»This way to the future.

Planners are again barking about the Transbay Terminal, about spending three-quarters of a billion dollars to bring Caltrain a little further downtown. More interestingly, they've sprinkled housing and public space into the plan, which will immediately grab the attention of legislators.

A signifcant problem with the idea is the massive cost with relatively little improvement to infrastructure: a rail terminal for Caltrain that doesn't directly connect to BART? or to MUNI trains? that's a big horse pill. And a rail terminal that doesn't include Amtrak? Presumably the Amtrak bus bridge could stop at the new Transbay, but with this kind of a budget I'd hope that actual train connections might happen. There isn't anything in this plan that really improves the transportation nature of the Transbay Terminal itself. -- except that you're potentially adding more customers for the buses to the immediate area.