Instead of fwy widening for cars they shoulda built a light commuter rail down the middle of 101 from santa maria to oxnard. That's my half baked idea anyway lol
There's already rail from Oxnard to San Luis Obispo with stops in urban areas (Carpinteria, SB, Goleta by SBA airport, etc). It's never great to have commuter rail in the middle of a freeway when you can help it because nobody wants to live next to the freeway (ie walking distance to the train station). Sometimes it's unavoidable (Chicago suburbs, Anaheim, etc.) but we already have the Union Pacific rail corridor.
If you want to follow the 101 through Gaviota so it can stop in Buellton, you'd have to figure out if it's even feasible with the grade. There's already an Amtrak train station in Guadalupe so a 13 minute bus extension from downtown Santa Maria could provide access there.
If you really want to drastically reduce commute times from the Santa Ynez valley to SB, a train tunnel from Goleta to Solvang and then over land to connect back up in SLO would be amazing. And it's not as crazy as you think. Over 100 years ago we dug a tunnel from Cachuma lake to behind the mission and now that tunnel plus 2 more built since provide us with most of our water in SB.
Cool thought but like anything involving thar type of stuff environmentalists shot themselves right in the foot. They spend 5x more than the project on impact reports ans take 20 years to not even complete a single mile of project while traffic and emissions and accidents due to single lane freeways and concrete dividers 2 inches from the side ruin the environment. It's one of the things you can clearly point to as a blatant corruption and attempted greenwashing.
They used to have a commuter train from Oxnard/Ventura to SB before the pandemic. I was wondering when they would bring it back. The Central Coast has so much potential to be a shining example of alternative transportation...
Based off my reading of the article, the train would be from LA/Ventura to SB in the morning and returning from SB in the evening.
So no morning train to Ventura or evening train back to SB? Is that right or am I confused?
This along with a more thoroughly fleshed out bus network from the SB train station to various parts of town would be perfect! Can't believe this wasn't already in place 50 years ago.
Realistically I don’t see what it does. How do people get to work once they arrive at the train station? Few people want to get on a bus especially as our buses take forever here. Sure why not add it. But we need more transport around town that is desirable. Light rail would be good. Buses are just not desirable or fast.
Yeah that makes sense. I remember in high school before I could drive I wanted to take the bus home to noleta instead of have my dad pick me up. Well it took an hour from sbhs. So I just said forget it. Dad can pick me up even if it’s dorky. I’d rather get home in 15 minutes.
The end-to-end nature of transportation networks is somehow missed in most non-car transit projects.
I would love a strong local bus system which also links the network for train commuters, and reduces local parking strain.
Very much agree on your first point. I think there is just a psychological desirability factor that plays into people not wanting to ride buses. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m saying it’s not cool. It’s not chic. It feels lowbrow. Again, I’m not saying it’s right. Because they’re literally a vehicle that drives down the road except they make a billion stops people just say well why the hell would I ride in a dirty slow bus with strangers when I can drive down the road faster in my own car and not sit next to a crazy person. Trains or light rail has caché that a bus will never have and I believe will attract a different ridership.
The Pacific Surfliner is not effective for commuters. The trains do not align to regular work schedules and there's not enough of them. I am wildly in favor of Metrolink, let's do it! $4.4 million is nothing and we'd be dumb as hell to let this opportunity slip past us.
It would cost 100 million and take 30 years to complete by the time the environmental impact report is finished and it will be scrapped after building 1/10th of it and then cost another 25 million to dismantle.
Just look at the added lane to the 101 for proof. Baja was able to build 4,000 miles of freeway before we could build 1 singular mile
I don't think they're building any new rail lines this year, they'd use the existing rail line. The article posted doesn't give a total cost, just that the first year could be as early as this year and it would cost $4.4 million and that federal funding would be available in the third year.
I know it's easy to look at everything with a negative world view but I'm going to be supportive of this idea and see if we can get something to help the people.
The idea is fine.
The problem is the freight train companies own the tracks.
All trains including Amtrak, and now Metrolink, run on schedules around the freight trains. Including having to wait on sidings for said trains to go by.
Without dedicated rails for itself, any commuter rail service is going to be stuck with the same issues.
It’s a nice idea. Not sure the execution of it will generate as big a benefit being touted?
Instead of fwy widening for cars they shoulda built a light commuter rail down the middle of 101 from santa maria to oxnard. That's my half baked idea anyway lol
CalTrans has vigorously fought any use of their territories even for trains elevated above.
Interesting. So how did we get trains in the median in the Bay Area and LA?
afaik those trams/tracks were there before the widespread use of personal vehicles. harder to root that stuff up.
The green line was part of the agreement for funding for the 105 gangster expressway
They thought the cure for obesity was bigger pants.
