Zaref (The Transit Bandit)

Zaref (The Transit Bandit)

@thetransitbandit.bsky.social

Exploring the world, one ride at a time

121 Followers 75 Following 48 Posts Joined Jan 2025
3 hours ago

If your transit system got a new manager who destroyed it from the inside with a horrifyingly botched redesign, what would you do?

That's what happened in Pacific County, Washington. And Zaref's video is proudly the first ever reporting on this insane story! Please watch and share.

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4 hours ago

And huge shoutout to @alexdavistransit.bsky.social for creating the beautiful thumbnail for this video and providing guidance through this project!

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4 hours ago
YouTube
How This Transit System Just Destroyed Half its Ridership YouTube video by The Transit Bandit

Welcome to the weirdest transit system you’ve never heard of, let’s take a deep dive into their strange operations and questionable choices that have led to a massive ridership collapse. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiBx...

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4 days ago

I love these Throne restrooms in LA, they’re really great! Hoping this can happen in Seattle

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1 week ago
YouTube
Can You Take Public Transit up the Pacific Coast Highway? YouTube video by The Transit Bandit

The Pacific Coast Highway is a SoCal bucket list item for many visitors and residents. But can you do it without a car? We tried it, and we'll let you know if it's worth doing in my latest YouTube video: youtu.be/2TZT5MNqTsc

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2 weeks ago

Let's talk about how easy driving contributes to the death spiral of declining bus ridership/route frequency, highlighted by @seattletransitblog.com here. KC Metro is fighting back with increased route frequencies, but it's still hard to see where we were pre-pandemic vs now

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2 weeks ago

No one wants urination on pubic transit, this is a ridiculous straw man that lets you very pointedly avoid mentioning a solution, which is because 1) your solution is to spend more transit resources on cops to cycle more people through jail, and 2) you know it will only make things worse.

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1 month ago
YouTube
Stop Hijacking Successful Transit Plans YouTube video by The Transit Bandit

New York, as usual, is in the middle of a transit controversy, this time about whether to fund free buses or a subway expansion plan called the "Better Billion." I took a deep dive into this issue, and examined some concerning arguments made by one side: youtu.be/QTUNdQsJWpI

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1 month ago

I mean you can argue the first 3 do apply to BART, but yes the fourth definitely does not

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1 month ago

I mean the biggest one is that BART is arguably not regional rail but I could be missing something else...

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1 month ago
Screenshot of headline that says "Transit route that loses $590,000 a year is a success story?" followed by "No wonder local governments always have budget problems."

Route 910 is funded by allocations from SB125. It's a tax-funded service partially subsidized by user fees. No one "mismanaged" it, it isn't "losing money". This is like saying governments lose $1 billion by widening a freeway and not recovering 100% of the costs with tolls.

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1 month ago

Point to where the bike lanes hurt you.

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1 month ago

Not to be that guy, but @thetransitbandit.bsky.social and I had a better bus disaster thread, tbh

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2 months ago

What’s stopping you 👀

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2 months ago

For sure!

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2 months ago

Thank you so much!

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2 months ago

The Uwajimaya temptation is so real

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2 months ago

To be fair, once the ST Express network changes are implemented in the fall, Route 574 will be frequent between Federal Way and Tacoma, which at least means this wouldn’t need to be planned around the limited Sounder schedule. Although 574 -> T Line/other PT bus -> 3 is still a little cumbersome

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2 months ago

Thanks for sharing!

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2 months ago
The seatback of a Sound Transit Express bus reading "Thanks for riding Sound Transit"

This machine kills fascists.

Every trip you take on public transit, even on diesel buses, reduces oil dependency.

Buses are significantly more efficient than cars, and many agencies like King County Metro and TriMet have transitioned to renewable diesel, that doesn't get pumped from wells.

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2 months ago

DOOM LOOP: "The Treeactionary Paradox"
A concerned neighbor discovers his kryptonite.
Check out the latest installment of DOOM LOOP: soseaem.org/4pxx7dh
#Seattle #Comics #DoomLoop

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2 months ago
YouTube
Five Cheesecake Factories. One Day. Only Transit. YouTube video by The Transit Bandit

We know that nothing beats a slice of cheesecake, but how about five slices at five locations across San Diego County? That's right, we visited every Cheesecake Factory in the county: youtu.be/IpHZVT0sejc

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2 months ago
Post image

I find this type of comment so elitist. It IS the most inconvenient and stressful form of long distance public transportation, yet people still use it in droves because they have no other choice. Are we going to just pretend that's not an insane class divide worth highlighting?

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2 months ago

To be fair I don’t think it’s that black-and-white. While I wouldn’t necessarily run a bus to this neighborhood, doing so would be less impactful than made out to be. Since there’s nothing on the way, the bus can run at high speed and make no stops, improving operational efficiency.

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3 months ago
Preview
Cutting Federal Transit Funding Won’t Close Budget Gaps — But Will Make Transportation Less Affordable — Streetsblog USA The Trump administration's proposal to eliminate the mass transit account of the Highway Trust Fund would be short-signed, ineffective, and ruinous, a new analysis finds.

The Trump administration's proposal to eliminate the mass transit account of the Highway Trust Fund would be short-signed, ineffective, and ruinous, a new analysis finds.

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3 months ago

For sure - I guess I’m just always a little cautious about 2019 transit nostalgia, but of course having that funding would be lovely

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3 months ago

The bus network was massively focused around commuters and one-seat rides which led to very inefficient service that was also quite lacking on weekends and evenings. So in that sense I think we have a better mindset around transit planning now than we did pre-pandemic.

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3 months ago

To be fair, 2019 transit service had a lot of issues. But having that level of funding back again would be huge and we need to do that.

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4 months ago
YouTube
Is the Essential Air Service a Scam? I Flew it So You Don't Have to. YouTube video by The Transit Bandit

The Essential Air Service costs the US Government millions every year to subsidize flights to small airports, but is it really worth the money? Should we be subsidizing something else instead? Find out in my latest video: youtu.be/SBJX3u7sl_E

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4 months ago

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

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