1.
Vallejo Station
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The Vallejo Station is an inter-modal transit station in Vallejo, California. It is located at the part of Central Vallejo and includes the Vallejo Ferry Terminal, multi-story parking garage/paseo. It is the northernmost ferry terminal in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Vallejo Transit Center is the central transfer point for all SolTrans buses and connects with Napa VINE. The headquarters of SolTrans and Vallejo Convention and Visitors Bureau are located within the station as well
2.
Vallejo, California
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Vallejo is a waterfront port city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census and it is the tenth most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the largest in Solano County. Vallejo sits on the shore of San Pablo Bay,30 miles north of San Francisco. Vallejo is home to the Six Flags Discovery Kingdom theme park, the now-defunct Mare Island Naval Shipyard, the colleges and universities in Vallejo are California Maritime Academy, the Vallejo Center campus of Solano Community College, and Touro University California. Ferry service runs from a terminal on Mare Island Strait to San Francisco, Vallejo has twice served as the capital of the state of California, once in 1852 and again in 1853, both periods being brief. The State Capitol building burned to the ground in the 1880s, as there were no bridges at that time, the Mare Island Fire Department had to be ferried across the Napa River, arriving to find only the foundation remaining. This was the first recorded mutual aid response in the state of California, some of the first Europeans drawn to the Vallejo area were attracted by the sulfur springs, in the year 1902 the area was named Blue Rock Springs. It was also known as White Sulfur Springs and that was the name of the leading to it from town. Vallejo is best known for the Zodiac Killer and being the hometown of Bay Area rappers E-40, according to United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 49.5 square miles. Land area is 30.7 square miles, and 18.9 square miles is water, the Napa River flows until it changes into the Mare Island Strait in Vallejo which then flows into the San Pablo Bay. Vallejo is located on the edge of Solano County, California in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. Vallejo is accessible by Interstate 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento, and is the location for the half of the Carquinez Bridge. It is also accessible by Interstate 780 from neighboring Benicia to the east, Route 29 begins in the city near the Carquinez Bridge and travels north through the heart of the city and beyond into Napa County, entering neighboring American Canyon and eventually Napa. Several faults have been mapped in the vicinity of Vallejo, the San Andreas Fault and Hayward Faults are the most active faults, although the San Andreas is at some distance. Locally, the Sulphur Springs Valley Thrust Fault and Southampton Fault are found, no quaternary seismic activity along these minor faults has been observed with the possible exception of a slight offset revealed by trenching. The Sulphur Mountain and Green Valley faults have been associated with the Concord Fault to the south, the Concord Fault is considered active. Historically there have been local cinnabar mines in the Vallejo area, the Hastings Mine and St. Johns Mine contribute ongoing water contamination for mercury, furthermore, mine shaft development has depleted much of this areas spring water. Both Rindler Creek and Blue Rock Springs Creek have been affected, the city of Vallejo is located 24 miles northeast of San Francisco,20 miles north of Oakland,56 miles north of San Jose and 52 miles south of Sacramento
3.
Benicia, California
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Benicia is a waterside city in Solano County, California, United States. It served as the capital for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the 2010 census, the city is located in the San Francisco Bay Area along the north bank of the Carquinez Strait. Benicia is just east of Vallejo and across the strait from Martinez, elizabeth Patterson has served as Mayor of Benicia since 2007. The town is divided into four areas, the East Side, the West Side, Southampton, most of the towns older homes are on the east and west sides. Southampton contains primarily single-family housing developments and condominiums, most of which were built between 1970 and 2000. The East Side includes the Benicia Arsenal, a former United States Army armory, the Arsenal is home to several historic landmark buildings such as The Clock Tower, the Camel Barn, and the Jefferson Street Mansion. The industrial park lies to the northeast of the areas of the city. The Benicia State Recreation Area is on the far west edge of the city, the main retail area in Benicia is First Street, which attracts out-of-town antique and boutique shoppers and those seeking small-town, historic charm. In 1987 Benicia was selected to participate in the California Main Street Program, connections to Benicia include Interstate 680 from Martinez to the south and Cordelia Junction to the north, and Interstate 780, Columbus Parkway, and other local roads from Vallejo to the west. Amtrak also runs past the city north towards Sacramento, but the nearest train station lies in Martinez across the Carquinez Strait, Railroad tracks carrying Amtrak and Union Pacific Railroad lines cross the strait alongside the Benicia–Martinez Bridge. The City of Benicia was founded on May 19,1847, by Dr. Robert Semple, Thomas O. Larkin and it was named for the Generals wife, Francisca Benicia Carillo de Vallejo. The General intended that the city be named Francisca after his wife, vallejos second given name was used instead. In his memoirs, William Tecumseh Sherman contended that Benicia was the best natural site for a city in the region. Benicia was the site selected to serve as the California state capital. Soon after the legislature was moved to the courthouse in Sacramento, the restored capitol is part of the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park, and is the only building remaining of the states early capitols, which were in San Jose and Vallejo. Benicia was also the county seat of Solano County until 1858, the original campus of Mills College was founded in Benicia in 1852 as the Young Ladies Seminary, and was the first womens college west of the Rockies. Before moving to Oakland in 1871, it was located on West I Street, on June 5,1889, the legendary prize fight between James J. Corbett and Joe Choynski was held on a barge off the coast of Benicia
4.
Solano County, California
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Solano County is a county located in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 413,344, Solano County comprises the Vallejo-Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area. Solano County is the county in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region. A portion of the South Campus at the University of California, Solano County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Chief Solano at one time led the tribes between the Petaluma River and the Sacramento River, the chief was also called Sem-Yeto, which signifies brave or fierce hand. The Chief was given the Spanish name Francisco Solano during baptism at the Catholic Mission, Solano is a common surname in the north of Spain, especially in Navarra, Zaragoza and La Rioja. Travis Air Force Base is located just east of Fairfield, Solano County is the easternmost county of the North Bay. As such, it is reported by news agencies as being in the East Bay. Additionally, a portion of the county extends into the Sacramento Valley, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 906 square miles, of which 822 square miles is land and 84 square miles is water. Service also connects with BART stations in Contra Costa County, transit links are provided to Napa, Yolo and Sacramento counties as well. Greyhound and Amtrak provide long-distance intercity service, general aviation airports in Solano County which are open to the public are the Nut Tree Airport and Rio Vista Municipal Airport. The following table includes the number of reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense. The 2010 United States Census reported that Solano County had a population of 413,344. The racial makeup of Solano County was 210,751 White,60,750 African American,3,212 Native American,60,473 Asian,3,564 Pacific Islander,43,236 from other races, and 31,358 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 99,356 persons, at 52,641 Filipinos in the County making up 12% of the population, Solano County has the largest percentage Filipino population of any County in all of the United States. As of the census of 2000, there were 394,542 people,130,403 households, the population density was 476 people per square mile. There were 134,513 housing units at a density of 162 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 56. 4% White,14. 9% Black or African American,0. 8% Native American,12. 8% Asian,0. 8% Pacific Islander,8. 0% from other races, and 6. 4% from two or more races
5.
Contra Costa County, California
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Contra Costa County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,049,025, the name is Spanish for opposite coast, referring to its position on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. Contra Costa County is included in the San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area and it occupies the northern portion of the East Bay region and is primarily suburban. In the northern part of the county, significant coal and sand deposits were formed in even earlier geologic eras, other areas of the county have ridges exposing ancient but intact seashells, embedded in sandstone layers alternating with limestone. Layers of volcanic ash ejected from geologically recent but now extinct volcanoes, compacted and now tilted by compressive forces, may be seen at the site of some road excavations. This county is an agglomeration of several distinct geologic terranes, as is most of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, younger deposits at middle altitudes include pillow lavas, the product of undersea volcanic eruptions. There is an extensive but little recorded human history pre-European settlement in this area, the earliest definitively established occupation by modern man appears to have occurred six to ten thousand years ago. However, there may have been human presence far earlier, at least as far as non–settling populations are concerned, extensive trading from tribe to tribe transferred exotic materials such as obsidian throughout the region from far distant Californian tribes. Unlike the nomadic Native American of the Great Plains it appears that these tribes did not incorporate warfare into their culture but were generally cooperative. Within these cultures the concept of individual or collective land ownership was nonexistent, early European settlers in the region, however, did not record much about the culture of the natives. Most of what is known comes from preserved contemporaneous and excavated artifacts. Although there were no missions established within this county, Spanish influence here was direct and extensive, in 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mission lands extended throughout the Bay Area, including portions of Contra Costa County, between 1836 and 1846, during the era when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 15 land grants were made in Contra Costa County. Rough surveying was based on a map, or diseño, measured by streams, shorelines, and/or horseman who marked it with rope, lands outside rancho grants were designated el sobrante, as in surplus or excess, and considered common lands. The law required the construction of a house within a year, fences were not required and were forbidden where they might interfere with roads or trails. Locally a large family required roughly 2000 head of cattle and two leagues of land to live comfortably. Foreign entrepreneurs came to the area to provide goods that Mexico couldn’t, Rancho Canada de los Vaqueros was granted to Francisco Alviso, Antonio Higuera, and Manuel Miranda. Two ranchos, both called Rancho San Ramon, were granted by the Mexican government in the San Ramon Valley, in 1833, Bartolome Pacheco and Mariano Castro shared the two square league Rancho San Ramon
6.
Transit bus
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A transit bus is a type of bus used on shorter-distance public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including Low-floor buses, high-floor buses, double-decker buses and these are distinct from all-seated coaches used for longer distance journeys and smaller minibuses, which are typically used for paratransit services. Some industry members and commentators promote the idea of making the interior of a bus as inviting as a private car. Due to the local authority use, transit buses are built to a third-party specification put to the manufacturer by the authority. Early examples of such include the Greater Manchester Leyland Atlantean. New transit buses may be purchased each time a route/area is contracted, the operating area of a transit bus may also be defined as a geographic metropolitan area, with the buses used outside of this area being more varied with buses purchased with other factors in mind. Some regional-size operators for capital cost reasons may use transit buses interchangeably on short urban routes as well as longer routes, sometimes up to 2 or 3 hours. Often transit bus operators have a selection of dual-purpose fitted buses, sometimes transit buses may also be used as express buses on a limited-stopping or non-stop service at peak times, but over the same distance as the regular route. For rear doors, most buses have doors opened by the controls or patron. Most doors will signify that they are unlocked and open with lights, transit buses can be single-decker, double-decker, rigid or articulated. Depending on local policies, transit buses will usually have two, three or four doors to facilitate rapid boarding and alighting. In cases of low-demand routes, or to small local streets, some models of minibus. Due to their public role, transit buses were the first type of bus to benefit from low-floor technology. Transit buses are now subject to various disability discrimination acts in several jurisdictions which dictate various design features also applied to other vehicles in some cases. Fare collection is also seeing a shift to off-bus payment, with either the driver or an inspector verifying fare payments
7.
