tschuy 🏳️🌈
@tsch
Bikes 🚴 trains 🚆 and public land 🖼️. Get outdoors carfree!
Here's what I have in Google Drive, since I don't have access to my laptop right now. All data latest reporting period as of June '26: Farefree: 2,700,171 trips Contactless: 643,557,303 trips No contactless: 45,741,474 trips
When I did my project on the rollout of contactless fare payment methods in California, I was surprised to find out how many small, farefree agencies we have down here. Makes sense, though; small agencies already pay a very high cost per trip subsidy, so $1-2 more in rider subsidy isn't as important
there's a new segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail opening in late August! 6 miles of trail up above the Crystal Springs Reservoir, right next to SamTrans' Hwy 92 & Skyline Blvd bus stop. www.sfpuc.gov/skyline-wate...
If you're going to be in Lyon, check out the Confluence and Gerland for some fun takes on 21st century planning and architecture! These aren't even the crazy parts that come up when you google La Confluence :
The lighting is always the first thing I notice, it was absolutely surreal this morning up in Fairfield.
On the trailhead map - still my favorite part of the site, even though I've made it less central - there's now a List view of all of the trailheads in view, and trailheads link to any hike guides that they're useful for.
Scrolling down the front page, instead of a text list the hikes are now shown off with their photos in full color.
There are new park (and trail) pages that show all of the trails that serve the park! For places like national parks, national forests, and the Pacific Crest Trail this makes it far easier to understand what all of your options really are. hikingbytransit.com/destinations...
First, the search: enter a park name, a hike, or anything else and see what's out there! There are nearly 600 trailheads in the system, and there are only around two dozen hike guides, so there's a lot to discover yourself.
Check out the new Hiking by Transit website - fully redesigned so that it should be way easier to use. A better map, search for any transit-accessible park by name, and easier access to destination park information for places like Tahoe and Yosemite! 🧵 on what's new! hikingbytransit.com
Not every day that I get to see my own name appear in my inbox! This month's Cal-ITP Benefits newsletter highlighted my and @awalkerinla.bsky.social 's posts about the launch of tap-to-pay in LA, the context around it, and the lack of reduced-fare options in the major deployments.
Been away this weekend taking in the sights and sounds of the Sierra. Made possible by Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, whose buses run right into downtown Truckee!
this is their current long-distance fleet operating the 2+ hour route from Ukiah to/through Fort Bragg. I suspect the 300ish-mi capacity of a modern BEB would be able to handle the distances they need? and it'd take a lot to make it less comfortable.
the Federal Reserve did have some questionable practices under that administration, to be fair
The bus serves Sand Harbor, which is the busiest beach in the region and is, to be fair, pretty stunning. The official map recommends parking at the Tunnel Creek parking lot, but...
Tahoe's Sand Harbor Shuttle launched this weekend! I'm up in the area, so I got to give it a ride and see what it's actually like! tahoetransportation.org/routes/route... 🧵, and folks it's not good.
I've added the ones of those that will be in service this summer! I really wish Translink just had a webpage for this themselves, I'd really rather this be a directory than a listing haha.
The 580 is timed for the pulse at San Rafael, it's entirely SMART's problem that their trains can't meet it. (On the other hand, I don't like that they have *two* separate pulses that hourly buses meet. Very frustrating for me transferring to the 68.)
the initial draft for this plan had me ending by catching the last of the weird nighttime loop buses and doing a massive circle around the city before heading home, but at about 5am I decided I value my sanity more than that.
but just as we rode the last train of the night, it's time for the first train of the morning – this train starts service partway up the yellow line at Daly City. Similar short runs start across the system on longer branches to get trains into the core earlier.
The Early Bird Express network is set up as a pulse system: all of the routes across the Bay Bridge arrived at the same time, and we walked downstairs as a group to the Muni and SamTrans connecting routes.
And we're back on the road! The Early Bird Express network was set up in 2019 to offset the reduction in morning hours due to the transbay tube retrofit. The network has dwindled in the years since, but the remaining routes still offer a critical link for early morning commuters.
We've arrived in Dublin! We're hunkering down for a late dinner at the local 24-hour diner. The last train pulled in around 2am, and the early bird express bus back west doesn't depart until nearly 4am.
Here we go: the last BART train of the night to start its run. This train waits for the last Berryessa train to arrive, before heading on to Dublin. Tonight, this train is just for us and two others.
They announce the Oakland Airport connection, even on this last train. Here it is waiting for any last passengers, for one last run of the night:
We're at the @bart.gov Grand Meet! from here, there are trains in all four directions, to anywhere on the yellow or orange lines. But that's not going to be *our* last BART train – the system has one more trick up its sleeve we'll be taking later.
The transfer from Golden Gate Transit to BART is quick and easy, as long as you know where to go – it's entirely unsigned and across a plaza. We're heading off to the East Bay for perhaps the Bay Area's largest nightly dance...