Informed but opinionated commentary and analysis on urban transportation topics from the Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal. Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

Our Mission: Monkeywrench the Anti-Transit Forces

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS - 9

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our coverage of other transit-oriented blogs:

“Urbification: Taking the Sub out of California Suburbs:” covers “Walking. Bicycling. Alternatives to Driving Everywhere. Social justice. Alternatives to suburban boredom and waste. And the infrastructure and technology needed to get there.” urbification.blogspot.com. Webmaster is Scott Mace, a writer based in Berkeley, CA.

Here’s a sample post with a link to a timely story about the decline and fall of public transit in Montgomery, AL www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20001225&s=wypijewski

“From 1977 to 1999 a white bully-boy Republican named Emory Folmar was mayor, and he made the bus system scream. [Montgomery resident Rose Zell] Lawrence says things just gradually disappeared. Advertising income disappeared after Folmar tried to bar an anti-death penalty ad and then decided that if he couldn't discriminate among advertisers he wouldn't have any at all. By the fortieth anniversary of the bus boycott, service had been cut by 70 percent and fares had doubled, to $1.50. Student and old-age discounts were eliminated. In 1996 midday service stopped. Finally, in 1997, the City Council said there just weren't enough riders or revenue; the traditional system of big buses and fixed routes was finished. As Jon Broadway, an environmental engineer and a leader of the Montgomery Transportation Coalition, put it, ‘If you choke a dog long enough, it'll die.’"

(“Timely” because Ms. Rosa Parks, who now lives in Detroit, celebrated her 91st birthday on February 4, 2004.)

Here’s another sample post we like:

David Goldberg: "As lawmakers negotiate the transportation bill they should keep in mind the invocation with which Representative Earl Blumenauer, their Democratic colleague from Oregon, often begins speeches: 'Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle.'"

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/22/2004 02:59:00 PM

 
CABALIST AT WORK

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

For a photo of a Cabalist(tm) at work, click here.
posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/16/2004 09:57:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS – 8

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our review of other transit-oriented blogs:

“The Driver’s Room” vtadriversroom.blogspot.com is another all-transit blog. It describes itself as “A running commentary about the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority [San Jose] from an inside perspective.” Check out the following sample of “hard-hitting commentary:”

Cash-Strapped VTA Still Spending Millions on BART

“VTA is forging ahead with its BART expansion plans despite protests from county municipalities that must pay for it and do not benefit by it. The cost of the BART extension is estimated to be more than $4 billion. VTA is spending tens of millions of dollars just studying its proposals.

“Two billion dollars of the estimated cost is to come from local funding -- sales taxes and farebox revenue. The rest is to come from state and federal grants. The state cannot make good on its promises to help fund the BART extension. And the federal government has not said it would provide any money at all.

“VTA has a problem on its hands. On the one hand it has cut service and laid off drivers twice in order to work within a dwindling influx of available operating cash. On the other hand, it promised voters in 2000 that BART would be extended to San Jose. Yet it does not, and will not, have the money to fulfill that promise.”

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/16/2004 09:54:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS – 7

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our review of other transit-oriented blogs:

Here’s another favorite of Your Favorite Transit Pundits: “Beyond Brilliance, Beyond Stupidity:” www.646industries.com/beyond. The general format is “point-counterpoint:” “Positive” and “Negative” developments in “transportation, urban planning, design, the environment, the internet and many other vaguely related areas.” Here’s an excerpt:

“Ignoring the Cost of Car Ownership

“Your Wallet: Being almost 30 and having never owned a car in my life, I know I'm a radical anomaly in the US, and perhaps an evil traitor by some people's measurements. But according to the American Automobile Association, I've saved almost $125,000 in my adult life by forgoing what most people are incapable of living without.

“Granted, it's hardly their fault, as the vast, vast majority of the American urban landscape is impossible to navigate by any other means, and I do rent cars from time to time. Additionally, a huge amount of my apparent savings has been eaten up by the higher rents of living in places like San Francisco and London, where cars are not required.

“But the point of today's entry is this - few people really stop to think about how much money they are spending on their car. If they did, perhaps they would demand better transit in their neighborhoods, or walkability from their local planners. For now, however, people still seem to be wearing blinders.”