Paratransit
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Paratransit services may vary considerably on the degree of flexibility they provide their customers. At their simplest they may consist of a taxi or small bus that will run along a more or less defined route, in addition to public transit agencies, Paratransit services are operated by community groups or not-for-profit organizations, and for-profit private companies or operators. Typically, minibuses are used to provide paratransit service, most paratransit vehicles are equipped with wheelchair lifts or ramps to facilitate access. In the United States, private companies often provide paratransit service in cities. Veolia Transport, First Transit and MV Transportation are among the largest private contractors of paratransit services in the United States, definition, any type of public transportation that is distinct from conventional transit, such as flexibly scheduled and routed services such as airport limousines, carpools, etc. Etymology, para- alongside of + transit The use of paratransit has evolved and these are still extremely important in many parts of the world. Paratransit is a mode of flexible passenger transportation that does not follow fixed routes or schedules. Since the early 1980s, particularly in North America, the term began to be used increasingly to describe the second meaning, in this respect, paratransit has become a subsector and business in its own right. The term paratransit is rarely used outside of North America, Section 504 prohibited the exclusion of the disabled from any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Most transit agencies did not see fixed route accessibility as desirable and opted for a system of small paratransit vehicles operating parallel to a system of larger. With the passage of the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was extended to all activities of state. Its provisions were not limited to programs receiving federal funds and applied to all public transit services, Title II of the ADA also more clearly defined a disabled persons right to equal participation in transit programs, and the providers responsibility to make that participation possible. In revisions to Title 49 Part 37, the Federal Transit Administration defined the requirements of the ADA. These requirements included complementary paratransit to destinations within 3/4 mile of all fixed routes, Paratransit service is an unfunded mandate. Title 49 Part 37 details the eligibility rules along with requirements governing how the service must be provided and managed, in the United States, paratransit service is now highly regulated and closely monitored for compliance with standards set by the Federal Transit Administration. As the ADA became effective in 1992, the FTA required transit systems in the United States to plan and begin implementing ADA compliant services, during this period, paratransit demand and services rapidly expanded. This growth led to new approaches to manage and provide these services. Since the passage of the ADA, paratransit service has grown rapidly as a mode of transit in the United States
8.
National Express
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It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE250 Index. In 1972 the state owned National Bus Company decided to bring together the scheduled services operated by its bus operating companies in the United Kingdom under one brand. Sir Frederick Wood, a prominent businessman and industrialist, was asked to oversee the creation of new business model. Initially branded as National, the National Express brand was first used in 1974, with the privatisation of the National Bus Company in the 1980s, National Express was subject to a management buyout in March 1988. The management team began to diversify, and in 1989 purchased Crosville Wales, a new management team took over the company in July 1991, with the backing of mid-market private equity firm, ECI Partners. The new team refocused the group on its activities and sold Crosville Wales to British Bus. In October 1991 it purchased Speedlink, an operator of services between Gatwick and Heathrow Airports. In December 1992 National Express Group plc was floated on the London Stock Exchange, in 1993 Scottish Citylink, Eurolines and East Midlands Airport were acquired. In April 1995 National Express purchased West Midlands Travel, the council owned bus network of Birmingham. This began the family of Travel. Bournemouth Airport was acquired in April 1995, in April 1996 National Express commenced operating its first UK rail franchises, Gatwick Express and Midland Mainline. Other franchises won in 1997 were Silverlink, Central Trains and ScotRail, to comply with a Competition Commission ruling on it winning the ScotRail franchise, National Express sold the Scottish Citylink operation to Metroline in August 1998. In February 1997 Taybus Public Transport was acquired and rebranded Travel Dundee, in February 1999 Robinson Bus Service was purchased followed in August 1999 by Durham Transportation. These acquisitions placed National Express as one of the top three United States school bus operators, in May 1999 National Express purchased Australias largest private bus operator, National Bus Company. National Bus Company had bus operations in Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, Westbus also had a London coach operation. In August 1999 National Express won the M>Train, M>Tram and V/Line Passenger rail franchises in the Australian state of Victoria, in January 2000, National Express expanded into the American market by acquiring ATC, a public transportation operator. In July 2000 Prism Rail was purchased adding the c2c, Wales & Borders, Wessex Trains, in December 2002 National Express handed in its Victoria rail franchises having been unable to renegotiate financial terms with the State Government. In February 2004 the London bus operations of Connex were purchased and rebranded Travel London, in April 2004 National Express East Anglia commenced operating the Greater Anglia rail franchise
9.
Public transport
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Public transport modes include city buses, trolleybuses, trams and passenger trains, rapid transit and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail, high-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world. Most public transport runs to a timetable, with the most frequent services running to a headway. Share taxis offer services in many parts of the world. Paratransit is sometimes used in areas of low demand and for people who need a door-to-door service, there are distinct differences in urban public transit between Asia, North America, and Europe. In Asia, mass transit operations are run by profit-driven privately owned and publicly traded mass transit. In North America, mass transit operations are run by municipal transit authorities. In Europe, mass transit operations are run by both state-owned and private companies. Public transport services can be profit-driven by use of pay-by-the-distance fares or funded by government subsidies in which flat rate fares are charged to each passenger. Services can be profitable through high ridership numbers and high farebox recovery ratios, or can be regulated. Fully subsidized, zero-fare services operate in some towns and cities, for geographical, historical and economic reasons, there are differences internationally regarding use and extent of public transport. It has 3,400 members from 92 countries, conveyances designed for public hire are as old as the first ferries, and the earliest public transport was water transport, on land people walked or rode an animal. Ferries appear in Greek mythology—corpses in ancient Greece were buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay the ferryman Charon to take them to Hades, the omnibus was introduced to London in July 1829. The first passenger railway opened in 1806, it ran between Swansea and Mumbles in southwest Wales in the United Kingdom. In 1825 George Stephenson built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in northeast England, the usability of different types of public transport, and its overall appeal, can be measured by seven criteria, although they overlap somewhat. These are speed, comfort, safety, cost, proximity, speed is calculated from total journey time including transfers. Proximity means how far passengers have to walk or otherwise travel before they can begin the public transport leg of their journey, timeliness is how long they have to wait for the vehicle. Directness records how far a journey using public transport deviates from the shortest route, an airline provides scheduled service with aircraft between airports
10.
Merger
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Mergers and acquisitions are transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations or their operating units are transferred or combined. As an aspect of management, M&A can allow enterprises to grow, shrink. An acquisition or takeover is the purchase of one business or company by company or other business entity. Specific acquisition targets can be identified through a myriad of avenues including market research, trade expos, or sent up from internal business units, such purchase may be of 100%, or nearly 100%, of the assets or ownership equity of the acquired entity. Consolidation occurs when two companies combine to form a new enterprise altogether, and neither of the previous companies remains independently, Acquisitions are divided into private and public acquisitions, depending on whether the acquiree or merging company is or is not listed on a public stock market. Some public companies rely on acquisitions as an important value creation strategy, an additional dimension or categorization consists of whether an acquisition is friendly or hostile. Achieving acquisition success has proven to be difficult, while various studies have shown that 50% of acquisitions were unsuccessful. Serial acquirers appear to be successful with M&A than companies who only make an acquisition occasionally. It is normal for M&A deal communications to take place in a so-called confidentiality bubble wherein the flow of information is restricted pursuant to confidentiality agreements. Hostile acquisitions can, and often do, ultimately become friendly and this usually requires an improvement in the terms of the offer and/or through negotiation. Acquisition usually refers to a purchase of a firm by a larger one. Sometimes, however, a firm will acquire management control of a larger and/or longer-established company. This is known as a reverse takeover, another type of acquisition is the reverse merger, a form of transaction that enables a private company to be publicly listed in a relatively short time frame. A reverse merger occurs when a privately held company buys a publicly listed company, usually one with no business. The overall net effect of M&A transactions appears to be positive, almost all studies report positive returns for the investors in the combined buyer and this implies that M&A creates economic value, presumably by transferring assets to management teams that operate them more efficiently. The buyer buys the assets of the target company, the cash the target receives from the sell-off is paid back to its shareholders by dividend or through liquidation. This type of leaves the target company as an empty shell. A buyer often structures the transaction as a purchase to cherry-pick the assets that it wants and leave out the assets
11.
Demand responsive transport
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DRT systems typically provide a public transport service for areas of low passenger demand, such as rural areas, where a regular bus service would not be viable. DRT services may also be provided especially for disabled passengers, as with paratransit programs, ridership on DRT services is usually quite low, but DRT can provide coverage effectively. DRT schemes may be fully or partially funded by the transit authority. As such, operators of DRT schemes may be selected by public tendering, other schemes may be partially or fully self-funded as community centred not for profit social enterprises. Additionally, journeys may divert en route for new bookings, a DRT service will be restricted to a defined operating zone, within which journeys must start and finish. Journeys may be free form, or accommodated onto skeleton routes and schedules. As such, users will be given a specified pick-up point, some DRT systems may have defined termini, at one or both ends of a route, such as an urban centre, airport or transport interchange, for onward connections. DRT systems require passengers to request a journey by booking with a central dispatcher who determines the journey options available given the location and destination. DRT systems take advantage of fleet telematics technology in the form of vehicle systems, scheduling and dispatching software. In some cases Taxicabs are hired by the DRT provider to serve their routes on request, the status has caused controversy between bus and taxi operators when the DRT service picks up passengers without pre-booking, due to the licensing issues. Issues may also arise surrounding tax and fuel subsidy for DRT services, the large majority of 1,500 rural systems in the US provide demand-response service, there are also about 400 urban DRT systems. For more see or projects web page, some services such as LinkUp only pick up passengers at meeting points, but can set down at the passengers destination. PocketRide, a door-to-door DRT system being developed in Ballarat, Victoria, following some pioneering DRT schemes implemented in the eighties, in Italy a new generation of applications have been launched and are in operation starting from mid nineties. Current schemes are provided in urban and peri-urban areas as well as in rural communities, operated by different kind of organisations such schemes are offered either as intermediate collective transport services for generic users or as schemes for specific user groups. Some information about the scheme can be found on the relevant pages of MPK web site as well as in a short video, DHD provides booking and organization, however, the transport is implemented by several local transport companies. DHD is trying to extent this system as an alternative to the effective and expensive rural public transport with fixed timetables. There are several smaller DRT lines, some of them are listed on this page in Czech cs, more than 200 of the 1700 local governments in Japan have introduced the DRT. For more information see the following On Demand Bus, public transport authority in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik and the surrounding municipalities
12.
Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre station
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The station consists of two elevated side platforms. Service at this station began on May 21,1973 and this station is in BART District 1 and is represented by Gail Murray. A new parking garage opened at the station with 1,547 spaces on June 30,2008, the former station parking lot was converted into the Contra Costa Centre transit village. An improved access path to the station connecting it with the Iron Horse Regional Trail was proposed before the Walnut Creek city council on July 15,2008. The proposal gained support from BART and the local cycling organization, a bridge over Treat Boulevard carrying the Iron Horse Regional Trail was completed on October 2,2010. The Contra Costa County Redevelopment Agency and AvalonBay Communities will cover the cost of changing the signage as part of a planned $3 million upgrade
13.
Laidlaw
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In February 2007, FirstGroup, a bus and rail transportation operator in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in North America, acquired Laidlaw International, Inc. FirstGroup completed the acquisition of Laidlaw International on October 1,2007, the deal combined North America’s two largest private school bus operators — Laidlaw Education Services and First Student Inc. — giving them a combined 40% of the school bus contractor market. Laidlaw had grown primarily through acquisitions of companies and contracting of services formerly directly provided by government entities. In acquiring Laidlaw, FirstGroup announced that the Laidlaw name would not be kept, Laidlaw began in 1924 when founder Robert Laidlaw created Laidlaw Transit, a trucking service company in Hagersville, Ontario, Canada. Beginning in 1972, under the leadership of Michael DeGroote, Laidlaw, Inc. began growing through acquisitions of companies when it acquired a Canadian intercity. In 1979, it acquired a Canadian contract school bus business, in 1978 it entered the U. S. solid waste industry. In 1983, Laidlaw entered the U. S. school bus transportation sector with its acquisition of ARA Transportation, in 1984, Laidlaw Inc. exited the trucking business, as the company began a consolidating smaller school bus contracting companies in the U. S. and Canada. In 1988, Laidlaw, Inc. purchased a controlling interest in itself from Canadian Pacific Limited, instances of reverse privatization were rare, but did occur during Laidlaws years of expansion. In Virginia, several school districts canceled their school bus contracts with private operators, by the late 1980s, the only 3 remaining district school bus contracts were at Petersburg, Norfolk and Hopewell. Self-operation conversions for all three were urged by Virginia Department of Education officials as cost-saving, Virginia Overland Transportation was an operator of public service transportation and a much smaller industry consolidator in the state. The company had also lost their contract in Petersburg to self-operation in 1989, the latter converted in 1996, and Virginia Overlands parent company based in Richmond closed in 2004. The former Virginia Overland subsidiary operation in the Norfolk area acquired from Laidlaw operates as Transquest and is now owned by Serco, as of 2007, Transquest was continuing bus contract operations transporting students to many independent schools in South Hampton Roads, including Norfolk Academy. In the 1990s, Laidlaw continued to acquire hundreds of school bus and public transit contractors in the U. S. These also included major competitors, including Mayflower Contract Services in 1995, around the same time, the company acquired American Medical Response, a nationwide U. S. ambulance service provider and CareLine, Inc. U. S. ambulance consolidator of smaller ambulance contractors, in 1996, Laidlaw sold its solid waste business to Allied Waste Industries. Allied Waste sold the Canadian operations to USA Waste Services, Inc, Laidlaw American branches were re-branded to many different names, depending on their location. In 1998, a year, Laidlaw Inc. acquired Greyhound Lines U. S. operations, Greyhound Canada. Laidlaw International, Inc. listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, on February 10,2004
14.
Gillig Phantom
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The Gillig Phantom is a high-floor bus that was produced from 1980 to 2008 by the Gillig Corporation in Hayward, California. The successor to the Gillig Transit Coach, the production of the Phantom marked the transition of bus production from yellow school buses to transit buses. While a few examples of the Phantom were produced as a bus, most were sold in the latter configuration, as of 2016. The Phantom is the first transit bus assembled entirely by Gillig, from 2005 onward, only the 102-inch-wide version was available due to stricter emissions and accessibility requirements. A liquefied natural gas fueled version was produced beginning in 1992, a diesel-electric hybrid powered version was sold from 1996 to 2006, MTA in New York purchased a Gillig Phantom hybrid demo bus as well as diesels for MTA Long Island bus. The Phantom was available with a rear door or a wide rear door. Initially, the rear door option consisted of two narrow doors, but this was reduced to one wide door by the 1990s. Most Phantoms transit authorities opted for the rear door. The Phantom could be ordered with dual headlights or quad headlights, Phantoms could be ordered with the wheelchair lift in either the front door or rear door. Those with the lift in the door had a slightly wider rear door to accommodate the lift. Most Phantoms were ordered with the lift in the front door. A rare option for the Phantom was a rear window, monterey-Salinas Transit and King County Metro are the only two transit authorities known to have ordered Phantoms with a rear window. Another rare option was windows that did not open, theBus in Honolulu, Hawaii ordered their 1995-2003 Phantoms that way. Sound Transits 2008 Phantoms also had windows that didnt open, the Gillig Phantom is also available with luggage racks on the top for the baggage for the suburban version. Production of the Phantom ended in September 2008, with some of the last buses going to Sound Transit, with the Phantom discontinued, Gillig produces only low-floor buses. There is also trolley bus version used on the Seattle King Metro Service, in 1986, Gillig introduced a school bus variant of the Phantom, the successor to the Transit Coach, the Phantom School Bus was the first all-new school bus from Gillig in 42 years. Although well received by its operators, sales dropped off in the late 1980s, aside from the obvious school bus yellow color scheme and warning lights, Phantom school buses were distinguished from the standard Phantom by several exterior design features. As it was the maximum approved width at the time for the type, additionally, they were equipped with dual vertical windshields, a rear window, left-side emergency exit door, and single curbside door
15.
Martinez station
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Martinez is an Amtrak passenger train station in Martinez, California, United States, the county seat of Contra Costa County. The station was opened in September 2001, superseding an earlier building that still stands a couple of blocks to the east. Prior to the creation of Amtrak on May 1,1971, the station is served by local County Connection bus service and connecting service from WestCAT, and Tri-Delta Transit, as well as an Amtrak Thruway Bus Service. The station includes a center for buses, passenger drop off and pick-up zones, a taxi stand. The station is served by 42 Amtrak passenger trains each weekday and 34 per day on the weekends, the Capitol Corridor service runs between San Jose, CA and Sacramento, CA and offers 30 trains per weekday. The San Joaquin service offers 8 trains daily between Oakland, CA and Bakersfield, CA, the California Zephyr and the Coast Starlight each operate one train daily in each direction. Of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, Martinez was the sixth-busiest in fiscal 2013 and this Station is located in Contra Costa County. County Connection is the transit agency charged with providing bus service. Route 98X offers a bus service to the Walnut Creek BART station. Routes 3,16,18,19, and 28 provide local bus service to the Concord, North Concord/Martinez, and Pleasant Hill BART stations, as well as points in between, including Diablo Valley College. There is an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach service to McKinleyville, CA300 miles to the north of Martinez, via Vallejo, Napa, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Garberville, Amtrak – Stations – Martinez, CA Martinez Amtrak Station Martinez -Great American Stations
16.
MV Transportation
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MV Transportation, Inc. based in Dallas, Texas. Is the largest private provider of services and the largest privately owned transportation contracting firm in the United States. MV Transportation, Inc. was founded in 1975 in San Francisco, California, by husband and wife team Alex and Feysan Lodde, for the first twenty years of service, the company remained small, operating in fewer than 10 locations. In the mid 1990s the transportation industry experienced a wave of consolidation when several small, as a result, privately held MV found itself facing major multinational corporations. At this time, MV Transportation recruited a number of top professionals who developed and expanded the company under the guidance of the Loddes. Today, MV Transportation has $1 billion in revenue and operates nearly 10,000 vehicles across the United States. It offers cities, counties, transit authorities and private transportation in paratransit, fixed route, flex route, commuter service. MV also contracts with several entities to provide services, operating all modes of service under one contract. 1978, incorporated in the State of California as MediVan 1984,2010, MV Transportation was celebrated by client, Bechtel Corporation for its work at Motiva Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. The MV division drove one million miles and carried one million passengers at the site,2012, MV Transportation relocated its global headquarters from Fairfield, California to Dallas, Texas
17.
Controlling interest
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A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders motion. A majority of voting shares is always a controlling interest, in the United States, Delaware corporations have a 2/3 vote requirement for a motion to pass. In theory, this could mean that a controlling interest would have to be one third of the voting shares. Consolidation Minority interest Holding company Parent company Subsidiary
18.
Walnut Creek, California
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Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located 16 miles east of the city of Oakland in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its active downtown neighborhood features hundred-year-old buildings and extensive high-end retail establishments, restaurants, as of 2014, the citys total estimated population is 67,673. Diablo, and the Tactan at Danville and Walnut Creek, on San Ramon Creek, todays Walnut Creek is located amidst the earlier site of four Mexican land grants. One of these land grants – measuring 18,000 acres – belonged to Juana Sanchez de Pacheco, Ygnacio Sibrian, one of the grandsons, created the first roofed home in the valley in about 1850. The grant was called Rancho Arroyo de Las Nueces y Bolbones, named after the principal waterway, the Arroyo de las Nueces was named for the occurrence in the valley of the native species of walnut tree, the California Walnut. With the coming of American settlers following the Mexican-American War, a settlement called The Corners emerged, named because it was the place where roads from Pacheco. The site of this first American settlement is today at the intersection of Mt. Diablo Boulevard. The first town settler was William Slusher, who built a dwelling on the bank of Walnut Creek, in the year 1855, Milo Hough of Lafayette built the hotel named Walnut Creek House in the corners. A blacksmith shop and a store soon joined the hotel, two decades later, the community changed its name from The Corners to Walnut Creek. In December 1862 a United States Post Office was established, the downtown street patterns laid out in 1871–1872 by pioneer Homer Shuey on a portion of one of his familys large cattle ranches are still present today. Walnut Creek began to grow with the arrival of Southern Pacific Railroad service in 1891, on October 21,1914, the town and the surrounding area of 500 acres ), were incorporated as the 8th city in Contra Costa County. A branch line of the Southern Pacific railroad ran through Walnut Creek until the late 1970s, the East Bay Regional Park Districts Iron Horse Trail, used by walkers, runners and bikers, runs over what were portions of that branch line. The mainline of the Sacramento Northern Railway passed through Walnut Creek, today, the Pittsburg/Bay Point – SFO Line line of the Bay Area Rapid Transit serves Walnut Creek with a station adjacent to Highway 680. Walnut Creek is located at 37°54′23″N 122°03′54″W, portions lie in both the San Ramon Valley and the Ygnacio Valley below the western slopes of Mount Diablo. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 19.8 sq mi,0.06 percent of which is water. Walnut Creek owns more open space per capita than any community in the state of California. In 1974, Walnut Creek voters approved a $6.7 million bond measure that allowed the city to purchase 1,800 acres of undeveloped hillsides, ridge lines, and park sites. Walnut Creek owns parts of Lime Ridge Open Space, Shell Ridge Open Space, Acalanes Ridge Open Space, the East Bay Regional Park District operates Diablo Foothills Regional Park and Castle Rock Regional Recreation Area, both in Walnut Creek
19.
