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Comment by rgmerk | Hacker News Reader

One thing their website looks rather short of is discussion of transport links other than roads.

I know that public transport is currently considered a scary hellhole by the Bay Area HN crowd, but it seems to me that train links to the rest of the Bay Area are a no brainer for a major new community not that far from it.

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according to the map in this SF Chronicle, the southern end of 'California Forever' is just a stones throw from Antioch/Pitsburg bart. Ideally California Forever would make a light rail system. And Ideally that light rail system would connect with Bart by crossing the Sacramento River. This would make 'California Forever' well connected with rest of Bay Area.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/solano-fairfield...

culturally here - only poor people use public transportation. I don't think this is a place that expects to have a lot of poor residents

Well it’s a cycle. Public transport is underfunded (somehow people think it needs to be profitable like a business rather than a public service like a school) which leads to degradation of quality which leads to decreased ridership which leads to funding cuts. All this while the infrastructure ages and doesn’t keep up with the places people need to go.

On top of all this, almost all American cities are built for cars. They are too spread out for public transport to be efficient. That said, buses are an underrated public transportation method, which although much less sexy than a metro, are adaptable and have far less overhead than a subway line.

And it’s worth noting the promotional material specifically talks about walkable communities; that usually means public transport as well.

> (somehow people think it needs to be profitable like a business rather than a public service like a school)

If more then half the voting population thinks transit needs to be profitable or at least break even, then they will.

How will you convince others to take it seriously if your opposed to a clear majority?

I don’t know that a majority think that way. There is definitely a powerful minority though, well funded by the car lobby.

There appears to be both a major freight line running close to the north as well as Amtrak and BART line across the river to the south. Certainly plenty of options to link up. Essential to keep trucks out of a European-style walkable city. I am quite excited to see what they come up with. Perhaps something like what Disney originally intended for EPCOT center. (Cue IGY by Donald Fagan, but maybe not so cynical lol)

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