A year after its already modest budget was slashed and its mortality became the butt of Sacramento jokes, California's high-speed rail enterprise appears to have reawakened. The threat of killing its most promising source of funding -- a $10 billion bond measure on the November ballot -- has dissipated with a pending state Assembly bill that will reword the measure. A current U.S. House of Representatives proposal would appropriate $60 billion for high-speed rail projects around the country, noted authority board member Rod Diridon, a former Santa Clara County supervisor. With an agreement on the new state legislation, Assembly Bill 3034, there are signals from key figures that they'll not only abide the hefty borrowing measure, but they'll campaign for it. CC Times 4/5/08
Caltrain recently hit an average weekday ridership high of 36,993, based on an annual passenger count taken each February at the agency's 31 stations. Ridership rose 9.3 percent compared with the count taken in February 2007. Peak-period commuters account for more than 80 percent of Caltrain's ridership, but the commuter-rail system also attracted more mid-day and night-time passengers, with ridership in those sectors rising 4.4 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively. Weekend ridership also increased to 11,121 on Saturdays and 8,481 on Sundays. Progressive Rail Roading 4/7/08
Caltrain's numbers have surged steadily since a 2004 nadir of just 25,550 weekday riders left it teetering on the brink of ruin. Officials credit the reversal of fortune to soaring gas prices and the 2004 introduction of "Baby Bullet" express service. Palo Alto Daily News 4/7/08
Uncertainty over Caltrain's plans to elevate its tracks through San Mateo should not derail approval of a major development on the Bay Meadows Race Track site, according to a city staff report released Friday. The report, backed by a new traffic analysis, found that no further environmental studies are needed for the project to go forward. The findings are a blow to racetrack supporters, who had latched onto the traffic flow issue as a final obstacle to the 74-year-old track's long-planned demise. Inside Bay Area 4/5/08
The unusual delay in reaching an agreement is no longer about wages and benefits, which both union and AC Transit negotiators already have agreed upon, Williams said. The issue of meal and rest provisions for drivers, she said, has led the union to file a grievance and to seek arbitration. Drivers are now entitled to 30 minutes of lunch, with an additional 20 minutes of break time. But Williams said that for many drivers, that means short breaks that add up to 50 minutes and none long enough for a proper meal break or bathroom break. CC Times 4/7/08
Less than three months before a new state law goes into effect requiring drivers 18 and over to use hands-free cell phone devices when behind the wheel, not many motorists are beating a path to the nearest phone store. The merits of the new law are debatable, as studies show that it's the act of talking - not having a cell phone in one hand - that is the problem. Yet data from 2004 revealed that in 775 accidents in the state, the driver at fault was using a hand-held phone. In only 28 crashes were drivers using hands-free devices to blame. SJ Mercury 4/7/08
California has become a hot market for surveillance-technology companies as cities continue to approve new contracts for cameras at high-traffic and high-accident intersections. Identifying law breakers has proven difficult, however. When drivers receive automated tickets, on the backside of a notice of violation with a blurry face photo is frequently an "Affidavit of Non-Liability," them to provide the name of the actual driver if he was not the driver. Documents like this have become known in some circles as "snitch tickets" because they ask registered car owners to implicate themselves or someone else as the driver of the car, thus helping solidify the legal basis for issuing the traffic ticket. However, to prove a traffic ticket is the burden of the state, and this may tip the balance a bit by tricking people into giving testimony outside of a valid subpoena. SB Sun 4/5/08
U.S. Coast Guard officials may have had the "last clear chance" to prevent the crash of a container ship that spilled 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into San Francisco Bay, said attorneys for Capt. John Cota, the Petaluma bar pilot accused of negligence in the case. But instead of warning the Cosco Busan of its position, Coast Guard monitors spent the moments before the Nov. 7 crash discussing whether the 901-foot ship would make it, possibly taking "bets" on the outcome, Cota's attorneys said in a letter to the National Transportation Safety Board. Press Democrat 4/5/08
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