Great Recession
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The Great Recession was a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country, in terms of overall impact, the International Monetary Fund concluded that it was the worst global recession since World War II. According to the US National Bureau of Economic Research the recession, as experienced in that country, began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, the Great Recession was related to the financial crisis of 2007–08 and U. S. subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–09. The Great Recession has resulted in the scarcity of valuable assets in the market economy, under the academic definition, the recession ended in the United States in June or July 2009. In the broader, lay sense of the word however, many use the term to refer to ongoing hardship. The Great Recession met the IMF criteria for being a recession, requiring a decline in annual real world GDP per‑capita. According to the U. S. National Bureau of Economic Research the recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, the years leading up to the crisis were characterized by an exorbitant rise in asset prices and associated boom in economic demand. Further, the U. S. shadow banking system had grown to rival the depository system yet was not subject to the regulatory oversight. US mortgage-backed securities, which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around the world, the emergence of sub-prime loan losses in 2007 began the crisis and exposed other risky loans and over-inflated asset prices. With loan losses mounting and the fall of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008, the global recession that followed resulted in a sharp drop in international trade, rising unemployment and slumping commodity prices. Several economists predicted that recovery might not appear until 2011 and that the recession would be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Economist Paul Krugman once commented on this as seemingly the beginning of a second Great Depression. Governments and central banks responded with fiscal and monetary policies to national economies. The recession has renewed interest in Keynesian economic ideas on how to combat recessionary conditions, economists advise that the stimulus should be withdrawn as soon as the economies recover enough to chart a path to sustainable growth. Income inequality in the United States has grown from 2005 to 2012 in more than 2 out of 3 metropolitan areas, median household wealth fell 35% in the US, from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011. The majority report of the U. S, Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, composed of six Democratic and four Republican appointees, reported its findings in January 2011. There were two Republican dissenting FCIC reports, one of them, signed by three Republican appointees, concluded that there were multiple causes. He wrote, When the bubble began to deflate in mid-2007, There are several narratives attempting to place the causes of the recession into context, with overlapping elements. Four such narratives include, There was the equivalent of a run on the shadow banking system
20.
Fairfield, California
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Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Solano County, California, United States. It is located in the North-eastern part of the Bay Area, Fairfield was founded in 1856 by clippership captain Robert H. Waterman, and named after his former hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut. It is the home of Travis Air Force Base and the headquarters of Jelly Belly, with a population of 108,321 at the 2010 census, it is slightly smaller in population than Vallejo. Other nearby cities include Suisun City, Vacaville, Rio Vista, Benicia, and Napa. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 37.6 square miles. The total area is 5. 65% water, the city is located within the California Coastal Ranges. The city is centered directly north of the Suisun Bay and northeast of the San Pablo Bay, much of the Suisun Bay contains the Suisun Marsh, the largest saltwater marsh on the west coast of the United States. According to the City of Fairfield website, Native Americans, such as those from the Ion culture, settled in the Rockville, the first European contact came in 1810 when the Spanish army was ordered to attack the Suisun Indians. In 1835 the Mexican General Vallejo was so magnanimous in victory over the Indian Chief Sem Yeto that the later became his ally in conflicts against other tribes. In 1837 the Indian Chief Solano received the Rancho Suisun Mexican land grant and this grant eventually came into the hands of a clipper ship captain from Fairfield, Connecticut named Robert H. Waterman. He not only parceled out the town in 1856, but also, in a shrewd move, entered Fairfield in the race for Solano County seat in 1858. As an inducement he granted 16 acres of land for the construction of county buildings, in 1903 Fairfield was incorporated as a city. The 2010 United States Census reported that Fairfield had a population of 105,321, the population density was 2,798.5 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Fairfield was 48,407 White,16,586 African American,869 Native American,15,700 Asian,1,149 Pacific Islander,13,301 from other races, and 9,309 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 28,789 persons,21. 2% of Fairfield is Mexican,1. 1% Puerto Rican,1. 0% Salvadoran,0. 5% Nicaraguan,0. 3% Guatemalan,0. 2% Cuban, and 0. 2% Peruvian. The Census reported that 102,832 people lived in households,1,221 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, there were 2,052 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 237 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 6,802 households were made up of individuals and 2,500 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.98. There were 25,843 families, the family size was 3.42
21.
El Cerrito, California
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El Cerrito is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, and forms part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a population of 23,549 according to the 2010 census, El Cerrito was founded by refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It was incorporated in 1917 as a village with 1500 residents, as of the census in 2000, there were 23,171 people,10,208 households and 5971 families in the city. El Cerrito was founded by refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and they settled in what was then Don Víctor Castros Rancho San Pablo, and adjacent to the ranch owned by the family of Luís María Peralta, the Rancho San Antonio. A post office opened at the settlement in 1909 and the camp became known as Rust, after Wilhelm F. Rust. The villages residents did not care for the name and changed it to El Cerrito in 1916, a year later, El Cerrito was incorporated as a village with 1,500 residents. The name means hill or knoll. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 3.7 square miles. The city is at an elevation of 69 feet, El Cerrito is located on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. The hilly areas of El Cerrito provide spectacular views of its famous neighbor, El Cerrito is located along Interstate 80, and nearby Interstate 580. The city is less than 30 miles from two major airports, El Cerrito is bordered by Albany and Kensington to the south, the Richmond annex to the west, East Richmond Heights to the north, and Wildcat Canyon Regional Park to the east. Local landmark Albany Hill is in Albany, just across the border with El Cerrito, the Hayward Fault runs through El Cerrito. In addition, El Cerrito is within 150 meters of Berkeley to the southeast, El Cerrito is approximately 5 miles from the University of California Berkeley campus and has two BART stations, El Cerrito del Norte and El Cerrito Plaza. FAST, Golden Gate Transit, Vallejo Transit, Napa VINE, San Pablo Avenue stretches the length of El Cerrito and is the primary commercial and retail corridor of the city. The shopping center is surrounded by commercial and retail businesses along San Pablo Avenue. El Cerrito city parks include both recreation/sports parks as well as undeveloped nature areas, most notable are the 80-acre Hillside Natural Area open space, Huber Park, Cerrito Vista Park, and Arlington Park, Tassajara Park, Poinsett Park, and the Canyon Trail Park and Art Center. The city is home to Arhoolie Records, part of the Smithsonian Institution, also located in the city is Playland-Not-At-The-Beach, a popular amusement park museum. The 2010 United States Census reported that El Cerrito had a population of 23,549, the population density was 6,385.3 people per square mile
22.
Pleasant Hill, California
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Pleasant Hill is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 33,152 at the 2010 census, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.1 square miles. Pleasant Hill has a landscape with some valleys and rolling hills. In undisturbed wilderness, oak woodlands and mixed woods can be found and it is located in the central East San Francisco Bay. Winter daytime temperatures tend to be in the fifties and sixties, on very rare occasions, the temperatures can reach the one hundred degree range during extreme heat waves. Freezing in winter is rare, but it does happen, summer fog is occasional but winter fog is very common. This area began to be developed more in the 1920s, as agricultural land was subdivided for housing. Monument Boulevard was named after the Soldiers Memorial Monument to commemorate soldiers of the Great War and it was erected on December 11,1927. The monument depicts one black and three white soldiers and it is 45 feet tall, constructed of formed concrete, and weighs 150 tons. In 1954 the monument was moved to its current site at Boyd Road, developed largely in the years following World War II, this area did not have a post office until 1948. On February 21,1967, Century 21 Theaters opened an 895-seat dome theater between Monument Boulevard and Hookston Road, visible from the freeway after it was constructed, the futuristic dome-topped cinema became an iconic landmark for the newly incorporated city. The theater was designed by prolific Bay Area architect Vincent G. Raney and it had a distinctive 50-foot-high domed ceiling and oversized curved screen. The theater was built to showcase the Cinerama widescreen process developed in the 1950s. The screen was later updated to standard flat-screen, in 1973, four additional single-screen auditoriums were added to the front of the building. Renamed as Century 5 Theatres, it continued to be known familiarly as the Dome, the city hall of Pleasant Hill, completed in the late 20th century, has won several awards for architectural design. For most of its history, Pleasant Hill did not have a true downtown or Main Street, in 1991, the city began planning the redevelopment of the area around the intersection of Monument and Contra Costa boulevards. In July 2000, Downtown Pleasant Hill finally opened, the privately owned and operated outdoor shopping center was designed to resemble a typical small Main Street. Starting in 2003, CinéArts operated the former Century 5 Theatres, screening primarily independent, due to changes in viewing habits, as many people screened movies at home, business continued to decline
23.
Bay Area Rapid Transit
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Bay Area Rapid Transit is a public transportation system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The rapid transit elevated and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in Alameda, Contra Costa, BART operates 5 routes on 104 miles of track connecting 45 stations, plus a 3. 2-mile automated guideway transit line to the Oakland International Airport which adds an additional station. A spur line in eastern Contra Costa County will utilize other rail technologies, with an average of 433,000 weekday passengers and 128.5 million annual passengers in fiscal year 2016, BART is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States. The systems acronym is pronounced Bart, like the name, BART is operated by the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, formed in 1957. As of 2017, it is being expanded to San Jose with the consecutive Warm Springs, some of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Systems current coverage area was once served by an electrified streetcar and suburban train system called the Key System. This early 20th-century system once had regular trans-bay traffic across the deck of the Bay Bridge. By the mid-1950s, that system had been dismantled in favor of highway travel, a new rapid-transit system was proposed to take the place of the Key System during the late 1940s, and formal planning for it began in the 1950s. Some funding was secured for the BART system in 1959, passenger service began on September 11,1972, initially just between MacArthur and Fremont. All nine Bay Area counties were involved in the planning and envisioned to be connected by BART, before the system began revenue service, serious problems in the design and operation of the Automatic Train Control system were observed. Three engineers working for BART, Max Blankenzee, Robert Bruder, BART management was dismissive of their concerns, so the three took the issue to the board of directors. All but two of the directors voted in February 1972 to support management and reject the safety concerns, management retaliated against the engineers, firing them in March 1972. The IEEE later filed the first amicus brief in its history to support the engineers. The California Society of Professional Engineers reported to the California State Senate in June 1972 that there were serious safety risks with the ATC. Legislative analyst A. Alan Post, opened an investigation immediately, an ATC failure caused the train to run off the end of the elevated track and crash to the ground, injuring four people on-board, and drawing national and international attention. The “Fremont Flyer” led to a redesign of the train controls. The California State Public Utilities Commission imposed stringent oversight over train operations, the legislative analyst issued the first of three “Post Reports” in November 1972. The report was “sharply critical” of BART, finding that the ATC system was unreliable, the ATC program was mismanaged, and “no solution was in sight. ”The report accused BART of paying excessive fees for engineering services. BART’s general manager called the indictment of safety in the Post Report “not only disappointing, telephone calls were placed manually between stations, instead
24.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
25.
