Podcasts about ridership

MDJ Script/ Top Stories for May 16th Publish Date:  May 16th    Commercial: From the BG AD Group Studio, Welcome to the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast.    Today is Friday, May 16th and Happy Birthday to Pierce Brosnan I’m Keith Ippolito and here are the stories Cobb is talking about, presented by Times Journal Kennesaw State students protest losing Black Studies program Cobb Commuter Routes Consolidated, Free Cumberland Loop Cut Second Annual Paws Fest is May 17-18 Plus, Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets on grass-fed beef All of this and more is coming up on the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen and subscribe!  BREAK: TOP TECH MECHANICAL STORY 1: Kennesaw State students protest losing Black Studies program Dozens of Kennesaw State University students protested outside the University System of Georgia offices against the termination of KSU's Black Studies degree program, citing it as a setback for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. The university attributed the decision to declining enrollment, but critics argue the process lacked transparency and undercounted students. Demonstrators carried signs and chanted slogans emphasizing the importance of diversity. The Board of Regents, which oversees such decisions, has not addressed the issue in its upcoming meeting. DEI programs face increasing opposition at state and federal levels, including legislative efforts in Georgia to defund them. STORY 2: Cobb Commuter Routes Consolidated, Free Cumberland Loop Cut Cobb County will eliminate the free Green Circulator bus loop near The Battery and consolidate three commuter routes (100, 101, 102) into the regional 484 Xpress route due to reduced ridership and the failure of a proposed transit tax. Ridership on commuter routes has dropped 81% since 2019, prompting cost-saving measures. The changes will save over $1.1 million annually, with funds redirected to other transit needs, including the 2025 All-Star Game. The county’s deal with ATL adds seven trips to the 484 route, covering most of the same stops, though the Marietta Transfer Center will no longer be included. STORY 3: Second Annual Paws Fest is May 17-18 The Avenue of West Cobb will host its second annual Paws Fest on May 17-18, featuring exciting DockDogs canine competitions like Big Air Wave, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve. Events begin at 10 a.m. each day, with finals on May 18 at 4:30 p.m. The festival also includes pet-friendly vendors, interactive booths, grooming services, and giveaways, such as doggy ice cream treats from Bark Street Petopia. For details, visit avenuewestcobb.com. We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.799.6810 for more info.  Break: Ingles Markets 6 STORY 4: ‘A True Blessing’: New Pantry at Dunleith Fights Child Hunger Dunleith Elementary School in Marietta has opened a new food pantry, thanks to MUST Ministries and Kroger, to combat child hunger. Serving 50 families monthly, the pantry provides nonperishable food, produce, meat, diapers, and hygiene products. As a Title I school, 90% of Dunleith students receive free or reduced lunches, highlighting the need. This pantry is the fourth opened through a $207,000 Kroger-MUST partnership, which has established 18 pantries across Cobb and Cherokee counties. The initiative aims to reduce food insecurity, allowing students to focus on learning while addressing Kroger’s mission of “zero hunger, zero waste.” STORY 5: Marietta School Board Applauds Staff Support in Tentative Budget Approval The Marietta Board of Education tentatively approved a $167 million fiscal 2026 budget, a 5% increase from last year, focusing on staff raises and maintaining a flat 17.97 millage rate. The budget includes an average 3.3% raise for employees, with some reaching 6.4%, and allocates over 90% of the increase to salaries and benefits. Key allocations include $3.65 million for raises, $770,000 for new staff, and $2.6 million for insurance premium hikes. Public hearings are set for June 10 and 17, with a final vote on June 17. Additional approvals include funding for math programs, HR software, and school security. Break: And now here is Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets on grass-fed beef We’ll have closing comments after this. Break: TIDWELL TREES Signoff-   Thanks again for hanging out with us on today’s Marietta Daily Journal Podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Marietta Daily Journal, or the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at mdjonline.com Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the BG Podcast Network Show Sponsors: www.ingles-markets.com tidwelltrees.com toptechmech.com #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversations See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many studies have looked at the effects of new transit infrastructure on housing prices, gentrification, and other neighborhood changes. But how does housing policy — specifically rising rents and worsening affordability — affect transit? Mike Manville takes the guest seat in the first episode of our four-part series on transportation research: Road Scholars.Show NotesManville, M., King, H., Matute, J., & Lau, T. (2024). Neighborhood change and transit ridership: Evidence from Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Journal of Transport Geography, 121, 104048.Three previous episodes discussing why housing supply matters for affordability: Episode 79 of UCLA Housing Voice: Who Pays For Inclusionary Zoning with Shane PhillipsEpisode 83 of UCLA Housing Voice: Local Effects of Upzoning with Simon Büchler and Elena LutzEpisode 5 of UCLA Housing Voice: Market-Rate Development and Neighborhood Rents with Evan Mast

Kansas City's streetcar system has transformed downtown with $4 billion in development since opening in 2016, and now two major extensions will nearly triple the system's reach to the university district and riverfront.• 2.2-mile downtown streetcar line has carried over 14 million passengers since 2016• Extensions will add 3.5 miles south to University of Missouri-Kansas City and 0.7 miles north to the riverfront• Fleet expanding from 6 to 14 streetcars to maintain 10-12 minute service frequencies• Comprehensive infrastructure improvements include new water/sewer lines, sidewalks, and green spaces• Downtown residential population has grown to approximately 36,000 people• Maintenance facility tour revealed specialized equipment for streetcar upkeep• Ridership profile expected to diversify with more students and recreational users• Mixed-traffic operations require ongoing adaptations including some parking removal• Some sections of the extensions will feature dedicated transit lanesCheck out the Kansas City Streetcar at kcstreetcar.org or find them on all social media platforms at @kcstreetcar to keep up with their progress.Send us a textSupport the show

Camas resident Douglas Tweet shares his opposition to the TriMet light rail expansion in the I-5 Bridge replacement, citing low transit demand and high costs. Read more at https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/letter-extremely-low-bus-ridership-does-not-justify-switch-to-expensive-trimet-light-rail/ on www.ClarkCountyToday.com #ClarkCountyWa #localnews #transportation #lightrail #TriMet #IBR #publictransit

Is Metro screwed? It's a question that has less to do with trains and stations than with budgets and balance sheets. Wyatt Gordon wrote extensively about Metro's challenges for Greater Greater Washington and he's here to walk us through the wonky details.  Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter Hey DC. You can also become a member, with ad-free listening, for as little as $8 a month. Learn more about the sponsors of this March 3rd episode: The Pew Charitable Trusts Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen every weekday for a local newscast featuring town, county, state and regional headlines. It's the daily dose of news you need on Wyoming, Idaho and the Mountain West — all in four minutes or less. 

Send us a textWe held our first quarterly forum style meeting on Growing Ridership and Retailer Foot Traffic this past January. This week we're featuring the recording as the NBDA wishes to unite industry experts in a panel discussion to circulate best practices to align the industry.Support the show

Listen every weekday for a local newscast featuring town, county, state and regional headlines. It's the daily dose of news you need on Wyoming, Idaho and the Mountain West — all in four minutes or less.

New Mexico remains a slow growth state when it comes to population. Tax changes took effect at the New Year. Here's what they mean. New Mexico's Environment Department releases a draft "clean fuel standard." New Mexico's RailRunner ridership rises slightly in 2024. The Administration of ABQ Mayor Tim Keller was found to have misused federal COVID $$ to give raises to top officials. Bills are being introduced in the 2025 legislative session.  In a win for freedom Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has resigned as Canada's prime minister.  Biden is locking up large tracts of offshore resources in his waning days in office. 

