement, embarcadero unfortunately happens to have the worst condition frogs which is why there’s a years long speed restriction on the outbound side.

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Reposted by Alexander Hirji

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · Aug 23

Across Philadelphia and its suburbs, commuters are bracing for a dramatic reduction in public transportation after state lawmakers were unable to agree on how to fund the struggling system.

SEPTA officials have called it a “death spiral.”

Philadelphia transit hits ‘death spiral.’ More cities could follow.

Across Philadelphia and its suburbs, commuters are bracing for a dramatic reduction in public transit after state lawmakers were unable to agree on funding.

wapo.st

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Aug 18

doing a heritage livery for a few cars is fine, doing a new livery that uses elements of a past livery and then tastefully remixes them is fine. but I 100% don’t like “oh we’re just going to do what we did 50 years ago” and then slap some random giant M on it that ruins the throwback.

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Aug 18

might get crucified for this but I think they all suck. if you’re going to brand these as “super different/fleet of the future,” then don’t make them look like the same trains that are from the 70s. be bold! do something totally new and interesting!

Metro @wmata.com · Aug 18

Calling all transit fans! Let your voice be heard. 🚇

🗳️ Vote on the exterior design for our new 8000-series rail fleet! Voting will close at 11:59 PM on August 22. Winning concept will be announced next week.

Vote before time runs out: wmata.questionpro.com/a/TakeSurvey...

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Alexander Hirji @sashazandr.bsky.social · Aug 18

Nobody even comes remotely close to da mayor

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