San Francisco Bay Ferry
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San Francisco Bay Ferry is a passenger ferry service on the San Francisco Bay, administered by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority. San Francisco Bay Ferry is not affiliated with Golden Gate Ferry, the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority is a government entity created by the California state legislature in 2007 by Senate Bill 976. The organization was formerly the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority, WETA has assumed ferry service previously operated by the City of Alameda and Port of Oakland. The ferry lines operated under the Alameda/Oakland Ferry and Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry names, service to the city of South San Francisco began on 4 June 2012, which also coincided with use of the new San Francisco Bay Ferry name. Ferry service from Oakland began informally on the day of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake when the Bay Bridge was closed, WETA assumed control of the City of Vallejos Baylink Ferry service on July 1,2012. Ferry service from Vallejo to San Francisco dates back to 1986, approximately half of the agencys operating funds come from Regional Measure 2, a $1 toll increase on Bay Area bridges approved in 2004, and the other half comes from fares. WETA plans to new service from Berkeley and Richmond to San Francisco. Its long-term vision also includes service from San Francisco to Antioch, Hercules, Martinez, Redwood City, and Treasure Island. WETA currently operates regular ferry service from Oakland and Alameda to the San Francisco Ferry Building, Pier 41, Angel Island. It also operates limited service from Vallejo, Oakland and Alameda to AT&T Park for San Francisco Giants baseball home games, free parking is available at the Oakland, Alameda, and South San Francisco ferry terminals. Paid parking is limited, but available, at San Franciscos ferry terminals, service operates between the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal and the Ferry Building. This service began in 1992 and was operated as the Alameda Harbor Bay Ferry. The ferry line provides weekday service only. It takes 30 minutes to cross the bay, with clipper card, fare is $5 each way. Without clipper card, individual one way tickets can be purchased on the boat at $6.25 for adult, daily service operates between Oakland, Alameda, and San Francisco. Limited, seasonal service to Angel Island also is provided. This service began in 1989 and was operated as the Alameda/Oakland Ferry. Service began to Alameda and Oakland on 4 June 2012 and was expanded to include San Francisco in April 2013, the ferry line provides weekday rush-hour service to Oakland and Alameda, as well as leisure service to San Francisco on a limited basis
26.
AC Transit
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AC Transit is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates Transbay routes across San Francisco Bay to San Francisco and selected areas in San Mateo, AC Transit is constituted as a special district under California law. It is governed by seven elected members and it is not a part of or under the control of Alameda or Contra Costa counties or any local jurisdictions. Buses operate out of three operating divisions, Emeryville, East Oakland, and Hayward, the Operations Control Center is located in Emeryville. The Richmond operating division closed in 2011, the District is the public successor to the privately owned Key System. The Districts bus lines also serve parts of some other East Bay communities, including Milpitas, Pinole, most routes connect with regional train service, primarily BART, in addition to ACE and Amtrak, including the Capitol Corridor. While most AC Transit service consists of lines throughout the East Bay. Most of these run across the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge to connect communities as distant as El Sobrante, Bus service is also provided across the San Mateo and Dumbarton bridges to the south. AC Transits primary hubs include BART stations, major shopping centers, and points of interest, most routes serve and/or terminate at BART stations, providing convenience for transit users. The hubs include, See also AC Transits page on fares and passes or AC Transits page on bus fares, on July 1,2014, AC Transit introduced a Day Pass, designed for customers taking more than two local buses in a day. The pass is good for unlimited rides on local routes from 3,01 a. m. to 3,00 a. m. Customers can obtain a Day Pass in one of two ways, Using Clipper, Customers keep cash value on their card. Once fares equalling the Day Pass price have been deducted, the Day Pass automatically activates, on subsequent rides, the card is tagged but no additional fare is deducted. On-Board, Customers deposit the amount in the farebox and request a Day Pass from the bus operator. On subsequent rides, the pass is swiped at the farebox, AC Transit fares are structured to promote the use of Clipper. Not only are local bus rides cheaper, but certain interagency transfers and day passes are easier to obtain, monthly passes are only available on Clipper. Local BART-to-bus transfer, $0.25 cash discount to and from BART with paper transfer issued at BART, applied as $0.50 Clipper discount on bus trip away from BART only. To transfer from AC Transit to another bus agency without Clipper, to transfer from another bus agency to AC Transit without Clipper, ask the other bus driver for a transfer. Notes, All fares are in USD,1 Issued upon request when full price is paid
27.
County Connection
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The County Connection is a Concord-based public transit agency operating fixed-route bus and ADA paratransit service in and around central Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon their incorporation, the town of Danville and the city of San Ramon also joined CCCTA, CCCTA is governed by a board of directors, with a representative appointed from each of its member cities and the county. Day-to-day operations are overseen by the General Manager, on 1 July 1980, CCCTA began operating service with its first route serving Walnut Creek. The changeover from AC Transit to County Connection was somewhat gradual, among its 30 weekday routes, the County Connection operates seven express routes. With support from the city of Walnut Creek, the County Connection also operates a downtown circulator with trolley livery with service between Walnut Creek and Broadway Plaza. 600-numbered series routes are select service trips convenient to area schools, service is provided on the following 11 routes, Fares are effective 22 March 2009 † Children five years of age and under may ride free, but may ride only when accompanied by an adult. ‡ Proper identification must be presented to obtain the reduced Senior/Disabled fare, ₮ In order to facilitate passenger connections between County Connection buses, transfer slips are issued upon request at the time the proper fare is paid. Transfers are good for up to two uses and are valid for two hours on weekdays and three hours on weekends, bART-Bus Transfers do not require an additional fare. It is $1, and transfers are available at machines inside connecting BART stations, the current fixed-route fleet consists of 132 wheelchair-accessible buses manufactured by Gillig. Each bus is accessible by a ramp, and has space for two wheelchairs, buses feature Clever Devices GPS-based automatic voice annunciation and visual next-stop announcements. Each bus has the capacity for two bicycles on a front bumper-mounted rack, with an additional two bicycles permitted aboard at the bus operators discretion. In 2006, the County Connection partnered with Moore & Associates, Inc. a public transit marketing firm, to develop and this resulted in the transit agencys Amigos de Viajar program. The program was created to provide one-on-one instructional outreach to Spanish-speaking persons within Concords Monument Corridor community, as a result,12 volunteers were trained in how to provide fellow community members with trip planning assistance. The volunteers, identified by their high-visibility yellow vests, can be seen at area bus stops, transit centers, the film was printed to DVD and distributed to organizations throughout the Monument community and greater Concord
28.
Golden Gate Transit
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Golden Gate Transit is a public transportation system serving the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. It primarily serves Marin and Sonoma counties, and also limited service to San Francisco. Funding for cross-bridge Transbay bus service is subsidized by Golden Gate Bridge tolls in addition to traditional federal. GGT provides some bus service within Marin County under contract with Marin Transit, Golden Gate Transit is constituted as a special district under California State Law, as evidenced by Assembly Bill 584, creating the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. Napa, Mendocino, and Del Norte,1 Director each, Golden Gate Transit has alleviated congestion on the Golden Gate Bridge and along the Golden Gate Corridor since 1972. A history of service is listed below, with average annual increase in traffic of 70% over 30 years, the Bridge was close to reaching its saturation point. As congestion mounted, several studies were undertaken to identify alternate means of travel between Marin County and San Francisco, the San Francisco-Marin Crossings report of May 1967 looked at the possibility of building another bridge. The District also considered adding a second deck to the Bridge, the Marin County Transit District considered taking over the existing Greyhound system as a commute service to San Francisco. Greyhound provided transit between Marin County and San Francisco at the time and it was unprofitable, so Greyhound management planned to abandon it. As air pollution increased and congestion took its toll on commuters, San Francisco, Marin, the plan called for bus service from neighborhoods in Marin and Sonoma Counties to the San Francisco Financial District and Civic Center areas. By the late 1960s, the Bridge was operating at capacity during the commute period. Original Bridge construction bonds were due to be retired in 1971, and this included any and all forms of transit, including buses and ferries. The word Transportation was added to the Districts name at that time to indicate its new commitment to public transportation, the legislature did not give the District the authority to levy taxes. Legislation also restricted the use of Bridge tolls to support only regional transit services, on 10 December 1971, Assembly Bill 919 was passed, requiring the District to develop a long-range transportation program for the corridor. Bus service began in December 1970 when the District initiated a service to the Sausalito Ferry Terminal using 5 buses leased from Greyhound on 4 bus routes driven by 4 drivers. The District soon bought 132 buses to start its operations, in September 1971, the District hired 30 experienced Greyhound drivers to operate the new bus service. GGT began operating bus service in December 1971 under contract with MCTD. The initial GGT system was operated with 152 buses and facilities in Novato and Santa Rosa, in 1974, the District opened its permanent bus administration and central maintenance facility at 1011 Andersen Drive in San Rafael
29.
VINE Transit
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VINE Transit is a public transportation service in Napa County, California, United States, it is managed under the Napa Valley Transportation Authority and operated by Transdev. The system offers service throughout the County along with providing connections to other public transportation systems in adjacent counties. The Napa VINE provides services to the cities, towns. Most buses are painted white with the previous VINE logo printed on the side of the bus, however, the DE40LF buses offer artwork promoting VINEs environmentally friendly features, these buses were also wrapped to promote Spare the Air. In addition, a number of Gillig Phantom buses exclusive to Route 21, are wrapped in advertising promoting that route, previously, the livery was simply a green bordered red horizontal stripe with City of Napa written near the front in white letters. VINE Go and Calistoga Shuttle use Ford-based ElDorado National Aerolite cutaways, Yountville Trolley features a Hometown Trolley Mainstreet tourist trolley that is painted green on red. VINE Transit in Napa operates a system of eight local. Unless noted, Sunday service is not provided, VINE manages and operates a number of deviated fixed-route or dial-a-ride bus services in other cities and towns using different brand names. American Canyon Transit is a deviated fixed-route service in American Canyon that operates two routes, one for service and another for normal service. ACT connects with SolTrans Route 1, and VINE Routes 11 and 29, Calistoga Shuttle is an on-demand dial-a-ride service that operates within Calistoga St. Helena VINE is a deviated fixed route service that operates a route within the city of St. Helena. It connects to VINE Routes 10 and 29, Yountville Trolley is a deviated fixed route service that operates a north-south route in the city of Yountville. It connects to VINE Routes 10 and 29, to board a VINE bus, a passenger must either present a pass, Clipper Card, transfer slip or pay a cash fare. VINE offers discount passes in 31-day and 20-ride formats, a 31-day pass offers unlimited rides for 31 consecutive days from the first day of use on regular routes, there are two separate types of 31-day passes for Route 29. For 20-ride passes, one use is used to board a regular bus, transfer slips are issued to passengers who pay cash fare or use punch passes. They are used to transfer from one route to another without the need to pay an additional fare or punch. They can be used on buses for an additional charge. Since 2014, Clipper Cards are accepted and various 31-day passes can be loaded onto the card, if nothing is presented, a cash fare must be paid. Below lists the fare and pass prices for routes 1 through 11, Route 25 fares are $1.60 for all fare types, however local passes can be used on the route
30.