Ridership on Amtrak in Nebraska has doubled in the past two years. According to data from the passenger rail carrier, ticket sales broke records nationwide in Fiscal Year 2024. The California Zephyr, the cross-country line serving Nebraska, makes makes one eastbound and one westbound stop at five stations. It's a historic route traveling between Chicago and the San Francisco area. According to Amtrak's annual report released this month, over 350,000 people used that line. That's an increase of a 6.9 percent over the previous year.

Metro announced a return to automated trains as soon as this coming weekend, a move that will save millions. Metro General Manager Randy Clarke sat down with Kojo and Tom to discuss why the time is now to return to automation 15 years after a deadly Red Line crash ended the practice.Clarke explained even with automated trains, an operator remains at the controls, watching the track and managing the doors. He likened the system to cruise control on a car. "It's helping to reduce some human error with a good information technology solution. Gets us back to a more safer, reliable system. At the same time, it becomes cost efficient so everyone's trip is faster as well," Clarke said.He said automation will save the system about seven million dollars, which they will use to extend weekend service.They also discussed his proposed budget which was released this week and Metro's efforts to curb bus fare evasion. WMATA is using plainclothes and uniformed officers as well as video monitoring and special police to issue citations.  More than 70% of bus riders are skipping the fare, which Clarke said is  “unacceptable.” Metro has given out more than 500 citations during the first two weeks of stepped up enforcement, according to the system's general manager. They also talked about what a return-to-office mandate for federal workers could mean for Metro.Become a member of WAMU: wamu.org/donateSend us questions and comments for guests: kojo@wamu.orgFollow us on Instagram: instagram.com/wamu885Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/thepoliticshour

Ridership up and crime down? 2025 looks promising for public transportation. Find out more from their GM, Lesley Kandaras.

Ridership up and crime down? 2025 looks promising for public transportation. Find out more from their GM, Lesley Kandaras.

Orchards resident Bryan White shares his thoughts on Portland's TriMet ridership, arguing that low-capacity trains shouldn't impact Clark County's transportation future. Read his letter to the editor at https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/letter-portland-quietly-admitting-that-trimets-ridership-is-too-low-to-be-worth-running-full-capacity-trains/ on www.ClarkCountyToday.com. #TriMetRidership #ClarkCounty #MAXTrains #Transportation #LightRailOpposition #FreewayTolls #HiddenTaxes #Orchards #LocalNews #ClarkCountyWa

ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo'Kelly' Presents – A look at some good news regarding L.A. Metro for a change' with a new report that highlights an increase in ridership for the 20th consecutive month in July…PLUS – Thoughts on California Senate Bill 1061, which aims to “remove medical debt from credit reports and prohibit debt collectors from reporting patients' medical debt information to credit agencies” - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

The Amalgamated Transit Union representing Metrobus drivers and mechanics has concerns about returning to a full schedule. The Morning Show's Sarah Antle reached out to Ken Hart for more. He's the President of the local A-T-U branch in St. John's.

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Join Transit Unplugged host Paul Comfort as he dives into the critical issue of boosting post-pandemic transit ridership with Ron Kilcoyne. Ron is a seasoned transit professional with over 40 years in the industry, leading several transit agencies, and now a transit researcher and consultant.Ron and Paul explore some innovative solutions to increase ridership, emphasizing a 'three-legged stool' of service design, marketing, and operations.This conversation combines both practical advice and strategic insights into rebuilding public transportation systems to meet current and future demands. Ron dives into his research into understanding how service design and ridership intertwine and showing it's not always the urban agencies that take the ridership crown.Don't miss Ron's expert analysis and actionable recommendations to help your agency thrive in the new era of transit.Next week on the show we have GM of SMART (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) outside of Detroit, Dwight Farrell talking about supporting the NFL Draft with transit and some critical leadership advice for everyone looking to move up in the industry.Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo https://www.modaxo.comHost: Paul ComfortProducer: Paul ComfortEditor and Writer: Tris HusseyExecutive Producer: Julie GatesSpecial thanks to:Brand design: Tina OlagundoyeSocial Media: Tatyana MechkarovaMarketing content, Transit Unplugged Newsletter, & transit puns: Tris HusseyIf you have a question or comment, email us at info@transitunplugged.com.Follow us on social media: LinkedIn - Twitter - Threads- Instagram - FacebookSign up for the Transit Unplugged Newsletter00:05 Introduction to Transit Unplugged00:15 Challenges in Post-Pandemic Ridership01:54 Interview with Ron Kilcoyne01:57 Ron Kilcoyne's Background and Experience03:53 The Three-Legged Stool of Transit Ridership04:44 Marketing and Operations in Transit07:14 Improving Transit Service and Accessibility12:48 Case Studies and Research Findings16:34 Recommendations for Transit Agencies22:08 Conclusion and Final Thoughts22:26 Coming up next week on Transit UnpluggedDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Modaxo Inc., its affiliates or subsidiaries, or any entities they represent (“Modaxo”). This production belongs to Modaxo, and may contain information that may be subject to trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights and restrictions. This production provides general information, and should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. Modaxo specifically disclaims all warranties, express or implied, and will not be liable for any losses, claims, or damages arising from the use of this presentation, from any material contained in it, or from any action or decision taken in response to it.

Some time has passed since there was an audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a period of time that could be quantified in many ways. Yet, to those who listen at a point way past the one in which these words are written, mere seconds may have passed. This assumes that anyone is listening at all, and we all know what happens then. In this edition:* Charlottesville's Board of Architectural Review takes a first look at UVA's affordable housing project at 10th and Wertland (learn more)* Ridership continues to increase on Virginia's Amtrak routes (learn more)* Four of the five candidates in Fifth District primaries appear at Spring Creek forum (learn more)* A few highlights from the University of Virginia's Board of Visitors as they began their June meeting on Thursday (learn more)* And the UVA Foundation spends $10.5 million for three properties on Arlington Boulevard (learn more) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

From the BG Ad Group Studio this is your news minute on the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast presented by Credit Union of Georgia. Today is Friday, June 7th, and I'm Keith Ippolito. Cobb: Transit Tax Would Increase Ridership Twelvefold Cobb County's bold proposal for a 30-year 1% sales tax aims at revolutionizing its transit system. This plan, unveiled recently, is under review by the Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority, with a crucial referendum scheduled for November 5th. Cobb County anticipates that this sales tax will increase ridership more than twelvefold by 2050. The tax, if approved, would raise the county's sales tax from 6% to 7%, generating an estimated $11 billion. This funding would be used to construct 108 miles of rapid bus routes, several new transit centers, and a countywide "microtransit" service. The ATL board has unanimously approved Cobb's project list, signaling a strong step forward. ATL staff highlighted the conservative financial projections, focusing on federal funding without relying on state assistance. The final decision now lies with the Cobb Board of Commissioners, who will vote next Tuesday. For more news about our community, visit mdjonline.com. For the Marrietta Daily Journal Podcast, I'm Keith Ippolito. Produced by The BG Podcast Network #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversations #podcast #podcasts #podcaster #podcastlife #podcastshow #podcasting #podcasters #podcastersofinstagram #itunes #applepodcasts #spotifypodcast #soundcloud #youtube #radio #radioshow #comedy #music #hiphop #art #entrepreneur #covid #motivation #interview #repost #loveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Greg (@gregbradyTO) spoke with Jamaal Myers, TTC Chair, City Councillor (@CllrJamaalMyers) about the ‘framework' deal reached to put TTC strike on hold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What began as a relatively small-scale bus operation, RTD has grown to one of the Denver metro area's most expansive pieces of infrastructure and a political arena of its own. Increasingly, the public is being asked to put more confidence into an organization of which it has cause to be skeptical. In the face of expansive plans, though, RTD serves fewer people than it did just five years ago. Ridership halved during the COVID-19 public health emergency and plagued by lingering issues of elevated region-wide crime and remote work, it has not recovered to prepandemic levels. On this episode of Common Sense Digest, Host and Chairman Earl Wright welcomes CSI's Urban Development Fellow Kelly Jean Brough and Daniel Hutton, Vice President of Transportation & Mobility for Denver South to discuss where RTD should focus its efforts for attracting and maintaining riders, and how to alleviate concerns of safety. The state has made a massive investment in the transit system, and this podcast focuses on the areas in which RTD can maximize that return on investment. You can read our full report titled "Fork in the Railroad: RTD's Ridership Dilemma" here. Thank you for listening to Common Sense Digest. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. All of our podcasts can be found here. You can find more about Kelly Brough here. You can find more about Daniel Hutton here.

