I understand your concerns, but here's what bothers me:
1. The Central Valley route ends up missing a huge traffic generator by avoiding Stockton-Modesto, and furthermore makes a line up to Sacramento that much less likely.
2. I really don't expect to see that second route up the east bay. If they don't get the route right the very first time, there will never be another chance.
The points above mean that the Stage 1 CHSR is likely to be a lot less successful than it would be via the other route. That means that expansions are much less likely to be built. Never build your first phase on the route least likely to be used.
And furthermore, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties' decision to stay out of BART was IMO the right one. What they didn't do was the other, necessary half of the decision: upgrade Caltrain to BART-like frequencies. If Caltrain ran every fifteen minutes and had a station in downtown San Francisco (rather than a mile away as it does now), it would be the equivalent of BART and would have cost significantly less to build.
no subject
1. The Central Valley route ends up missing a huge traffic generator by avoiding Stockton-Modesto, and furthermore makes a line up to Sacramento that much less likely.
2. I really don't expect to see that second route up the east bay. If they don't get the route right the very first time, there will never be another chance.
The points above mean that the Stage 1 CHSR is likely to be a lot less successful than it would be via the other route. That means that expansions are much less likely to be built. Never build your first phase on the route least likely to be used.
And furthermore, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties' decision to stay out of BART was IMO the right one. What they didn't do was the other, necessary half of the decision: upgrade Caltrain to BART-like frequencies. If Caltrain ran every fifteen minutes and had a station in downtown San Francisco (rather than a mile away as it does now), it would be the equivalent of BART and would have cost significantly less to build.