Freemotorist posting on Palo Alto Online today
The late Steve Jobs, who lived in Palo Alto, Calif. used to quote Henry Ford when asked about asking people, like current Caltrain-at any cost (and death) advocates to state" If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse"...and today we'd still be dealing with horse fecal pollution, deaths by common 'runaway horses' etc. Electrifying Caltrain, even building more grade crossings, extending the Caltrain further into San Francisco, and building the Dumbarton Rail Caltrain extentsion (at grade) is a waste that won't come anywhere near the benefits of simply extending safer, fundable, financially surplus BART, electric, grade separated (by law), ... using those funds and more. Doing the above for Caltrain is simply "Perfuming the Pig". BART is locally-regionally controlled, unlike HSR--which is State controlled. Jobs also is quoted to say "Innovation distinguishes Leadership" "Upgrading" Caltrain to accommodate HSR, is not innovation. Extending BART around the whole Bay, connecting University to University, Sports Venue to Sports Venue, community to community, downtown to downtown, airport to airport and train station to train station, is the way to go...and it has a higher farebox recovery than Caltrain, with more frequent, quieter, service, and, soon new rail cars, too
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