You are so correct; what could possibly go wrong in relatively lightly populated Sonoma and Marin Counties with Light Rail?

“A quarter of a century ago, Santa Clara County’s first light-rail train left the station as excited supporters heralded a new wave of state-of-the-art transportation to match the region’s burgeoning high-tech industry.

But there was no grand celebration this month as Silicon Valley marked 25 years of light rail.

The near-empty trolleys that often shuttle by at barely faster than jogging speeds serve as a constant reminder that the car is still king in Silicon Valley — and that the Valley Transportation Authority’s trains are among the least successful in the nation by any metric. Today, fewer than 1 percent of the county’s residents ride the trains daily, while it costs the rest of the region — taxpayers at large — about $10 to subsidize every rider’s round trip.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/traffic/ci_22264605/25-years-later-vta-light-rail-among-nations

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Now think about this; where in the original plan was there any mention that trains were arriving MORE than 30 minutes apart??

What kind of a transit system is SOLD TO THE GULLIBLE with that horrific level of service?

Again, this project will fail as those trains that will now be arriving 30 minutes apart won’t be nearly full; you can count on it.

“Sonoma County transit officials Monday agreed to give $6.6 million that would have gone for bicycle and pedestrian projects to the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District to buy additional cars.

With the extra cars, SMART officials said they can run passenger trains at 30-minute intervals, providing better service, and possibly even extend service to Airport Boulevard north of Santa Rosa.”

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Dump the choo choo after only absorbing horrendous losses. As time goes on, it only gets worse and worse.

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As I type this, there are 10 other stories highlighted there. They are supposed to be the “Top Pick ” stories. Of those stories only three are newer than this one. None of them have more than 5 comments and this one sits at 17. Five of their “Top Picks” are so interesting that they don’t have a single comment.

Great way to serve the best interests of the public.

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does anybody remember? what was it, a animated or a book? “the Emperors new clothes”

President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Dated: 5 April, 1933
Presidential Executive Order 6102

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The CFO is compensated at $500 A DAY! And they are not even collecting fares yet? $1,250 A DAY to 2 people!

365 day in a year equals $456, 250.00, almost 1/2 million a year to 2 people. Throw in the graft, and payoffs to the BOS and I’m surprised they can afford the paper to issue the checks to themselves with.

I wonder if they’re using direct deposit to make it simpler and not use up paper checks?

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I am even more surprised that no-one commented on the fact that the 9 millions was scheduled for bicycle stuff, which is an even crazier use of governmemtal funds than buying railroad cars.

You need not worry about bike lanes when the economy nosedives and the cars can not buy gas, then there will be all of the bicycle lanes you need.

And if you don’t think that will happen, re-elect more of the same believers that think solar systems will provide everything we need!

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It is another fine example of the government using obsolete technology, to solve the wrong problem.

A commuter train in a basically rural county makes as much sense as one public employee with a shovel does to solve the pothole problem on our county roads.

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People think UN Agenda 21 is only about the environment and that “sustainability” is a good thing. The propaganda sounds pretty good but when you look into the fact that it represents a completely different philosophy, communitarianism, individual rights are no longer guaranteed. Rather the amorphous “community rights” take precedence over yours. So how do you like them apples?

Elected officials are for the most part unwittingly going along with the “transformation”, “change”, moving forward, etc. that the change agents are pushing. “Change has come to America” Obama’s declaration should scare the heck out of people. Why does the most successful, most powerful, most free nation on earth want a radical transformation? I sure don’t. We need to get rid of the change agents, the infiltrators, the corrupt politicians and go back to the rule of law and individual guaranteed rights.

Agenda 21′s “social equity” element is completely inconsistent with the US Constitution yet just about every town in America lists this as something to implement in their local General Plan. This is how they’re doing it. The American Planning Association was paid by the Feds to write a book called “Growing Smart: Legislative Guidebook with Model Statutes For Planning and the Management of Change”. Did you get that? Model Statutes (new laws) and Management of “Change”? Planning Departments across America are all doing it. They put the UN Agenda 21 policies right into your local general plan.

Even when a city relents and drops their ICLEI membership, it doesn’t really matter if they’ve already adopted the UN’s model statutes in their General Plans. Denying Agenda 21 isn’t working anymore so now they are trying to smear everyone who has concerns about it. That won’t work for long though because anyone with half a brain can see that their lives can and will be radically changed for the worse when UN Agenda 21 Sustainable Development is fully implemented. UN Agenda 21 perpetrators will not finish the job without a fight as no American will lay down and give up everything they’ve worked for in order for their assets to be redistributed around the world to achieve Social Equity. Sorry, but elected officials will have a lot of explaining to do when the proverbial s— hits the fan.

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Google is your friend on this. Plenty of historical record on point. The GGBHTD nixed a second deck in the 1960′s when it decided to go into the transit business….. http://goldengatetransit.org/researchlibrary/history.php

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It’s not a transportation plan.

It’s a land use plan. An excuse to impose high density, transit oriented, stack ‘n pack gulags.

Everyone does know that by now, right?

Talk to friends or relatives in other places, a miracle, same “vision”.

The deliberate crashing part is just…
an added bonus.

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This news comes as absolutely no surprise to those who have learned the truth over the years about the DUMB train. We know that DUMB failed passage at 1/2% on our sales tax. 1/2% would actually pay for most of what this white elephant would cost. The 1/4% was just a foot in the door and shenanigans like this are just the tip of the money canyon (not pit). Shoot, DUMB’s own numbers spell out a $40+ million per year in operating deficit.

I sincerely hope that this action opens the eyes of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition and helps them see the truth. The ultimate goal of DUMB has nothing to do with trains or trails anyway. It’s all about the housing that we neither need nor have the infrastructure for to be built around the train stations.

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