Working from home is up significantly and transit ridership is down as people show their preference for car travel. https://tinyurl.com/bdd2sken #TransitRidershipDown #TriMet #CTRAN #InterstateBridgeReplacementProgram #TrafficCongestion #WorkingFromHome #SouthwestWashingtonRegionalTransportationCouncil #MAXLightRail #BusRapidTransit #Interstate5 #Interstate205 #HaydenIsland #FederalTransitAdministration #OregonTransportationCommission #ClarkCountyWa #Ridgefield #BattleGround #VancouverWa #Portland #ClarkCountyNews #ClarkCountyToday

Jumping on the train might seem like a nice alternative to a traffic jam… until you realize your train is also sitting in a traffic jam. Unlike the mythological bird of the same name, the federal government's Phoenix payroll system is not going to rise from the ashes. Celebrating something? Let us know here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/MNdYA3TO

The US Census Bureau reports that people using mass transit to commute to work remains 38 percent below pre pandemic levels, particularly evident in the Portland metro area, challenging proposed transit expansion plans despite persistent traffic congestion concerns. https://rb.gy/6gcmjk #USCensusBureau #MassTransit #DrivingAlone #InterstateBridgeReplacement #ColumbiaRiver #TriMet #CTRAN #MAXLightRail #I5 #BusRapidTransit #Metro #Portland #VancouverWa #ClarkCountyWa #OregonTransportationCommission #OHSU #RandallOToole #KevinPeterson #FederalTransitAdministration #FederalHighwayAdministration #EnvironmentalImpactStatement #GregJohnson #Telework #Carpool #MultimodalTransportation #TrafficCongestion #VehicleCapacity #OregonDepartmentOfTransportation #WashingtonDepartmentOfTransportation #BentFlyvbjerg #HighCapacityTransit #CharlesMarohn #WestsideMobilityImprovementStudy #ClarkCountyNews #ClarkCountyToday

During the second hour of the Greg Kelly show, Greg did a dive into subway crime and how most recent actions from the mayor and governor have not regained the trust of the people towards the safety of subway riding. Moreover he blasted the some recent comments of self proclaimed "commissioner" Kaz Daughtry and how they show that he is living in a utopia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Codcast, MBTA General Manager Philip Eng talks to CommonWealth Beacon's Bruce Mohl about his first year running the T, why he's optimistic about bringing riders back, and where things stand with train car manufacturer CRRC.

MDJ Script/ Top Stories for Feb 15th            Publish Date:  Feb 14th            Commercial: From the Drake Realty Studio, Welcome to the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast.    Today is Thursday, February 15th, and Happy 69th Birthday to Simpson creator Matt Groening. ***02.15.24 – BIRTHDAY – MATT GROENING*** I'm Dan Radcliffe and here are the stories Cobb is talking about, presented by Credit Union of Georgia. Technical Issues with Farebox Distort CobbLinc's Ridership and Revenue Data Cobb County to Launch Innovative Transit Pilot Program in South Cobb Cobb Commissioner Challenges Chairwoman's Funding Proposals Amid Trust Issues   Plus, Bruce Jenkins sits down with Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets to discuss microwave meals.   All of this and more is coming up on the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen and subscribe!    BREAK: CU of GA STORY 1: Farebox Malfunctions Skew CobbLinc Data on Riders, Revenue Activists and Cobb County bus drivers have raised concerns about the reliability of the county's bus system ridership data due to faulty fareboxes. Local transit advocate Matt Stigall and Reverend Jeff Jones have voiced their skepticism, supported by four CobbLinc drivers who confirmed the existence of these technical problems. In response to these issues, the Cobb Department of Transportation is set to request a $1.3 million budget allocation for the replacement of the malfunctioning fareboxes. This move acknowledges the technical issues that have been causing data inaccuracies. The timing of these developments coincides with an upcoming vote in Cobb County on November 5. The vote will decide on a proposed 30-year, 1% sales tax (M-SPLOST) designed to fund future transit projects. However, there are ongoing concerns about the current ridership numbers and the financial sustainability of these projects. Bus drivers have reported increased stress levels due to the faulty equipment, which has also led to additional distractions as they are forced to manually count passengers. To address these concerns and improve data accuracy, Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler plans to seek approval for the farebox replacement from the county commission by April 9. STORY 2: Cobb to Implement Transit Pilot Program in South Cobb The Cobb Board of Commissioners has greenlighted an initiative to fund a two-year pilot microtransit program in the southern region of Cobb County. With an approved budget of nearly $3.5 million, the program is designed to boost localized, on-demand transit services. Primarily funded through state and federal grants, the county will be responsible for covering 30% of the total cost. The microtransit program aims to provide curb-to-curb service, connecting riders to other transit services within Cobb County and extending to Atlanta. This initiative is part of a broader plan, the Mobility Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (M-SPLOST), which proposes funding for significant transit improvements. These include the addition of 108 miles of bus rapid transit and arterial rapid transit routes. Despite facing opposition from several commissioners, the microtransit program ultimately received approval. Funding for a potential third year of the program is currently being reviewed by CobbLinc and the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority. STORY 3: I Don't Trust You': Cobb Commissioner Fights Chairwoman's Funding Requests During a recent Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting, a heated debate arose between Chairwoman Lisa Cupid and Commissioner Keli Gambrill. The dispute centered around Cupid's proposal to shift $200,000 from her contingency fund to the county's operational budget. This move, which was ultimately passed with a 4-1 vote, is intended to finance policy research and other related expenses. Gambrill accused Cupid of lacking transparency in her actions, raising specific concerns about the expenditure on the "Cupid Loves Cobb Tour." This initiative, led by Cupid, aims to spotlight local businesses. In response to Gambrill's criticisms, Cupid defended the tour as a valuable community event. The exchange emphasized the deepening divisions within the commission. During an hour-long debate, both Cupid and Gambrill exchanged personal barbs, highlighting the ongoing tensions.  We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.799.6810 for more info.    We'll be right back. Break: DRAKE STORY 4: Cobb Elections Establishing New Absentee Ballot Division Cobb County Elections Director, Tate Fall, recently received approval from the Board of Commissioners to establish distinct absentee and registration divisions within her department. This structural change is intended to ease the workload on staff during election periods. To support this reorganization, Fall requested funding for three new full-time positions: a division manager, a communications specialist, and a GIS analyst. However, Commissioner Keli Gambrill expressed reservations about the approval process. Fall underscored the importance of these new roles in ensuring effective voter service and enhancing the organizational structure of the department. The division manager will be responsible for overseeing aspects of election operations, which will enable better focus and efficiency. STORY 5: Kennesaw State University to Offer Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence The University System of Georgia's Board of Regents has given the green light to Kennesaw State University (KSU) to launch a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) degree program. Set to begin in fall 2024, KSU becomes the second institution in the state to offer a master's degree in AI, aiming to cater to the growing demand for professionals in this field. This interdisciplinary program will be based in the College of Computing and Software Engineering and will build upon the existing AI Concentration within the Computer Science Department. KSU President Kathy Schwaig emphasized that the program is designed to prepare the next generation of AI leaders and address the changing needs of the workforce. The MSAI curriculum will provide an integrated approach to computer science, data science, IT, and software engineering, preparing students for a wide range of roles within the AI sector. Graduates of this program will be well-positioned to enter a field that is projected to have a substantial impact on the global economy by 2030. The program places a strong emphasis on practical experience, offering internships and collaborative projects to equip students with the skills necessary to handle real-world AI challenges. We'll be back in a moment.   Break: INGLES 9   STORY 6: LEAH MCGRATH And now here is Bruce Jenkins' conversation with Leah McGrath from Ingles Markets to discuss microwave meals.   Break:   Signoff-   Thanks again for hanging out with us on today's Marietta Daily Journal podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Gwinnett Daily Post, the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties, or the Paulding County News Podcast. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at MDJonline.com.     Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.   Produced by the BG Podcast Network   Show Sponsors: ingles-markets.com cuofga.org drakerealty.com   #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversations See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What changes could be in the works after a ridership record for the Cincinnati streetcar?

