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San Francisco to Mexico (via L.A. and San Diego) on Public Transit – 6 Trains, 12 Buses, 49 Hours

By
Matt Nelson
– January 16, 2012

If your New Year’s resolution was to complete my epic transit journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles popularized by Joe Eskenazi’s SF Weekly cover story, you might want to instead dust off your passport and be the first to complete this international public transit trip of more than 550 miles from San Francisco to Mexico via Los Angeles and San Diego.

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Find an Apartment Based on Your Commute with Walkscore Apartment Search

By
Matt Nelson
– December 15, 2011

Walkscore, the website that attempts to quantify the “walkability” of streets and neighborhoods,  has introduced a new apartment search tool that makes it easy to find a home near transit. It parses Craigslist housing ads and maps them based on factors of urban livability – proximity to transit, commute time, and cost are just a few of the factors considered.

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Transit Tax Break to be Sliced as Parking Tax Break Increases

By
Matt Nelson
– December 6, 2011

Congress is about to let a tax benefit for transit riders expire, further codifying the federal government’s favoritism toward personal automobiles and it’s disdain for cities. Without action by the congress by year’s end, the tax benefit for commuter parking will INCREASE from $230 to $240 per month while the transit commuter benefit is set to DECREASE from $230 to $120 per month.

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Reader Mail: Blog Inspires Epic Five Day Transit Journey from S.F. to Pasadena

By
Matt Nelson
– December 4, 2011

Reader Adrienne saw the SF Weekly cover story about my San Francisco to Los Angeles local public transit itinerary, and decided to one-up Joe Eskenazi. For Thanksgiving, Adrienne traveled from San Francisco to Pasadena in five days using only local transit – she made a vacation out of the journey, spending time in Monterey, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, and Solvang. She arrived the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in her sister’s driveway, just as she planned. Adrienne’s letter is below – Joe also interviewed her for his SF Weekly blog. Now, which of you is going to one-up Adrienne and Joe and go even further using only local buses and trains?

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How I Learned That Peer-to-Peer Car-Sharing Perpetuates Urbanism: My First Trip with RelayRides

By
Matt Nelson
– December 2, 2011

On a recent Thursday, I had to make an early morning work trip north of the Golden Gate  Bridge to the desolate transit wasteland of Marin County. Being car-free, I would normally head down the block to my trusty neighborhood Zipcar, but this day was different – I had recently signed up for peer-to-peer car sharing start-up RelayRides and decided I needed to give them a try so that I could report back on the service to the trusty readers of this blog (the free credit they give to anyone who signs up might’ve influenced my decision as well, in the interest of full disclosure).

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California’s Five Transit Hubs of the Future

By
Matt Nelson
– December 1, 2011

California is at a crossroads – will it continue down the path of car dependence, sacrificing countless acres of farmland and parks to freeway lanes and sprawl, or will it embrace sustainable transport and infill development to accommodate expected growth? If the current plans for transit take hold statewide, these five hubs will be essential to the state’s mobility. Linking high-speed rail with commuter rail, bus service, and light rail, each of these hubs stand as gateways to a more prosperous and sustainable future for the Golden State.

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Mayoral Candidate to Charter Express Bus for Muni Metro Commuters, Except It Isn’t Very “Express”

By
Matt Nelson
– October 27, 2011

Image by Flickr user aarontait. Used under Creative Commons License.

In mayoral candidate Phil Ting’s final push to court the votes of fed up transit riders, he will charter a bus to shuttle some L-Taraval commuters downtown from the Outer Parkside. The first-and-only run of this “LX-Taraval Express” will happen on Tuesday, November 1st, one week prior to Election Day. It looks great at first glance: only eight stops (four in the Avenues and four at the main Muni Metro and BART stations on Market Street). Only problem: as scheduled, the run from 46th Avenue to Embarcadero Station will add nearly half an hour to the trip compared to if you’d just hopped on the L. No biggie: you’ll get free food and Wi-Fi. Anyone signing up?

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Recent Muni Changes Provide Blueprint for Improving Transit on a Shoestring Budget

By
Matt Nelson
– October 21, 2011

With little fanfare, Muni introduced some minor service tweaks this month to a handful of heavily-traveled routes. Most of the talk in the press has been about de-funding Muni by letting kids ride free, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing that any changes happened at all.

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FTA Awards More Than $126 Million to California Transit Agencies

By
Matt Nelson
– October 18, 2011

California transit agencies were awarded more than $126 million in grants today, part of a package of more than $928.5 million announced by the Federal Transit Administration. California received the second most funds of any state, behind New York which was awarded more than $164 million.

The largest grants in California’s package were $25 million awarded to Los Angeles Metro for vehicle replacement and $15 million awarded to Gold Coast Transit to go toward their new operations and maintenance facility.

For the complete list of grants awarded today by the FTA, click here. [Warning: PDF]

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Anti-Endorsements for SF Mayor Election: Who Not To Vote For If You Care About Muni’s Future

By
Matt Nelson
– October 17, 2011

I don’t often venture into politics on this blog – I instead like to stick to the technical and more geeky aspects of California’s transportation system. But with the approaching mayoral election in San Francisco – the first to use ranked-choice voting – it is becoming clear that the future of sustainable transportation in the city will be largely shaped by the next inhabitant in Room 200, for better or for worse. With this in mind, I present to you California Street’s 2011 Anti-Endorrsements for San Francisco mayor – if you care about sustainable transportation in the city, make sure these three candidates are not in your top three. *

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