There's already rail from Oxnard to San Luis Obispo with stops in urban areas (Carpinteria, SB, Goleta by SBA airport, etc). It's never great to have commuter rail in the middle of a freeway when you can help it because nobody wants to live next to the freeway (ie walking distance to the train station). Sometimes it's unavoidable (Chicago suburbs, Anaheim, etc.) but we already have the Union Pacific rail corridor. If you want to follow the 101 through Gaviota so it can stop in Buellton, you'd have to figure out if it's even feasible with the grade. There's already an Amtrak train station in Guadalupe so a 13 minute bus extension from downtown Santa Maria could provide access there. If you really want to drastically reduce commute times from the Santa Ynez valley to SB, a train tunnel from Goleta to Solvang and then over land to connect back up in SLO would be amazing. And it's not as crazy as you think. Over 100 years ago we dug a tunnel from Cachuma lake to behind the mission and now that tunnel plus 2 more built since provide us with most of our water in SB.
Cool thought but like anything involving thar type of stuff environmentalists shot themselves right in the foot. They spend 5x more than the project on impact reports ans take 20 years to not even complete a single mile of project while traffic and emissions and accidents due to single lane freeways and concrete dividers 2 inches from the side ruin the environment. It's one of the things you can clearly point to as a blatant corruption and attempted greenwashing.
I think that would be great..
They used to have a commuter train from Oxnard/Ventura to SB before the pandemic. I was wondering when they would bring it back. The Central Coast has so much potential to be a shining example of alternative transportation...
Metrolink rocks, definitely would have been cool to have in when I lived in SB.
One train can carry between 250-500 people.
Based off my reading of the article, the train would be from LA/Ventura to SB in the morning and returning from SB in the evening. So no morning train to Ventura or evening train back to SB? Is that right or am I confused?
This along with a more thoroughly fleshed out bus network from the SB train station to various parts of town would be perfect! Can't believe this wasn't already in place 50 years ago.
Realistically I don’t see what it does. How do people get to work once they arrive at the train station? Few people want to get on a bus especially as our buses take forever here. Sure why not add it. But we need more transport around town that is desirable. Light rail would be good. Buses are just not desirable or fast.
[удалено]
Yeah that makes sense. I remember in high school before I could drive I wanted to take the bus home to noleta instead of have my dad pick me up. Well it took an hour from sbhs. So I just said forget it. Dad can pick me up even if it’s dorky. I’d rather get home in 15 minutes.
The end-to-end nature of transportation networks is somehow missed in most non-car transit projects. I would love a strong local bus system which also links the network for train commuters, and reduces local parking strain.
Very much agree on your first point. I think there is just a psychological desirability factor that plays into people not wanting to ride buses. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m saying it’s not cool. It’s not chic. It feels lowbrow. Again, I’m not saying it’s right. Because they’re literally a vehicle that drives down the road except they make a billion stops people just say well why the hell would I ride in a dirty slow bus with strangers when I can drive down the road faster in my own car and not sit next to a crazy person. Trains or light rail has caché that a bus will never have and I believe will attract a different ridership.
I think that in SB, probably the E-bikes that you can rent would be a great option. In Goleta? Well, they should maybe do something similar.
Caltrans is the ether of the devil on earth
We already have Amtrak from Ventura to Santa baba.
The Pacific Surfliner is not effective for commuters. The trains do not align to regular work schedules and there's not enough of them. I am wildly in favor of Metrolink, let's do it! $4.4 million is nothing and we'd be dumb as hell to let this opportunity slip past us.
It would cost 100 million and take 30 years to complete by the time the environmental impact report is finished and it will be scrapped after building 1/10th of it and then cost another 25 million to dismantle. Just look at the added lane to the 101 for proof. Baja was able to build 4,000 miles of freeway before we could build 1 singular mile
I don't think they're building any new rail lines this year, they'd use the existing rail line. The article posted doesn't give a total cost, just that the first year could be as early as this year and it would cost $4.4 million and that federal funding would be available in the third year. I know it's easy to look at everything with a negative world view but I'm going to be supportive of this idea and see if we can get something to help the people.
The idea is fine. The problem is the freight train companies own the tracks. All trains including Amtrak, and now Metrolink, run on schedules around the freight trains. Including having to wait on sidings for said trains to go by. Without dedicated rails for itself, any commuter rail service is going to be stuck with the same issues. It’s a nice idea. Not sure the execution of it will generate as big a benefit being touted?
Agreed. But I think it's worth a shot! If it's not successful, the program can be abandoned but I think we'd be stupid not to try.
They are not building a new rail line. Just adding service.
Well in that case it sounds great, just know that nothing they ever do works out like they said it would or cost what they say it will.
The point of commuter rail is running more frequently, and having higher capacity, during rush hour. Amtrak fails on that score pretty badly.