The already controversial Unified Development Ordinance is receiving complaints from SouthPark about triplexes. Officials okay the $2.5 billion school bonds. And the Hornets' losing streak gets worse. Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters tackle those stories and more.

When you think of big city transit agencies you think about Boston, New York, Toronto, LA, San Francisco...maybe not Mississauga, Ontario. It might surprise you that this city of one million people supports a transit system with over 500 buses and serves as the essential connector between cities East, West, and North (South is Lake Ontario). Mississauga Transit (or MiWay) helps people in Brampton, Oakville, and Toronto get to jobs and school.But they seem to be doing something right because they've increased ridership 27% over the last year and are at 109% of their 2019 ridership levels (let's stop saying the "p" word). Eve Wiggins recently took the helm of MiWay after almost a decade at the TTC and Metrolinx and before that a decade at the Toronto Airport Authority. Eve certainly knows how to get people where they want to go, in the air or on the ground.While she's only been at MiWay a short time, she has a big vision and big plans for the agency to grow and expand over the next five years.But you can't execute your vision on your own. You need to lead people and clear the roadblocks in their way. Eve subscribes to the CASTLE (Courage, Authenticity, Truthfulness, Love, and Effectiveness) leadership philosophy and you will want to listen to how she describes her leadership style. It's pretty inspiring just listening to how she approaches getting things done and relying on others when she knows she doesn't have all the answers.Coming up next week we have Holly Arnold, CEO of the Maryland Transit Administration about her career at the MTA and the massive projects she has on the go there.We're excited to announce a special Transit Unplugged live CEO round table. Hosted by Dr. Khan you'll Legos at UITP MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition on February the 29th at the Trapeze booth. We'll have guests, including UITP President, Renee Amilcar and the Director General of the Integrated Transport Center in Abu Dhabi, Abdulla Al Marzooqi.The MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition 2024 is the premier event focusing on sustainable urban mobility solutions in the MENA region. It takes place in Dubai from February 28th to March 1st, the event is co-organized by UITP and Dubai's RTA.The MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition has been a leading platform for showcasing advancements in public transport since 2007.If you have a question or comment, email us at info@transitunplugged.com.Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo and these fine folks:Paul Comfort, host and producerJulie Gates, executive producerTris Hussey, editor and writerTatyana Mechkarova, social mediaFollow us on social media: LinkedIn - Twitter - Instagram - FacebookSign up for the Transit Unplugged Newsletter0:00 What's the secret sauce to increasing ridership 27% in one year?00:03 Introduction and Overview01:44 The Success of Mississauga's Transit System04:27 The Secret Sauce: How Mississauga Grew Ridership12:01 Eve's Leadership Philosophy and Approach19:00 The Future of Transit in...

More than 1.3 million people rode the rails in Virginia last year – the highest ridership numbers since the state-supported service began in 2009. The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority says all four travel corridors – Newport News, Norfolk, Roanoke, and Richmond – saw double-digit percentage increases in ridership.

During the COVID pandemic, ridership on California's public transit systems plummeted.  Now, ridership levels for one agency – Los Angeles Metro – are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, but there are still big concerns about quality of service, safety and how to deal with drug abuse and homelessness on subways, buses and light rail. The transportation agency is trying to deal with those concerns by putting a friendly face on mass transit. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report

Report by IIT-Delhi & Infravision Foundation also found that Delhi metro ridership was equal to 47% of projected ridership as against 25-30% for other operational metro rail networks.

Mother nature brought a lot of closures to North County rail lines this year, causing ridership to drop. Officials are suggesting solutions to the problem. In other news, the Israel-Hamas war is history happening in real time, which means textbooks aren't current. We hear from students determined to learn the truth. Plus, we're looking back at the stories of 2023. We'll hear a story about the late Nicolas Reveles, who died before the premiere of his opera, "Ghosts."

Baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani is headed from the L.A. Angels to the L.A. Dodgers. Metro is increasing train frequency for its light rail, even along the K Line which sees fewer riders than any other rail line. And activists and neighborhood groups are holding a rally today in Little Tokyo to protest gentrification and save Suehiro Cafe. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com.Support the show: https://laist.com

Full text: For those of us who came of age in the 1970s, the conventional wisdom was that cars were gas guzzlers and the environmentally correct way to travel was via transit. That is no longer the case. Last month the Federal Transit Agency (FTA) released its 2022 National Transit Database. According to Oregon economist Randal O'Toole, the results show that transit used more energy per passenger-mile than the average car or light truck in every urban area. Transit vehicles also emitted more greenhouse gasses than the average car or light truck in every urban area except New York. Local planners seem to have missed this development. Metro's proposed Regional Transportation Plan, which the agency will adopt in early December, recommends that we provide more funding for TriMet and take measures to increases ridership as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Obviously this strategy will fail, because transit itself is failing. TriMet's share of all regional trips today is about 4%, which means it's irrelevant to most regional travelers. This suggests that it's time to reconsider the basic purpose of the agency. Ridership peaked in 2012, and there is no evidence that it will ever come back. If there are few riders and transit vehicles are less efficient than cars, what is the point? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

Patricia Lopez of the Star Tribune editorial board joins Chad to discuss her series examining light rail in the Twin Cities and what steps can be taken to improve safety and ridership.

Construction on a rail project that will connect Boston to several South Coast communities is nearing completion, but questions remain about the impact and potential success of the commuter rail expansion.

The stay at home orders of 2020 and the shift to remote work drastically changed how people commute. Now, more than three years after the onset of the pandemic, ridership on most public transit still hasn't recovered, and in some cases is consistently hovering below half of pre-pandemic levels. But car traffic has rebounded, and then some. Bay Bridge data shows that some mornings, congestion heading into San Francisco is even worse than in 2019. This comes at a time when experts agree we should be transitioning away from solo car trips. We'll discuss how local transit agencies are adapting to these new transportation trends, and hear about efforts to get more people out of their cars and onto buses and trains. Guests: Dan Brekke, editor and reporter, KQED News Joe McConnell, former traffic reporter, KQED - Joe recently retired after more than 36 years with the station Rebecca Long, director of fegislation and public affairs, Metropolitan Transportation Commission Daniel Rodriguez, director, Institute of Transportation Studies UC Berkeley Janice Li, president, BART's Board of Directors

Healthcare workers at a Burbank hospital begins a 5-day strike today. Are you prepared for a potential deluge in SoCal this storm season? LA Metro ridership is on pace to return to pre-pandemic levels. Support The L.A. Report by donating now at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com.Support the show: https://laist.com

Crain's politics reporter Leigh Giangreco talks with host Amy Guth about the CTA's $2 billion budget for 2024 as it holds off on adding service. Plus: United expands focus to economy class; Ferrara Candy is buying Jelly Belly; Chicago wins Fitch upgrade on better economy, moderating debt; and just a fraction of craft cannabis growers operational in Illinois, despite dedicated fund.