WestCAT
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WestCAT is a public transportation service in western Contra Costa County. It is a service of the Western Contra Costa Transit Authority, the Western Contra Costa County Transit was established in August 1977 as a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement between Contra Costa County and the cities of Hercules and Pinole. WestCAT is governed by a 7-member Board of Directors and supported by staff of seven. WestCATs fleet started out with shuttle vans, and then using buses made by El Dorado National, now, WestCAT runs an almost all Gillig fleet, ranging from 19 Gillig Phantoms, to 18 Gillig Low Floors. WestCAT also has 5 Motor Coach Industries over-the-road coaches for use on the LYNX, in addition, WestCAT has 10 Ford E-450 Paratransit vans, and 2 Toyota Camry hybrid electric sedans used for Dial-A-Ride. As of September 2013, WestCAT provides a network of local, in addition, WestCAT operates regional service between Martinez and the Hercules Transit Center and between the Hercules Transit Center and Contra Costa College. The routes are 10,11,12,15,16,17,18, from the Hercules Transit Center the line then goes nonstop to San Francisco via the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on I-80. WestCAT currently offers free Wi-Fi service on the LYNX line, Richmond Parkway Transit Center service only during midday from 9, 40am to 2, 30pm, route also serves Hercules Transit Center. JR Via Richmond Parkway and Blume Drive and JL Via Lakeside Drive, route serves Hercules Transit Center, and most peak period services also serve Bio-Rad, all terminating at Victoria By The Bay. Also operates midday trips between San Francisco and Hercules Transit Center, and it does not serve Bio-Rad or Victoria By The Bay, fares are effective 1 October 2008. † Children under six years of age may ride free, limit 2 children under six years per fare paying adult. ‡ Appropriate identification must be presented to obtain the discounted Senior/Disabled fare, # East Bay Value Pass value on all WestCAT, County Connection, Wheels and Tri Delta Transit fixed-route buses, with the exception of LYNX. ₮ In order to facilitate connections between WestCAT and other agency, transfer slips are issued upon request at the time the proper fare is paid
31.
Gillig Low Floor
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The Gillig Low Floor is a transit bus manufactured by the Gillig Corporation. The second low-floor bus introduced in the United States, the Low Floor has been produced since 1997. Originally produced alongside the Gillig Phantom as an expansion of the product range, the Low Floor has become the successor to the Phantom. The Gillig Low Floor is assembled in Hayward, California, the Gillig Low Floor began life in the mid-1990s as Gillig was approached by Hertz Corporation to develop a shuttle bus for its rental car parking lots at airports to replace its aging GMC RTS buses. Featuring a carpeted interior, luggage racks, and an entry door. In 1996, the first buses for Hertz entered production, Gillig would produce the H2000LF for Hertz through 2005, as the design was replaced by standard Gillig Low Floor buses. In 1997, Gillig modified the H2000LF design for use as a transit bus, the non-Hertz buses were named the Gillig Low Floor, introduced alongside the step-entrance Gillig Phantom. During its production, the Gillig Low Floor has seen revisions to its body design, in 2002, the windshield was enlarged and the side windows were reduced in width. In 2008, the glass of both entry doors was enlarged, a suburban configuration was added, identified externally by the lack of a rear entry door. In place of transit seating, the configuration is equipped with forward-facing seating, internal luggage racks, onboard Wi-Fi, the Gillig Low Floor is produced in three body lengths in its standard transit bus configuration, with 29 ft,35 ft, and 40 ft lengths available. Maximum seating capacity is 28 for the 29-foot bus,32 for the 35-foot bus, throughout its production, the Gillig Low Floor has featured a range of Cummins engines along with Caterpillar and Detroit Diesel engines. Since 2004, the Gillig Low Floor has been available in a hybrid configuration with the Cummins ISB engine. Depending on variant, the Gillig Low Floor is produced with a range of Allison, Voith, and ZF automatic transmissions, hybrid models are produced with Allison, Voith, and ZF hybrid-drive powertrains. Gillig also manufactures three models of buses based on the Low Floor chassis, the Low Floor BRT, the Low Floor BRTPlus, all have the same engine and transmission options as the standard Low Floor. The Gillig BRT is a version of the Low Floor with different front. It wears a futuristic look than the standard model. It is available in the lengths as the standard Low Floor model. Instead of sealed-beam headlights, the Gillig BRT has projector headlights, the layout for the headlights was changed slightly in 2009
32.
Motor Coach Industries
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Motor Coach Industries International Inc. is a subsidiary of New Flyer Industries, a North American bus manufacturer. The company was incorporated in 1933 as Fort Garry Motor Body and Paint Works Limited, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1948, Greyhound Lines of Canada, at that time MCIs major customer, became a majority shareholder when it purchased 65% of the company. MCI was purchased outright by Greyhound Lines in 1958, in 1974 another plant was opened in Roswell, New Mexico under the title Transportation Manufacturing Corporation. In 1987, Greyhound Corporation bought the bus manufacturing operations of General Motors Diesel Division. MCI also took over production of GMs RTS model, transferring production to TMC, MCI also purchased the GM bus assembly plant in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, which then produced GMs Canadian transit bus model, the Classic. TMC ceased production of the older MCI vehicles in 1990 to concentrate on manufacturing the RTS, in 1993 MCI became an independent corporation, Motor Coach Industries International Inc. Over the course of the next years MCI reproduced its Viaggio 1000 DOT for sale to the U. S, in late 1999/2000 the G4100, G4500 and F3500 models were released to the U. S. and Canadian markets. Production of the G4500 later moved to Winnipeg, after the G4100 had been discontinued, poor reliability of the G4500 resulted in very low sales after Greyhound Lines filed a lawsuit against MCI over the various issues involving the bus. Greyhound took delivery of very few Winnipeg-built G4500s, these were later retired, related to a major contract cancellation by Western Star, DINA S. A. sold a great portion of its previously acquired MCI shares to Joseph Littlejohn & Levy. In 1994 TMC, including production rights for the RTS, was sold to NovaBus, in 1997 MCI purchased the rights from the bankrupt Flxible to produce the Flxible Metro and all related parts for same. After a period of product demand, increased competition and lay-offs in the early 2000s, production at MCI plants in Winnipeg and Pembina increased in 2006, a new coach finishing and paint facility and customer delivery centre were constructed on the site. At the same time, a 7-year contract was attained with the IAMAW union local and this agreement contained cost improvements and production operations flexibility to improve the productivity and competitiveness of the manufacturing and assembly operations. The buses, especially the older MC-8 and workhorse MC-9 models of the 1980s became the standard for travel for many bus companies. Those particular buses featured metal frames and roof supports, metal panels on the sides and were durable and reliable. Currently, the J and D models are the coaches in the North American intercity coach market. On April 17,2009, Motor Coach Industries Inc. emerged from its voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization, MCII and its subsidiaries became wholly owned by KPS Capital Partners, LP. The takeover would make MCI the exclusive North American distributor of the Setra S407 and this planned partnership will allow Daimler Buses to better serve its customers through a broader service network, while strengthening Setra’s presence in North America. All Setra motor coaches are German-engineered products produced in Neu Ulm, – Canadian manufacturing facility, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba
33.
MCI 102DL3 & D4500
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The MCI 102DL3 and MCI D4500 are identical intercity bus models manufactured by Motor Coach Industries at their plant in Pembina, North Dakota, United States. The 102DL3 was the designation, used from 1992 through 2001. It was the first successful 45 foot coach in service and is among the most popular intercity coaches in North America, the coach uses MCIs special platform integral construction, which has come to dominate the US and Canada markets, allowing high durability and easy maintenance. It has a longer service life than body-on-chassis coaches. All 102DL3 and D4500 coaches are equipped with engines and are available with full-painted sides or stainless steel lower body. The MCI 102DL3 was developed from a 1988 Canadian government request to develop a wheelchair-accessible intercity bus, the prototype was apparently developed from the MCI 102C3 with a 102B3 nose and extended to 45 feet 5 inches. A large wheelchair-accessible lavatory was installed in the rear, the prototype was completed in 1990, but couldnt enter service in the US because it was too long, until the 45-foot length was approved in 1991. Changes were made for the production model, the engine was upgraded to the large new Detroit Diesel Series 60 and received a bigger rear end with powerful radiator and intercooler. The large lavatory and wheelchair lift was removed from the production model, in the future a lift would be required for ADA regulations. The production model was named 102DL3 and entered production in October 1992, early buyers included Peter Pan Lines, Fullington Trailways, and Horizon Coach Lines. The bus was known for its surprisingly high speed, large size. At the time, Greyhound Canada owned MCI, so they tested the model in 1992, the original version was the 102DL3, entering production in 1992 and entering service by early 1993. The seating capacity was 54 or 55 passengers, or 57-61 with the high-density configuration, the 102DL3 was renamed D4500 in 2001. The D4500 was exactly the same bus as the 102DL3, having been renamed in 2001 to promote a new and it was replaced by the D4500CL and D4500CT in 2005. The D4500CL is a version of the D4500CT, compared to the D4500. It only has the roof and optional rimless passenger windows. In 2008, the D4500CL received a passenger deck for increased luggage capacity. The D4500CT was a version of the D4500
34.
