Richmond

But enough of my opinions on subway systems, this is about DMUs, so where's the DMU on this map? So we're looking primarily at the Contra Costa County area, which in addition to BART actually has a surprisingly good service with the Capitol Corridor, the Amtrak train that runs mostly between Oakland and Sacramento, with a few services a day going south to San Jose and only one a day going past Sacramento to Rockland and Auburn.

But between Sacramento and Oakland, this actually provides a pretty spectacular regional rail function to not just the major cities like Oakland, Berkeley, Emeryville, Davis, and Sacramento, but also some smaller suburban communities in the vicinity of Contra Costa County, such as Richmond, Martinez, and Antioch.

I believe Antioch is an infill station somewhere on here.

And so as a result, being both effectively an intercity train as well as a local regional rail, it has actually one of the highest riderships of any Amtrak route in the entire United States, really only being beaten by, of course, the Northeast Corridor and Acela, and then also Surfliner, which is a very similar train in the Los Angeles and San Diego area.

But nonetheless, an intercity train is not local transit, and so for a long time Contra Costa County had been attempting to expand transit service into its otherwise largely and annoyingly suburban confines.

For a long time, West Bart had been considered down the I-80 median.

There is a current station in downtown Richmond, and I believe it is future-proofed for this three-station extension, but this seems to have never gone anywhere.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Contra Costa County, the east side, there was an East Bart extension being considered.

Yes.

And I was out at Point Isabel, which is a park in Richmond, I believe.

It might be in Albany, but I think it's in Richmond, California.

It is a big, beautiful promenade.

upon the bay where dogs are allowed off leash.

My co-host is Jim DeRogatis.

And if you want to be the first to hear our bonus podcasts, become a Sound Opinions member on Patreon, like Patrick Daniel from Richmond, California.

Patrick, thank you so much for your contribution.

It helps the show immensely.

And This is right before we start Sons of the Pea, which is the second album.

So when we come back and we're ready to start recording, Adrian books Starlight Studio in Richmond, California, where we recorded Sex Packets.

He just books it.

for two months, 24 hours a day.

And I think I'm with my cousin Klee, who's also a Digital Underground member, rest in peace.

and my partner George, rest in peace, who was with me, and I think it was George that was like, hey, man, don't you gotta, ain't you supposed to be in the studio today? And I was like, oh yeah, that's right.

So we had to drive from Oakland to Richmond to the studio.

So I let George drive and I'm bumping the beat in the car and I'm just writing my verse on the way to the studio.

How often did you hear about Eugene Debs in the early socialist movement when you were in school?

I have a public education from Richmond, California, so I barely understand how World War I

happened.

That's fair.