The CBC's Alexandre Silberman has been looking into the growing demand for public transit.

This is the noon All Local for Thursday, October 5, 2023

Detailed show notes to come. Norris makes the point about backing up your words with actions about moving to the city or investing in it if you have strong opinions about it or want the benefits as a listener wonders about library cards for non-residents We talk about rising QLINE ridership and why that's a good thing, and the surprising statistics as part of it Plus, HOV lanes look like they're coming to I-75 in Southern Oakland County. Good, bad, indifferent?  And the worst freeways in Metro Detroit. We definitely differ on this one. Feedback as always - dailydetroit - at - gmail - dot - com or 313-789-3211.

Full-text: TriMet's Blue rail line to Hillsboro opened on September 12, 1998. Westside MAX was unlike any light rail line previously built in America: It was deliberately routed through vacant land with the expectation that it would be a catalyst for so-called “Transit-Oriented  Development” (TOD). TriMet planners claimed, “The success or failure of the public's nearly $1 billion investment in Westside MAX will be determined in large part by what happens around its 20 stations. Unlike the East side MAX line, a substantial amount of land around the Westside is primed for development.” After 25 years, has the strategy succeeded? Not really. Much of the land near light rail stations has been developed at high densities; but density is expensive so many of those projects were subsidized with below-cost land deals, tax abatements, or cash grants. And few people who live or work near rail stations actually use the train. At Orenco Station in Hillsboro, a fully developed transit-oriented neighborhood, light rail ridership at the afternoon peak is only about seven percent of all passenger trips. Ridership is even lower at most other times. The “Field of Dreams” strategy was a nice metaphor, but it has no basis in reality. TriMet and Metro should shut down their TOD programs and stop building light rail. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

BART officials say a man who died on a train at San Francisco's Embarcadero Station last night apparently overdosed. It's the latest in a string of overdose deaths on the system with the transit agency previously reporting seven fatalities in the first three months of the year. Safety is a key issue for the agency as it tries to get riders back. So what is BART doing and what needs to be done? For more on this, KCBS Radio's Bret Burkhart and Patti Reising spoke with KCBS insider Phil Matier.

