»In which I see dead transit ideas

The TransLink system, designed to unify the byzantine Bay Area transit systems, will shake its death rattle this autumn. How transit planners can hope to obtain useful data from such a small sample is beyond me, but they are trying to have a go at it with AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit riders. Since those two systems have almost no meeting points (except for the massive and depressing Transbay Terminal), I cannot imagine how useful this test will be. Why not MUNI, BART, Caltrain, and AC Transit?

MUNI has myriad problems of its own, from route management to budget deficits; from its aimless and useless web site to its perpetually-late buses. Easing integration amongst systems, and providing more reliable measurement of transit-system use, may go a long way to making transit more appealing. The integration will help passengers on the complex journeys around the Bay Area: a single ticket means less overhead for planning a trip. Measurement of ridership and activity will allow the transit agencies to plan more effective routes, determine how routes should interact, and allocate rolling stock to areas that need it.

The Chronicle has a story on the Transit Effectiveness study, which really should be called the Effective Transit project, but perhaps I split semantic hairs.