Californians are increasingly using alternative transportation, particularly rail. The shift in commuting habits can be attributed to a number of reasons. Gas prices is only one. Probably a small one at that. Likely having greater influence is the continued change among younger demographics to postpone purchasing private autos…. either related to shifting priorities after assigning greater mobility or independence with social media, or, the increasing cost of car owner shift and decreasing mobility due to congestion. Certainly additional factors are also at play.

Let’s list the rail public transit providers in California that have seen ridership increases:
Amtrak
BART
Caltrain
LA Metro Rail
Sacramento Light Rail?
San Diego Coaster?
San Diego Trolley?
San Francisco Muni?

California gasoline usage continues to decrease even as California’s population grew last fiscal year by 256,000 residents due to natural births. In a new report from the state Department of Finance California had 503,000 births last fiscal year, 234,000 deaths and a net migration of 13,000 people who left the state.

We have a declining car usage from a combination of factors despite an increasing population base (at least in California), a part of our economic woes stem from our over-reliance on driving and its attendant oil consumption, we have a variety of environmental concerns in which our driving is also a factor, and in addition to all this, all these transit and rail systems have had increasing ridership, and yet the chattering political class and certain others still fight this and other rail projects?

Are those people that delusional? Oh, wait, one of their more prominent members–Karl Rove–right on the eve of the last election predicted his candidate would win at about the margin the actual winner had. Talk about failure to check the (poll) numbers!!

Hmmm, how do you deal with a fairly large portion of the population that is in such a state of denial? Especially if that portion of the population is either very rich or very well armed–and in some cases, are members of your own family?

Hotel News Now reports Hotel developers eye high-speed rail hubs.

While the development of a high-speed rail system in the U.S. is still in the beginning stages, the project—once completed—is likely to enhance connectivity, grow the economy and increase travel, sparking interest from hotel developers who will be looking to accommodate the inevitable influx of travelers across the rails.

Hotel executives see enormous opportunities locating hotels at high speed rail stations.

Nancy Johnson, executive VP of development at Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, said high-speed rail would be responsible for the “evolution of hotel locations,” connecting airport locations and high-speed rail stations to urban centers and suburban or rural locations along the track.

On top of the rail yards north of Union Station in Washington, D.C. is planned the 3-million square foot Burnham Place project, which will include 500 hotel rooms as well as retail, apartments and offices, as a 20-year initiative and will be built in multiple phases. David Tuchmann, VP of development at real estate development company Akridge explains the company reasoning.

“It will take a couple of decades; we’ll be building a neighborhood,” he said. The plan also allows for further growth, including high-speed rail along the Northeast Corridor. The project is expected to generate $14.3 billion in economic benefit to the D.C. area over the next 15 years, according to an Akridge news release in July. “One of the major reasons we’re invested in this project is because we believe that rail travel is not only one of the most convenient ways to get around but will continue to grow,”

Hotel construction is just part of a mixed use equation.

Tuchmann said to maximize the value of their development and its impact on neighborhoods and the city, “you want to have a mixed-use program.” The synergy between office space, apartment, retail, food-and-beverage outlets, as well as hotels is attractive to tourists. A hotel, “which provides an 18 hour a day environment energizes the whole place,” and makes the other outlets, especially retail, more viable, he said.

High speed rail is seen as a way to revitalize urban cores that have lost patronage.

Johnson, who blames urban sprawl for infrastructure inefficiencies in city centers, said high-speed rail “would be changing the prime location for a hotel. The infrastructure of the city would be much more concentrated and more efficient. You would see more concentration into a major city for the hotel industry.” It will “pull travelers back to urban areas and city centers,” she said. “There’s a recentralization of communities and more people are headed back to metropolitan areas.”

Robert writes: “According to the State Board of Equalization gas consumption has fallen again in California”

More people are using public transportation…

How is this possible?

Remember increasing gas prices have very little to do with increased transit ridership, just ask Richard Mlynarik or ask Caltrain.

In case anyone’s interested, Caltrain has posted the November JPB meeting presentation on CBOSS:
Communication Based Overlay Signal System Project Status

Heard yesterday from a reliable source that PTC will cause a thirty minute turn round at a terminus while the system is reconfigured and satellites are locked on. How many platforms will Caltrain need at San Francisco?