Ian Griffiths

Using my credit card to take BART at SFO for the first time! 😍

“Diggy Scardust” is simply the best tunnel boring machine name, ever. And may be for the rest of time.

This thread is exactly why @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social exists. Connections and integration of regional and local systems are key to a transit system that maximizes mobility for the greatest number of people.

Toronto Union Station on a Tuesday afternoon at 5:15pm. 95% ridership recovery!

assets.metrolinx.com/image/upload...

Public transit is the best way to get to a wedding in Niagara! #gotranist

What can California learn from transit in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan California has no shortage of ambitious goals for transforming transit, but progress has been achingly slow. Large capital projects often take decades to build, and service among the state’s over 300 ...

California needs major reforms to achieve our vision of a world-class, seamless public transit network.

Join this webinar to learn from @seung.bsky.social, @icgee.bsky.social, and Dr. Jason Chang about the lessons we can learn from South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
actionnetwork.org/events/what-...

That’s the one! I can’t remember if I played it at the arcade or had it on our NES.

This reminds me of a video game I used to play.

Notes from Korea: How Bus Reforms and Fare Integration Transformed Seoul’s Transit — Seamless Bay Area In 2004, Seoul introduced transformative reforms including reorganizing its bus network, overhauling operator incentives, and introducing a unified, distance-based fare structure for buses and the met...

Seoul's transit in the 90s was in crisis, but fare integration, bus priority & network management reforms in 2004 transformed the network in less than 2 yrs, leading to the world-class system the region has today. My latest @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social blog:
www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2025/5/...

After a week in Seoul I just tried to tap off of Muni.

After over a year of listening to advocates around the state, the SB 125 Transit Transformation task force proposed a great set of project delivery reforms (see our letter). When transit agencies opposed, they voted to table all of them. Deeply disappointing. calelectricrail.org/wp-content/u...

Notes from Korea: Seoul’s World-Class Transit is Abundant, Cheap, and Integrated — Seamless Bay Area Greater Seoul has built one of the world’s most extensive and seamlessly integrated public transit systems, with 23 metro lines, over 700 stations, and at least 7,000 buses. What lessons can Seoul an...

South Korea's public transit is among the best in the world - abundant, cheap, and integrated. It offers many lessons for California & N America at a time when many are losing faith that government is capable of doing big things. 1st of a 3-part blog series:
www.seamlessbayarea.org/blog/2025/4/...

CLIMATE CALIFORNIA on PBS: What New Climate Stories Do We Need Now? (Screening + Panel) · Luma How do we reconnect to the life all around us? How does technology help us respond to climate change - or distract us from practical solutions? Join NorCal…

@seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social is profiled in the new @PBS docuseries Climate California, which tells the stories of climate leaders. Join us Sunday, 4/20, 3:30 for a screening and panel, part of @climateweek.bsky.social
with host Charles Loi, me, & other featured activists and orgs lu.ma/1qbjsbwq

Trip to study transit in South Korea in T-3 days… please send me tips! Or, if you’re a local advocate, I’d love to meet with you!

You're invited to join a webinar - Delivering value: how project sponsorship helps public agencies deliver better transit projects. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joini... How can public agencies maximize the benefits of their transit projects? A proven and effective strategy: project sponsorship. Too many major public transportation projects go over budget and experie...

How can we advance transformational public transit projects cost-effectively?

Project sponsorship is a key practice used by a growing number of agencies, including Metrolinx & East West Rail. I'm moderating a CPCS webinar on Apr 3 with some experts - join us! us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Interesting. Wouldn’t this mean there’d be a short section on Columbus with cable cars and light rail? 🚊🚋🚋🚊

Less than 48 hours away - see you Thursday! ⬇️

Remember when McDonalds and Coca-Cola used to be the greedy companies that were destroying the world? Seems so quaint now compared to the corporate greed and absolute disdain for ethics we are seeing now.

Seamless Bay Area 2025 Kickoff and Fundraiser · Luma Welcome to the Seamless Bay Area 2025 Kickoff and Fundraiser! Join us for an exciting event where we'll dive into the future of transportation in the Bay Area.…

Does the news have you feeling down?

Channel your energy toward something positive - come out and meet the @seamlessbayareaca.bsky.social community at our 2025 Kickoff social and fundraiser next Thursday 2/13.
Register here:

lu.ma/by63hp6m

I still think this is a good idea and would be way more likely to get built than the overpriced option we have selected.

Woah, blast from the past! Good to remind me of my inspired former self. Just finished a trip to Taiwan, coming away similarly inspired.

This is such a great video and I hope my fellow members of the California Transit Transformation Task Force watch it.

Took the high speed train from Taipei to Kaoshiung in just 90 minutes. Was unfortunately in the middle seat, but the upside: equal view outside both sides of the train. Also the ride is only 90 minutes!

Over the next few days I'll be riding more and meeting with some local experts and government officials to better understand how Taiwan's transit is governed and managed to deliver seamless integration, and any lessons relevant to N.America. x/x

My final observation would be that having some bus lines that are numbered, and some that that have names, can be confusing, especially because names need to be translated, whereas numbers do not. Also numbers can be bigger & more visible from far away as the bus is approaching.

Fortunately the EasyCard is valid on everything, but other passes I could have purchased were not. But obviously if you don’t have to decide how much to put on a card at all, and can just pay as you go with a credit card, that is the easiest system of all.

As usual, fare payment was the source of the most anxiety early on. I’m actually totally OK with buying a special pass for a trip *as long as it actually works on everything*.

So, overall, my first impressions of Taiwan's system is that it was super easy to use, and I was particularly surprised at how easy it was to navigate even when there was limited English information.

The line diagram sign says the frequencies are every 4-6 minutes in peak, 5-10 minutes in the off peak, and every 10-15 minutes on the weekend - super helpful info! For the stop info, I have to rely off of google maps, because onboard there are no English names.

The bus was an extremely pleasant way to get back – far less crowded than the metro, good views, & it zoomed along in dedicated lanes. I deduced that this must be one of the higher-frequency “BRT” type lines in Taipei, which is perhaps why they don’t use numbers.