Richland County Transit ending bus routes to Shelby due to low ridership, says Taddie: https://www.richlandsource.com/news/richland-county-transit-ending-bus-routes-to-shelby-due-to-low-ridership-says-taddie/article_5883115c-1520-11ee-87ad-8f40e284e015.html Today - Richland County Transit is reducing its service to the City of Shelby.Support the show: https://www.sourcemembers.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode, cycling journalist and former CyclingTips Editor-in-Chief Caley Fretz joins Randall to discuss cycling's changing media landscape, the economic headwinds facing professional journalists, emerging models for supporting quality reporting and story-telling, and how the meaning of cycling changes as one pedals through life. Also: press-fit bottom brackets, hookless road rims, and too-stiff components and frames. Episode sponsors: Thesis Bike and Logos Components  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Links to Caley's work: The Road to Nairo's House: https://cyclingtips.com/2018/01/the-road-to-nairos-house/ The Teaching Toe Strap: https://www.velonews.com/news/road/the-toe-strap/ Tales From The Tour: The Rest Day Pose: https://cyclingtips.com/2018/07/tales-from-the-tour-the-rest-day-pose/ Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello and welcome to the gravel ride podcast. I'm your host Craig Dalton. This week on the show, I'm handing the microphone off to my co-host Randall Jacobs. Who's got veteran cycling journalists, Kaylee frets on the pod. To discuss some of the challenges and opportunities facing cycling journalism. You may know Kaylee from his work as editor in chief, over at cycling tips. And prior to that over at Velo news, both publications have undergone some downsizing of late. The economic headwinds facing professional journalists. Our strong, particularly in the cycling world. If we want to have quality reporting and storytelling. A new model needs to emerge. I don't know where this is all gonna end up, but I was super excited that Kaylee agreed to join Randall on the podcast. To just get his perspective and to get into some good old fashioned by geekery. Before we jump in we need to thank this week sponsors from thesis and logos components As many of you know, I'm a long time it's thesis. OB one rider for a limited time thesis is offering $500 off a thesis, OB one with access custom wireless shifting, and your choice of high-end carbon wheels. It's a bike that I can personally attest, stands up to every other carbon bike out there on the market at a really great price. One of the things that I've always appreciated about thesis is that they allow. A unique level of customization. So if you want size appropriate cranks down to, I think 160 or 165 millimeters, you can do that. You can get your stem size, you can customize everything. Based on a free one-on-one consult. So go check out thesis.bike, or contact. Hello at thesis stoplight to get started. I also want to give a shout out to logos components. Logos just receive huge recognition from bike packing.com and was awarded the gear of the year award for the wheelset category in 2022. You might recall an episode. We did a while back on how to choose a gravel wheel set, where Randall went through detail by detail on the design considerations When constructing a carbon wheelset I encourage you to listen to that as it provided a lot of riders with reflection on what they were looking for and what all the different things were, all logos wheels are built on proven open standards with non-proprietary components and with a manufacturing precision. That rivals anybody in the industry, the wheels are backed by Logus is five-year warranty, lifetime at-cost incident protection. And a US-based warehouse and support team to keep you rolling for many years to come. So head on over to logos components.com and use the code community free shipping all one word to take advantage of a free shipping offer. With that business behind us I'm going to pass the microphone back over to randall and his conversation with kaylee frets [00:03:06] Randall R. Jacobs: It's been quite a bit. I think I last saw you at Sea Otter. How have you been? What's going on in your world? [00:03:11] Caley Fretz: Well, I'm unemployed as of November 15th. I mean, yeah, let's just, we can get that one right outta the way. Right. I was part of the layoffs at Outside Inc. To be somewhat differentiated from Outside Magazine for anybody out there. I mean, outside Inc. Does own outside magazine, but it also owns lots and lots of other things. Yeah, myself the editor-in-Chief of Venu as well and two of the CT staff, two really core CT staff. Matt, our managing editor, and Dave Rome, one of our tech editors and, and kinda a legend in space. We're all let go on the same day on November 15th. So I am currently super fun employed and I think after we chat today, I'm probably gonna go skiing cuz it's snowing up in the mountains right now. And so I'm, I'm somewhat enjoying myself. But, you know, fun employment brings with it some level of stress as well, . So that's, that's how I'm doing right now. Yeah. [00:03:59] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, and I appreciate you sharing. I think last we rode together. You were still living in Boulder and you've since moved to beautiful Durango. When was that move? [00:04:07] Caley Fretz: That was shortly after we had our, our first child. My wife grew up here and, and we have grandparents here to help with childcare and all the rest. And we just wanted to get off the front range. No offense to the front range. There's too many people and there's fewer people here. And I can go skiing 18 minutes from here, from my door, and I can't really complain about that. [00:04:27] Randall R. Jacobs: Housing costs are probably a little bit less bonkers out that way as well. I was in Denver and particularly Boulderer lately, and it is nuts. [00:04:34] Caley Fretz: it's a little bit better here, although not as, Not as good as it was four or five years ago. It, it, it's a zoom town, right? So in the last couple years it has, it's gone up like 28% or something ridiculous in, in 2021. We love it here. It's amazing. Durango, the bike community here is, is unbelievable. The mountain biking is unbelievable. And there's nobody that, you have not as many people to share all the trails with. So I, we like that bit of it as well. [00:04:59] Randall R. Jacobs: Very, very cool. And so let's just dive into, cuz, cuz I've been curious share a bit about your background. So I, I've only known you as, you know, in your role as, as a journalist and editor at Cycling Tips. But how do you end up on this path? [00:05:13] Caley Fretz: Oh I mean, how far back do you want to go? I, I, I started racing mountain bikes at 12 or 13 years old. My dad was a cyclist. My dad was, I think one of the founding members of the Penn State cycling team, collegiate cycling team back in the day. So I grew up around bikes and I grew up around bike racing and watching the tour and all these things. And yeah, started racing when my family moved to Burlington, Vermont back in the day at Catamount Family Centers. Anybody who, yep. Very, very northeast connection. That's where I, that was all my youth. Yeah. Any, any any new [00:05:45] Randall R. Jacobs: and, and your dad is still in Vermont, if I recall [00:05:48] Caley Fretz: Yeah, yeah. He he actually just retired, but he, he used to run a small like sort of children's museum aquarium thing called Echo on the, on the waterfront in Burlington. And yeah so, so grew up, grew up racing, grew up around bikes, and went to school out here in Colorado. Mostly to ride by bike to, to ma major in bike racing, pre primarily . Much to my parents chagrin, I would say. And let's see what it, what would've been like junior year, summer in between junior and senior year of, of college. Shout out to a friend of mine, Brian Holcomb, who's still in, in the bike world basically came to me and was like, Hey, you should, you should be an intern at Be News. And so I did that and I, and I, I became an intern at Bean News and worked the summer there. And Ben Delaney was the editor-in-chief at the time, and Ben was, Ben was kind enough to bring me on in a, in a kind of part-time capacity that fall. and then it kind of just went from there. So, so yeah, a couple folks who were still floating around the bike world, I, I owe a lot to at this point. Ben and, and Brian and Zach Vest, who was sort of one of my first mentors and has been a, a marketing manager at Niner and a other, a Scott and a couple other places recently. Math yeah, and just kinda worked from there. So I was a tech editor at sort of tech writer at Be News for a couple years, tech editor at Be News for a couple years. And then kinda worked my way into bigger and broader beats basically, and, and kind of stepped into the racing space a little bit more. Became, I think it was like think it was senior editor or whatever the title was at the end of my, my Bella News tenure which was 2017 which is when Wade Wallace got in touch from cycling tips and he was actually just looking for a person to fill a somewhat similar role, kind of like a features writer do a bit of everything kind of writer. And I loved the idea. I loved cycling tips. I loved the brand. I loved everything that stood for, I loved the fact that it was kinda an up and comer and I had been at Villa News long enough that I was just was looking for a change basically. And so I, I jumped ship from one to the other, from Helen News to ct. Remained really good friends with lots of folks at, at vn particularly guys like Andrew Hood who had done a bunch of Tour de France with and things like that. It's like no hard feelings in that, in that jump. Just wanted something new. And within about a year of that for a number of different reasons Wade had promoted me to editor-in-chief at ct. So that was around 20, mid middle of 2018. And it was an interesting time kind of from a business perspective cuz it was near the end of a period when, when CT was owned by bike Exchange in Australia and we were about to be purchased by Pink Bike. And with all of that happening and then in particular with the purchase from Pink Bike we got a bunch more resource and really could expand into what I think most people probably know, cycline tips as now or maybe we'll say six months ago what they knew it as up, up until quite recently. And yeah. I'm trying to think this, there's not my time. My my time as EIC of, of CIP is, is obviously I think what most listeners out there would probably know, if not of me, then you at least know CIP and you know what we were trying to do there. [00:08:52] Randall R. Jacobs: I know how much grief there is out there for, that core team having been broken up. A lot of people, myself included, who value the perspective that you bring to the industry. It's not simply you know, flipping press releases which, you know, there's a place for like, there's, you know, some people that's, they wanna see what the press releases are but doing really interesting journalism. One of your colleagues Ian tralo, he's done some interesting pieces on Central Asian despots in their role in cycling and on the Afghan women's cycling team. And the controversy with how the UCI was prioritizing getting certain members of that team and the organization out of Afghanistan when the US was backing out. Like, this is not your standard bike industry journalism. And that's an angle that I think is going to be very much missed in the vacuum that's created by your departure and the departure of others from that team. [00:09:42] Caley Fretz: Yeah. It's a sad thing. I think the overwhelming emotion for a lot of us is, is just sadness because we spend a lot of time building this