Orion International
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Orion Bus Industries and Ontario Bus Industries in Canada and Bus Industries of America in the United States, was a privately owned bus manufacturer based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada since 1975. The company had a plant in Mississauga and sent bus body shells to their plant in Oriskany, New York, for final assembly. On April 25,2012, Orion International ceased taking orders for new buses, the Oriskany plant was initially retained for aftermarket support only. Production of Daimler Buses North Americas Sprinter shuttle buses will be moved to other facilities and it was announced that more than 530 workers will be laid off in the Mississauga and Oriskany plants. The Mississauga workers staged a work stoppage to protest in employee frustration at the slow pace of winding-down talks. Oriskany was the office for part department to support Orion bus operators until New Flyer acquired the after market business from Daimler Buses. MCI, which acquired the rights for Setra buses, has also since been purchased by New Flyer. Orion manufactured a number of different models of buses over its 37-year existence, a list of models is given below, each increasing number is the next generation model. Most buses today in service are of the Orion V or VII models, crown-Ikarus 286, similar to the Orion-Ikarus III bus Orion Buses Educated » Hybrid Sounds Crown Ikarus 286 Hybrid buses. BAE HybriDrivePropulsion OverviewOrion VII Hybrid -Product Information
35.
Forest River (company)
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Forest River Inc. is a US manufacturer of recreational vehicles, cargo trailers, utility trailers, pontoon boats, and buses. ”Forest River’s commitment goes beyond the manufacturing process of building quality and value driven products as they invest in creating those exceptional moments of laughter and joy. Customer satisfaction is their number one priority, Forest River, Inc. was founded in 1996 by Peter Liegl and the company just recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. After Purchasing Certain assets of Cobra Industries in January 1996, later that same year they began producing cargo utility trailers as Cargo Mate. Forest River has grown through a balance of growth and acquisitions. In 1997, Forest River established a cargo trailer line in 1997 called Continental Cargo. In 1998 Forest River Launched Forest River Marine and began producing pontoon boats and that Same year the company purchased certain assets of Firan Motorhomes to begin manufacturing Class A Motorhomes. In 2000, Forest River acquired US Cargo, another manufacturer of utility trailers, in 2001, Forest River entered the bus business through the acquisitions of Starcraft Bus, and Glaval Bus. In 2002, Rockport Commercial Vehicles, a brand of commercial vehicles and that same year, the company acquired Vanguard Industries and the assets of Palomino. With its rapidly expanding business, Forest River moved its office out of the original building in Goshen, Indiana, to its current location in Elkhart. Each new acquisition and launch led to expansions in manufacturing and production facilities in order to meet the demand for the products, the following year, the company acquired assets of Coachmen RV, a subsidiary of Coachmen Industries. In 2011, Forest River acquired Dynamax Corporation, which builds Luxury motohomes, in 2014, the company expanded further with the addition of production facilities in Silverton, Oregon, Hemet, California, and White Pigeon, Michigan. That same year, the company acquired StarTrans Bus, in 2016, Forest River Marine added the Trifecta Pontoon line. In January 2017, Forest River launched its new line of luxury buses, Forest River, Inc. operates out of 86 manufacturing locations boasting over 8 million square feet of manufacturing facilities, and employs over 11,000 people. In its 20 years of operation, the company has grown to over $4 billion in revenues and has sold more than 1.9 million vehicles. On June 21,2005, Warren Buffett received a two-page fax telling him – point by point – why Forest River met the criteria set forth in Berkshire Hathaway’s 2004 Annual Report. The fax made sense, and Warren Buffett immediately asked for more figures and these came the next morning, and that afternoon Warren Buffett made Pete Liegl an offer. On June 28,2005, they shook hands on a deal, the transaction closed on August 31,2005. In the 2005 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report, Warren Buffett stated, “Pete is an entrepreneur, ” and added, “You can be sure that I won’t be telling Pete how to manage his operation. ”Formed in 2011
36.
Compressed natural gas
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Compressed natural gas is a fuel which can be used in place of gasoline, Diesel fuel and propane/LPG. CNG combustion produces fewer undesirable gases than the mentioned above. It is safer than other fuels in the event of a spill, because natural gas is lighter than air, CNG may be found above oil deposits, or may be collected from landfills or wastewater treatment plants where it is known as biogas. CNG is made by compressing natural gas, to less than 1 percent of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure and it is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of 20–25 MPa, usually in cylindrical or spherical shapes. Its use is increasing in South America, Europe and North America because of rising gasoline prices. In response to fuel prices and environmental concerns, CNG is starting to be used also in tuk-tuks and pickup trucks, transit and school buses. The cost and placement of fuel tanks is the major barrier to wider/quicker adoption of CNG as a fuel. It is also why municipal government, public transportation vehicles were the most visible early adopters of it, in spite of these circumstances, the number of vehicles in the world using CNG has grown steadily. Now, as a result of the steady growth, the cost of such fuel storage tanks has been brought down to a much more acceptable level. Especially for the CNG Type 1 and Type 2 tanks, many countries are able to make reliable, cNGs volumetric energy density is estimated to be 42 percent that of liquefied natural gas, and 25 percent that of diesel fuel. Worldwide, there were 14.8 million natural gas vehicles by 2011, led by Iran with 2.86 million, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, with the Asia-Pacific region leading with 5.7 million NGVs, followed by Latin America with almost four million vehicles. In 2006, Fiat introduced the Siena Tetrafuel in the Brazilian market, equipped with a 1. 4L FIRE engine that runs on E100, E25, Ethanol, any existing gasoline vehicle can be converted to a dual-fuel vehicle. Authorized shops can do the retrofitting and involves installing a CNG cylinder, plumbing, a CNG injection system and the electronics. The cost of installing a CNG conversion kit can often reach $8,000 on passenger cars, CNG costs about 50% less than gasoline and emits up to 90% fewer emissions than gasoline. CNG locomotives are operated by several railroads, the Napa Valley Wine Train successfully retrofit a diesel locomotive to run on compressed natural gas before 2002. This converted locomotive was upgraded to utilize a computer controlled fuel system in May 2008. Ferrocarril Central Andino in Peru, has run a CNG locomotive on a line since 2005. Vítkovice machinery group in Czech republic starts to operate new CNG locomotive at 2014 and it s based on CKD chassis 714 fully restored by CZ Loko and fitted with CAT3412 engine reworked by MARAT engineering
37.
BYD K9
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The first BYD battery electric bus was manufactured on September 30,2010 in Changsha city of Hunan province. It followed models like F3DM, F6DM and e6, K9 has a 12-meter body length and 18-ton weight with one-step low-floor interior. It is reportedly priced at 2–3 million yuan and it has been running and/or tested in China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, U. S. Colombia, Chile, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark and Aruba. More than 200 K9s in service in Shenzhen had accumulated over 9,216,000 km by the end of August,2012, in both 2011 and 2012, BYD obtained orders from amounting to 1200+ units. The company extended its base in Tianjin, China at the end of July,2012 and may plan to manufacture in Brazil and Windsor. BYD built and operates a bus factory in Lancaster, California. The new factory started production in October,2013, in December 2014, another manufacturing plant began operation in Dalian, Liaoning, China. The two-door version is in service in Chinas Shenzhen, Changsha, Xian and Shaoguan while the 3-door version operates in Shenzhen, Bogota etc. for test, K9 is powered by LiFePO4 batteries, which have been applied to BYD e6, BYD DESS and other energy storage products. BYD claims that the materials contained in the battery can be recycled without any toxins. K9s power system uses a motor drive and hub reductor. The max power output is 90 kW*2 and the max torque is 550Nm*2, solar panels fixed on the vehicle were once reported to supplement the onboard batteries. They were included on demo units, but not on commercial units, safety features include unitary construction body, 4-wheel disc brakes, ABS+ASR, one-step easy-pass with special footplates for wheelchair access and non-step inside. The body comes silver, yellow or green, in the silver version the front windscreen occupies two-thirds of the front of the bus for maximum visibility. It includes adjustable leather seating for driver and red and black leather seats for passengers, the battery packs are laid in the vehicle rear on both sides inside the two cabins. BYD calculates that a BYD ebus over 8 years saves about $190,000 in energy costs, in 2012, the price for a BYD ebus was 380,000 Euros,100,000 more than a comparable diesel bus. At a press conference in Beijing on November 4,2012, BYD announced Zero vehicle purchase price, Zero costs, Zero emissions, to promote the sale of its e6 and K9. The company also claimed that if enough distance is covered, the payment will be entirely offset.62 million tonnes per year if all Chinese taxis were to be replaced with its electric vehicles. In 2015, BYD sold about 6,000 of these buses worldwide, BYD became the world leader in the sale of electric vehicles in 2015
38.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
39.
Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area
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Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area is reliant on a complex multimodal infrastructure consisting of roads, bridges, highways, rail, tunnels, airports, and bike and pedestrian paths. A2011 Brookings Institution study ranked the San Francisco MSA and the San Jose MSA sixteenth and second, respectively, another nationwide study, conducted by the University of Minnesota in 2014, ranked the San Francisco MSA second and San Jose MSA tenth. Despite this, the San Francisco Bay Area remains the second most traffic-congested region in the country with a declining per capita use of public transit, the following airports are served by commercial airlines. In addition there are general aviation airports in the region. San Francisco International Airport The busiest in the region, and an international hub airport in California second only to LAX. Hub to United Airlines and Virgin America, Oakland International Airport The second-busiest airport in the region and a major base airport for Southwest Airlines. Oakland International Airport is the oldest of the Bay Areas civilian airports still in use, the site was chosen due to its superior weather conditions for aircraft operations. Mineta San Jose International Airport The third-busiest and fastest-growing airport in the Bay Area, another minor airport is Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa. It is served by two airlines, Horizon Air and Allegiant Air. In addition to rail and bus systems, there are public and private ferry services, such as Golden Gate Ferry. Most of the larger agencies accept the Clipper Card, a contactless smart card. An extensive rail infrastructure that provides a mix of services exists within the nine Bay Area counties, an expansion that is currently under construction will build an additional station in Alameda County and bring BART south into Santa Clara County by 2016. The Millbrae Intermodal Terminal provides transfers between Caltrain and BART, the Altamont Commuter Express, commonly known as ACE, also provides commuter rail service, but from the Central Valley into Silicon Valley, terminating in the San Jose Diridon Station. In addition, Amtrak has a presence throughout the Bay Area, stations in Martinez and Emeryville feature Coast Starlight and California Zephyr service. The Capitol Corridor connects Bay Area cities to Sacramento, and features BART transfer stations at Richmond, a series of overlapping bus agencies provide additional public transit coverage to Bay Area regions both served and not served by rail transit. All of these also provide limited night bus service, which are intended to shadow the rail routes that are closed during the nighttime hours for maintenance. The ferry, along all the major train and bus operators. In addition, Bay Area residents may rent bicycles from the Bay Area Bike Share in certain parts of San Francisco, San Mateo, until 1971 the Southern Pacific Railroad operated from its Third and Townsend Depot commuter trains to San Jose and long distance trains to Los Angeles
40.