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/08/2004 07:01:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS – 6

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our review of other transit-oriented blogs:

Here’s a favorite of Your Favorite Transit Pundits: “BadTransit” www.badtransit.com. It’s an all-transit blog focusing almost exclusively on Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, known locally as “the T”) . . . which does not enjoy a sterling reputation for efficiency, integrity or customer service. Consider these BadTransit tag lines:

"Your ‘perpetually gloomy’ MBTA ‘watchdog’, with news, vitriolic opinion, commentary, biting sarcasm, parody, dissent, insult, rumor, and sad humor on the USA's most inept mass-transit system - Boston's MBTA"

"Greetings, fellow commuters! In the United States, Boston boasts as home of "America's First Subway". That's nice. It must be quite old. But why should it be so filthy and decrepit? Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA, and even parts of the New York City subway are cleaner and better operated. What happened?!"

"Our name is BadTransit, but don't get the wrong idea. We're for Good Transit "

We think it fair to say that the webmaster, a self-described long-time commuter who relies on the T, is as mad as hell (www.wavsource.com/movies/network.htm). Check out these samples of muckraking, no-holds-barred commentary:

"BadTransit is all about the MBTA... the really awful part. If you're interested in ‘Rail fan’ information you've come to the wrong place. But if you're a Boston commuter, or contemplate traveling to our fair city in search of clean, reliable and safe public transportation, you'll discover in our news, editorial content, Commuter Spotter reports, and other features significant reason to consider altering your travel plans. After recent events, some commuters are being sized for bullet-proof vests. Others, biohazard outfits. On the MBTA, it's clear to us that you should always have an exit plan: be as close to the exit as possible and prepare to run."

"As you can already figure out, we think the MBTA is a dangerous, filthy, mismanaged, corrupt and inefficient mess. These are not conclusions drawn in haste. They have evolved from almost 30 years of using this system."

(Hey! Sounds "informed but opinionated" to us!!)

"We pay a lot for our transit system. The MBTA says, perhaps as an excuse for its complete ineptitude, that we have the ‘lowest base fares in the nation’. However, looking at the federal and state subsidies, the MBTA takes in roughly 25 to 30 percent from actual passenger revenue (when they collect it). The rest comes from our high taxes. Considering the subsidies and the lack of in-system transfers, our system is, according to a recent report, one of the most expensive in the nation. It's also deeply in debt, over $4 Billion as of the spring of 2004, and this is expected to continue to rise. The debt deepens with massive spending on unnecessary and fiscally irresponsible expansion projects, mostly to keep former Big Dig contractors employed, while the core of the MBTA system melts down. In fact, the debt payments consume a huge portion of the T's budget.

"What do we get for all the cash? A transit experience from Hell.

"From the traditionally unscheduled performance and constant breakdown of MBTA buses and trains; the unmitigated filth; the surly and unhelpful crews; rampant safety issues; and an unimaginative agency that exists to live out the prime directive - save their own jobs - the MBTA is a real gem.

"Do we [at BadTransit] have to play fair? No. The Boston media and the politicians all coddle this agency. They seem to work so that the complaining is kept at a minimum. Someone has to speak for the commuters either too afraid or just too timid and polite to do so for themselves. Therefore, BadTransit takes a tilted position. Here, we will not permit one excuse to be issued for the MBTA's failure . They have a 3-person public relations team to do that and, insult after injury, their salaries are paid for by tax and fare-payers! Instead, we try to call it as we see it. We're not experts, just commuters who demand and deserve performance and a good return on investment. We're also not professional journalists. We often fail to present both sides of the story (or the MBTA excuse DuJour). If you want the other side, read the Boston Globe or the Herald, or an MBTA press release. (We also invite our readers to view " Are we balanced? ", disclosing our bias and asks for your input to help improve our service to commuters.)

(And you thought we were exaggerating about "opinionated" to us!!!)

"Are we fair . . . balanced? Is this news??"

". . . we think it's important to disclose that, particularly in our T-Watch section which covers various news items, the commentary, sarcasm, and all the rest do tend to shine on. Therefore, what you read is fact (as we know it!) but often laced with our opinions, understandings, perceptions, and all the rest. We have a section for pure rumor - the Water Cooler - and we try to keep fact and total rumor separate, but compartmentalizing everything is beyond the scope of our small effort."

We Opinionated Ones think this is a great site, interesting and entertaining even if you don’t live in Boston . . . that will perhaps inspire similar efforts for other cities. Check it out . . . and join us in waiting for completion of "BadTransit’s Tour the T," page, currently under construction.

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/02/2004 07:21:00 PM