thing and a lot of time and energy and effort and, and yeah. No blood, but probably some sweat and tears in there. And yeah, and it feels that's just sad. You know, I. I enjoyed my time there tremendously. I enjoyed working with people like Ian, with James Huang, with Dave, who got laid off alongside me. It was just a really, I can't say it was massively surprising giving a number of things that I can't actually talk about. But I I, oh, I am still very saddened by it. Yeah, I mean, it's not gonna be what it was because a bunch of the people are gone like that, that, that I can say . Yeah. [00:10:28] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Now, remind me, when did James join the team? Because he, he's someone I've admired for years [00:10:33] Caley Fretz: yeah. He, he joined a, I think about 18 months before I did. So when, when bike exchange, when, when Wade first sold a, a large portion of cycling tips to bike exchange that was sort of the first. Let's say capital infusion that, that the company got. And a lot of that was used to pick up kind of high profile folks, particularly in the United States which is what's sort of their next, the next market that, that Wade wanted to go after. So that was, they picked up James and they picked up Neil Rogers in the us as well as some other folks like, like Shane Stokes in the uk or Ireland, I believe he is right now. Yeah, so, so that was all a little bit before I got there. And part of my, sort of what they asked me to do, what Wade asked me to do when, when I became editor in chief was to figure out exactly how to best use people like James, who do phenomenal work. I mean, I, I, I maintain to this day that the three-person team, the three-person tech team that, that we had at Zeman Tips over the last year which would be James and Dave Rome and Ronan McLaughlin in Ireland as well. Was the best anywhere in cycling media? There's no, there's no question in my mind about that. And so basically trying to figure out how to steer that talent was one of the big things that I was tasked with doing over the last three, four years. [00:11:44] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, and you know, when you read a review from any of those team members that you're, you're getting it straight you know, for better or for worse for the brands that are at the mercy of, of that team. But honestly, it keeps the industry honest. And I recall early in my career in the bike particularly James' writing be being something that I referenced constantly. And in fact, when I was at one of the big players, if I needed to make an argument, I would oftentimes grab an article from someone like him to bring to the argument like, no press fit is not acceptable. And we're gonna spend the extra money and add the weight, and we're gonna tell a story about how a two piece thread together is a better solution. And honestly, it's a solution to fix what was broken when you went, you know, but that's, that's a, that's a, a hobby horse that I think we've all been riding for some time. [00:12:29] Caley Fretz: love hearing that though. I, I genuinely love hearing that because I mean, oh, first of all, James would also love hearing that. He'd be very proud of that fact. I think and yeah, like we, we know that that was the case, right? I mean, we, we the three of us have been making a, a podcast called Nerd Alert for, for, for the last year and a half or two years or whatever. And I got a fair number of, of Less than pleased emails off the back of, of that podcast. Cause we were quite honest in our assessment of what we thought was happening in the industry. And in particular, like I haven't been a tech editor for. Eight, nine years. I'm just a cyclist at this point. But Dave and James are so deep inside it and think they spend so much of their lives thinking about that stuff that yeah. You, you can't ignore their opinions, right? You absolutely can't ignore their opinions. And I think that's, that's a testament to one, the fact that they do their research. And two the fact that they've been right a number of times. And like over the years, I would say that CT is, was known as the anti press fit media outlet, right? Which is like, there are worse things to be associated with, I think, than hating on creaky bottom brackets. Like, who, who wouldn't wanna hate 'em? Creaky bottom brackets. That makes perfect sense to me. [00:13:33] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, and it, and it's deeper than just a creaky bottom bracket. It's detracting from this experience that we are all so passionate about. And so, I think that having someone out there who has influence saying no, this is not the way it should be. Hear the arguments and, and, you know, let a case be made. Hey, you know, come on the podcast and talk about why you think press fit is, is the best way to go about it if you really wanna make that case. But yeah, it's an approach that I, you know, I, I'll take you up on it, but I, I'd probably be on the same side with you on more or less every issue with the exception of maybe a few nuances here and there. But yeah, actually let's have some fun with this. Other stuff other than press fit bottom brackets that would be your hill to die on. [00:14:15] Caley Fretz: well. So actually Dave Ro and I so reminder, Dave Ro and I were both just recently laid off. And so our free, we, we are free to do whatever we want. I don't have a non-compete or anything like that. Right. So, we've kicked, we've kicked off a little podcast and. [00:14:28] Randall R. Jacobs: What is it called? [00:14:29] Caley Fretz: It's called, [00:14:29] Randall R. Jacobs: do people find it? [00:14:30] Caley Fretz: well at the moment it's called the redundant placeholders because we have no idea what to call it. So if you search it, I think any of the, any of the podcast platforms, if you search redundant placeholders, able to find it, you can also find it on, on any of my social channels. I'm at K Fretz on everything cause I'm the only person on the planet with my name. So that's very handy. Anyway David and I were talking about like, okay, so if we were actually literally talking about this yesterday, which is why it's funny that you bring up bottom brackets. Like if, if the bottom bracket the anti press fit bandwagon was the one that we were leading before, what's our, what's our new thing that we get to hate on? And we've actually decided that one of the things that we're most interested in pushing, and if you listen to the episode from this week, you would, you would hear this is bikes that are too stiff and just stuff that's too stiff. So specifically Dave, this, this week brought up the topic of of handlebars that are just like, Way too stiff. Right? Just, just ridiculously stiff. We were talking about the, the 35 mill trend on in mountain bikes, which I hate. And like, I've got a, you know, I've got a giant, I've got a giant trail bike with 170 Mill fork, and then I wanna stick like a, just a two by four in my hands. I don't really understand why I want to do that. And I've ended up with like, like more sort of hand cramp and hand pain on this bike than I've ever had previously. And it's got more travel than any bike that I've, I've had previously. So that, those two things don't really line up in, in my head, right? And, and so Dave and I were basically talking about pushing, pushing back on this need for for stiffer and stiffer and stiffer and stiffer all the time. And the fact that a lot of us don't need that, or really don't want it either. Not only do we not need it, we really don't want it because it makes the broad experience worse. I told a little story about how one of the best bikes I've ever ridden was a not particularly expensive mazzi steel frame, steel fork, steel frame. Then I put a pair of zip 3 0 3 carbon wheels on, so nice, nice light stiff wheel set with a somewhat flexi bike, flexi fork, flexi flexi frame. But it rode like an absolute dream, you know, 27 2 post it might have even had, it might have even not had oversized bars. I can't remember. This is, this is like eight, nine years ago now. And I loved it. I absolutely loved this bike. It, it, it got up and went when I asked it to, and I think the wheel set made a huge difference in, in that. But then it, it cornered like an absolute dream and it was comfortable and it was, it was just beautiful. And it was a, a not particularly expensive steel mozzie, right? Like . So that's, that's, that's the that's the high horse upon which we find ourselves now. The fight for less stiff. Bicycles, I think is what we're gonna go after next. [00:17:06] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, and you can kind of take that a step further, talking about steel frames, for example. If you get a steel frame, even a, a pretty decent steel frame at say o e m cost is going to be quite a bit less than a monocot carbon frame. And you don't have all the tooling costs and everything else, and you can change the geometry if you need to without having to retool. And those bikes are gonna be inherently more affordable at the same time. And unless you're an elite racer who's having to sprint off the line or so on, you know, you either spend less money for an equivalent bike that suits your needs well and is comfortable, or you spend the same money and you put it into say, better wheels. You don't get the cheap out wheels with the three Paul hubs that fall apart and in a year and what have you. Yeah, that's one I'll join you on. [00:17:46] Caley Fretz: So that, so [00:17:47] Randall R. Jacobs: right. So I'm joining the battalion. What? [00:17:50] Caley Fretz: That's what we're pushing from [00:17:51] Randall R. Jacobs: I've got another one for you. And, and this, this one I don't think you'll disagree with cuz we talked about sea otter hooks, bead hooks. So bead bead hooks on any real wheels that are marketed for use with road tubeless. [00:18:05] Caley Fretz: I, yeah. I, I don't feel like I am, I, I like having this conversation with James or Dave around because they know the actual technical reasons. You, yourself probably in the same boat. You know, the actual tech technical reasons why this is, this is a, a terrible idea or a good idea, I guess if, if you're talking other direction. I just know that as a, essentially, like I am kind of just a consumer these days, right? Like I said, I, I, I have not been a tech editor. It has not been my job to follow. Bicycle technology for close to a decade now. So I'm basically just a, a, a heavily invested consumer who pays, you know, quite close attention, right? And as a heavily invested consumer, I cannot figure out if my wheels and tires are going to kill me at the moment. And I think that that is not really an acceptable way forward. I don't , I don't think that that should be allowed in the cycling space. And I, and I, every single time I say that, I get a bunch of hook list aficionados coming back at me saying that, oh, it's quite easy. This works with this and this. I'm like, yeah, but I, I, as a person who does not want to go through a bunch of like charts to figure out what tire to run, I don't want that. Just put hooks back on my rims. I don't care about the 40 grams or whatever. It's, I just don't care. [00:19:14] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, would you like some more ammo for those arguments when they come up? [00:19:17] Caley Fretz: give me more. Am. [00:19:18] Randall R. Jacobs: All right. So, so first off the, it used to be the case that it was a substantial, you know, a reasonable weight penalty and higher cost that is substantially mitigated by new forming techniques for the bead hooks and mini hooks that you can create that have the same impact resistance as hook list, add about five, maybe 10 grams per