San Francisco Bay Area
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The San Francisco Bay Area is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco. The Bay Areas nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California, the fifth-largest in the United States, the Bay Area has the second-most Fortune 500 Companies in the United States, and is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is known locally as the East Bay, the inner East Bay is more densely populated, with generally older buildings, and a more ethnically diverse population. The word Lamorinda was coined by combining the names of the cities it includes, Lafayette, Moraga, walnut Creek is situated east of Lamorinda and north of the San Ramon Valley and, together with Concord, Martinez, and Pleasant Hill comprises Central Contra Costa County. The cities of Antioch, Pittsburg, Brentwood, Oakley and the areas surrounding them comprise East Contra Costa County. The Tri-Valley consists of the Amador, the Livermore, and the San Ramon Valleys, dublin and Pleasanton comprise the Amador Valley, Livermore lies in the Livermore Valley, and the San Ramon Valley consists of Alamo, Danville, Diablo and its namesake, San Ramon. The outer East Bay is connected to the inner East Bay by BART, Interstate 580 to the south, and State Routes State Route 4 to the north, the outer East Bays infrastructure was mostly built up after World War II. This area remains largely white demographically, although the Hispanic and Filipino populations have grown significantly over the past 2–3 decades, the region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the North Bay. This area encompasses Marin County, Sonoma County, Napa County, the city of Fairfield, being part of Solano County, is often considered the easternmost city of the North Bay. With few exceptions, this region is affluent, Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the state. The North Bay is relatively rural compared to the remainder of the Bay Area, with areas of undeveloped open space, farmland. Santa Rosa in Sonoma County is the North Bays largest city, with a population of 167,815 and a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 466,891, making it the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area. The North Bay is the section of the Bay Area that is not currently served by a commuter rail service. The area from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley, geographically part of the San Francisco Peninsula, is known locally as The Peninsula, many of these families are of foreign background and have significantly contributed to the diversity of the area. Whereas the term peninsula technically refers to the entire geographical San Franciscan Peninsula, in local terms, San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides, the north, east, and west. The city squeezes roughly 870,000 people in under 47 square miles, on any given day, there can be as many as 1 million people in the city because of the commuting population and tourism
41.
Altamont Corridor Express
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The Altamont Corridor Express is a commuter rail service in California, connecting Stockton and San Jose. ACE is named for the Altamont Pass, through which it runs, service is managed by the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, and operations are contracted to Herzog Transit Services, using AAR assigned reporting mark HTSX. The 86-mile route includes ten stops, with travel time about 2 hours and 10 minutes end-to-end, the tracks are owned by Union Pacific Railroad. ACE uses Bombardier BiLevel Coaches and MPI F40PH-3C locomotives, service began on October 19,1998, with two weekday round trips. A third round trip was added in May 2001, followed by a round trip in October 2012. As of 2016, average ridership is 4,900. Under the ACEforward program, a number of improvements to the service are being considered and these include a rerouted line through Tracy, an extension to Modesto and Merced, and connections to BART at Union City and Tri-Valley. In November 1990, San Joaquin County voters passed Measure K, the highest-priority project was the establishment of passenger rail service to San Jose. In 1995, San Joaquin County and seven cities along the formed the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission to oversee the creation of the service. In May 1997, the Altamont Commuter Express Joint Powers Authority was formed by the SJRRC, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and that agreement formalized financial support, administrative processes, and governance for the rail service. The operation is funded by a variety of state and federal sources, cost sharing for capital projects, excluding stations, during the initial 36 months of service was determined by the JPA on a case-by-case basis and approved by each of the member agencies. The initial purchase of rolling stock, construction of stations, and other start-up costs, Station improvements are the responsibility of the county in which the station is located. ACE pays the owner of the right of way, Union Pacific Railroad, about $1.5 million per year, service began on October 19,1998, which two daily round trips running to San Jose in the morning and Stockton in the evening. The original service used two trainsets, each with 4 bilevel coach cars, for a seated capacity of 1120 passengers in each direction daily. In September 1999, the service reached 1000 daily riders per direction, the trip was added after ACE funded $3 million in track improvements to reduce conflicts with Union Pacific freight trains and Amtrak Capitol Corridor trains. By early 2001, ACE regularly carried more than 700 daily standees, although the third train added 560 seats in each direction, it brought an immediate increase in 380 daily riders. ACE then planned to add a fourth round trip later in the year, however, by late 2001, the deepening dot-com recession was severely hurting ridership, and expansion plans were put on hold. On June 30,2003, the ACE JPA was dissolved in favor of a Cooperative Services Agreement between the three member agencies, on January 6,2003, ACE introduced the Stockton Solution Shuttle, allowing Stockton passengers to use the ACE trip which terminated at Lathrop/Manteca
42.
AirTrain (San Francisco International Airport)
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AirTrain is a fully automated people mover at San Francisco International Airport. The system was built by Bombardier at a cost of US $430 million, the trains operate 24 hours a day on two separate lines, covering a total of six miles. The entire AirTrain fleet is wheelchair accessible and allows rented moving carts on board, AirTrain operates on two lines—Red Line and Blue Line—both of which run every 2½ minutes. The Red Line travels in a loop, beginning with Garage G station and ending with Garage A station. Alternatively, passengers may walk around the loop instead of riding AirTrain. AirTrain does not provide access to SFOs long-term parking garage and lots, instead, as of December 2013, plans are underway to build an additional long-term parking garage just south of the existing one, the new garage would be built to accommodate a future AirTrain extension. In addition, the airport is seeking an appropriation of $67.7 million from the City and County of San Francisco to build the extension and it is funded by a $20 airport fee charged by rental car companies. The AirTrain stations at the International Terminal are located one level above ticketing, stations at Terminals 1,2, and 3 are located on level 5 of the domestic parking garage and can be accessed near security checkpoints B, D, and F. Airport rail link AirTrain JFK Coliseum–Oakland International Airport line SFO AirTrain, San Francisco International Airport
43.
California Zephyr
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The California Zephyr is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Emeryville, California, via Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. At 2,438 miles it is Amtraks longest route after the Texas Eagle, Amtrak claims the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the upper Colorado River valley in the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. It was scheduled to pass through the most spectacular scenery on its route in the daylight. Since 1983 the California Zephyr name has applied to the Amtrak service, which operates daily and is a hybrid of the route of the original Zephyr and its former rival. During fiscal year 2012, the California Zephyr carried more than 376,000 passengers, the train had a total revenue of $47,605,728 in 2012, a 6. 4% increase on 2011. Cars owned by different railroads ran together, cars cycled in and out for service, repairs, and varying passenger loads with the seasons. The first train was named in San Francisco by Eleanor Parker while California Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight, mayor of San Francisco Elmer Robinson, for the inaugural run in 1949, every woman on the train was given silver and orange orchids flown from Hilo, Hawaii. The car hostesses were known as Zephyrettes, in summer 1954 the schedule for 2,532 miles Chicago to San Francisco was 50hr 50min. An eastbound California Zephyr through Ruby Canyon saw the trains first birth on March 1,1955, the California Zephyr was not immune to falling passenger travel in the 1960s, moreover, it began to lose money even when sold out. The Western Pacific applied to discontinue its portion in 1966 but the Interstate Commerce Commission refused after public outcry. The D&RGW made the same request in 1969 and in 1970 the ICC permitted Western Pacific to end its portion, provided the D&RGW, the last westbound California Zephyr to the west coast left Chicago on March 22,1970 and arrived in Oakland two days later. The California Zephyr had operated for 21 years and 2 days, east of Salt Lake City the train was reduced to a tri-weekly schedule, operating as California Service on the Burlington and as the Rio Grande Zephyr on the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande portion of the train was extended beyond Salt Lake to Ogden, Utah, allowing Nevada and this continued until the creation of Amtrak on May 1,1971. After debuting on the Denver Zephyr in 1936, they served on the California Zephyr from 1949 until it was discontinued in 1970, at any one time, there were 10 or 11 Zephyrettes who were actively employed. When Amtrak revived the California Zephyr in 1983 it invited a former Zephyrette, Beulah Bauman, a pair of the Western Pacifics Budd Rail Diesel Cars, replacements for the Royal Gorge, also picked up the name Zephyrette. At the last minute, the Rio Grande refused to join Amtrak and this forced Amtrak on to the Union Pacifics Overland Route through southern Wyoming instead of Colorado. The Rio Grande continued to operate the Rio Grande Zephyr between Denver and Ogden, in 1983 the D&RGW elected to join Amtrak, citing increasing losses in passenger operations. Amtrak re-routed the San Francisco Zephyr over the D&RGWs Moffat Subdivision between Denver and Salt Lake City, its preference from 1971
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Caltrain
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Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley. The northern terminus of the line is in San Francisco at 4th, extra trains were often run for special events held in AT&T Park in San Francisco, Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, and SAP Center in San Jose. Caltrain operates 92 weekday trains,6 of which are extended to Gilroy, weekday ridership in February 2016 averaged 62,416, up 83% since 2010. Caltrain is governed by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board which consists of agencies from the three counties served by Caltrain, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara, each member agency has three representatives on a nine-member Board of Directors. The member agencies are the City and County of San Francisco, SamTrans, Caltrain has 29 regular stops, one football-only stop, and two weekend-only stops. As of October 2012 Caltrain runs 92 weekday trains,36 Saturday, the original commuter railroad built in 1863 was the San Francisco and San Jose Rail Road, it was purchased by Southern Pacific in 1870. Southern Pacific double-tracked the line in 1904 and rerouted it via Bayshore, after 1945, ridership declined with the rise in automobile use, in 1977 SP petitioned the state Public Utilities Commission to discontinue the commute operation because of ongoing losses. To preserve the service, in 1980 Caltrans contracted with SP. Caltrans purchased new locomotives and rolling stock, replacing SP equipment in 1985, Caltrans also upgraded stations, added shuttle buses to nearby employers, and dubbed the operation CalTrain. The Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board was formed in 1987 to manage the line, subsequently, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties commissioned Earth Metrics, Inc. to prepare an Environmental Impact Report on right-of-way acquisition and expansion of operations. With state and local funding, the PCJPB bought the right of way between San Francisco and San Jose from SP in 1991. The following year, PCJPB took responsibility for CalTrain operations and selected Amtrak as the contract operator, PCJPB extended the CalTrain service from San Jose to Gilroy, connecting to VTA Light Rail at Tamien Station in San Jose. In July 1995 CalTrain became accessible to passengers in wheelchairs, five months later, CalTrain increased the bicycle limit to 24 per train, making the service attractive to commuters in bicycle-friendly cities such as San Francisco and Palo Alto. In July 1997 the current logo was adopted, and the name became Caltrain. A year later, VTA extended its rail service from north Santa Clara to the Mountain View Caltrain station. In June 2003, a connection for the Bay Area Rapid Transit. In 2006, Caltrain announced that wireless internet access would be available on trains at no additional charge, Caltrain invested more than $1 million in researching and testing WiFi in 2006. Caltrain still hopes to offer the service eventually as part of a comprehensive communication package