rim at the high end. And cost, yeah, the cost is a little bit higher, but, you know, insurance premiums aren't cheap either. And if you have a single incident, that's gonna be a problem. So, you know, it was an obvious investment when we made that choice for any wheel that we're marketing for use with anything, say smaller than a 34. Plus you get the compatibility with non tules as you well know. But the other part is you think about the fact that there are compatibility charts that exist, right? [00:20:05] Caley Fretz: I don't want [00:20:06] Randall R. Jacobs: that [00:20:06] Caley Fretz: in charts. [00:20:08] Randall R. Jacobs: yeah. It, it's like if that is the case, then maybe the tolerances are too tight and it, it's actually, I'll tell you from the inside, it, it's actually worse than that because any good company is going to check every single rim for its bead seat circumference, right? So those are pretty easy to get within spec. And then the tires, the tires are not all checked. To my knowledge. They're kind of randomly checked. So, okay, now you, now you could have a variation. You only need one. That's not to tolerance, but let's say both of those are in are intolerance. Well, now you have the. and if the tape is too thick or too thin, or someone puts two layers on, they replace the tape or whatever. Maybe it was intolerance initially, but, and then you change it and you know, you do two layers. Now the bead is too tight, it wants to drop into the channel and then pop over the edge of the, of the hook. And so it's just not good. It's just all sorts of not good [00:21:03] Caley Fretz: I hate it so much. It's just, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I, I always, I was cognizant when, back in, when we were making the Nerd Alert podcast that, you know, we didn't just want to complain about things. Right? Like, we didn't just want to tell the industry that it was, it was doing things wrong. Cuz most of the time this industry does great things and they build lots of amazing bikes that I love to ride. There's just a couple things like this that are like, what, what are we doing? Like, is, is this, is this the beam counters? Is it the gram counters? What counters are, are causing ? This particular, it must be the bean counters at this point. But I hate it either [00:21:42] Randall R. Jacobs: Bean counter. And then, then also the, the marketing hypers. Right? So there's a new thing. Hopeless is a new thing. Car, car wheels don't have hooks. Why do bicycle school wheels have hooks? Well, you know, because it's 110 p s i that people are sometimes putting in there. That's why [00:21:57] Caley Fretz: car wheels have 33 Psi . Yeah. It's like a mountain bike tire. Yes. Well, I, we agree on that point. And I, I think that that is one that we will continue to complain about. And I will just continue to be annoyed that I, that I can't feel confident in what I'm writing without doing a bunch of, of searching and Google searching, and I don't want to have to do that. [00:22:15] Randall R. Jacobs: Nor should your average rider need to rely on that in order to be safe like that. That's the part that I find kind of, kind of bonkers. [00:22:23] Caley Fretz: Average rider doesn't even know to do that. That's the problem. [00:22:26] Randall R. Jacobs: yeah. True. And the la the last part of that is why do the tire pressure recommendation charts kind of go to 70 proportional with the weight and then they just kind of taper off. You know, that that also kind of tells you something about the confidence in this you know, particular combination of tire and rim and, and pressure and so on. But all right. Should we, well, I guess we hop off this high horse then. That was good fun. I could do this all day. So you mentioned Ben Delaney, and he's an interesting person to bring up because he's a, a mutual acquaintance. Also somebody who's writing, I've been reading since my early days in the industry and also somebody who has been trying to figure out how to navigate the changing landscape in cycling media, which the business model for, for media in general has undergone a dramatic shift. And in his case, he's has his new YouTube channel and is doing freelance work for certain publications and is making a go of it that way. But how would you describe the industry dynamics as having changed during your time in the media side? [00:23:29] Caley Fretz: Oh, I mean, I would say I was relatively insulated from it personally for a long time. And until I kind of reached a, a, a level of management, so to speak, that it became my problem , I didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about it. Yeah, Ben was unfortunately the, the, the, the victim of a, an outside layoff a, a while ago. So he's been making a solo go of it since I think May or June of, of, of last year. Or this year, 2022. And yeah, like his, his he's experimenting and, and it's, it's good to, I like watching him trying to figure this out, right, because I feel like he's kind of doing it for all of us at the moment and, and trying to figure out exactly, you know, various ways to, to make this thing work and. He is, got his, his YouTube channel's. Great. I mean, I watch it all the time. I'm actually gonna be on it sometime soon. I just, just recorded a thing with him picking our favorite products of the year. I think I went in a slight, I think I went in a slightly different direction than, than probably most of his guests. Cause my favorite product was bar Mitz for my cargo bike. So slightly different place than, than probably a lot of folks he's talking to. But the, the media as a whole, I mean, it's rough out there. It's rough out there, right? Like I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about this and trying to figure this out over the last couple years as has like weighed my former boss at C T E before he left over the summer. As is everybody, I mean, frankly, like as is Robin Thurston the CEO of outside, right? Like he is genuinely trying to make this thing work. And at the moment as layoffs kind of. It's hard, right? It's really, really hard to, to get people to pay for something that they haven't had to pay for historically, you're, you're trying to put the genie back in the bottle, right? That's what we are trying to do. And it's really, really, really difficult. And then, frankly, it's one of the things we were most proud of at Cycline Tips is that we did have this core, hyper engaged audience that was willing to pay us for, for what we did. And not only just pay us for like, the content that they had access to, but pay us for the whole community that we had built. Right. I mean there, there's a, there's a Velo Club, which is the, the sort of membership program. Atip, there's a Slack group for Velo Club which I, which I'm concerned about right now. But that group of people, couple thousand people not, it's not the entirety of the membership. It's, it's like sort of the most hardcore of the membership, I would say. And it's a couple thousand people. It's sort of like its own little private forum, right? And, and they support each other and they ask each other questions, and they ask us questions asked, past tense, asked us questions. You know, when, when, when they had a tech question, they, they, they ping James and they had a racing question. They, they would, they would ping me or they would ping Matt e or something like that. And they would also just answer each other's questions. And they've built this, this incredible community there. That for me, underpins any successful, particularly sort of niche media or, or, or, or vertical media business. Because those are the people that not only are they giving you money to, to keep lights on, but they're, they're your, they're your biggest advocates, right? They're your, your most important advocates in the space. They're the people that, that tell their friends. They're the people that get other people signed up. They are, they're more important than any marketing spend you could, you could ever possibly utilize. Right? So that, that was one of the things we were really proud of the last couple years. And I think that that is a model in some ways for, for, for going forward. So, you know, like I said, I'm, I don't have a non-compete. I can start anything I want right now and, and I, and to be, to be very blunt, like I fully plan to I think that, [00:26:54] Randall R. Jacobs: think you absolutely should at this. You clearly have an audience that that misses your voice and that values what you brought to the table. [00:27:00] Caley Fretz: Yeah. And, and I would say it like, honestly, it's, it's even, it's less my voice and it's more like Dave Rome and Matt and like the rest of the crew because I, I, I do like to put, you know, put the folks that that were writing day, day in, day out for ct, like, well ahead of anything that I was doing. But I, I did spend more time than they did thinking about how to, how to build a media business. And so, yeah, I, you know, we wanna, we wanna, we wanna do something here. That there's it's only been a couple weeks since we were, we were. Let go. So we're still figuring out what the details are. But like I said, you know, we've already kicked off a little podcast. We know that there's a lot of people out there that are kind of waiting for this. And we will, we will just try to give them what they want, I guess. I mean, my, in my mind, the, ideal sort of media entity of the future and I, I've used this term a couple times with, with Dave in, in talking about these things is, is essentially an aggregation of niches or niches if, depending on which pronunciation you prefer. So rather than try to go really broad and talk about a little bit of everything, which, which tends to be kind of the model across most of cycling media, I prefer a concept where you, you essentially allow editors to. To dive into their, their interests and their strengths. Right? You know, you take, you take Dave Rome and you say, Dave, you love tools. You're real weirdo about it. But we appreciate your weirdness and we, we, we embrace it and, and do it. Like, tell me everything you can possibly tell me about tools, because I'm pretty sure there's an audience there. And even if it's not that big, even if it's a couple thousand people, if they are hyper engaged with you, a couple thousand people in a recurring membership model, recurring revenue model is enough to pay Dave plus some, right? And then you sort of, you take that concept and you, and you expand it out. And yeah, it's, it's, it becomes the basis by which you can build a, a, a media entity. That I think is, is sustainable. Not none, nothing I'm saying here is wholly original, right? Like this is the broadly the direction that a lot of different media entities are going. Anybody sort of follows that world. There's, there's like, there's a new politics site called S four that is essentially the same rough concept, right? You, you dive headlong into, into particular beats. You provide a ton of depth in those beats. You hit the, the audience, people who, who really care about that particular topic, and you pull that group in and then you do the same thing over here and you pull that group in, you do the same thing over here, and you pull that group in. And there's for sure people that care about more than one obviously. But you really, like, you focus really deep on each one of these things. And that's the, that's the, if I could build something and, and I, you know, like I said, I, I intend to try, that's the concept. I think that that makes the most sense to me from a. from a business perspective, from an editorial perspective, from from every perspective I can, I can think of, basically. [00:29:59] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, so I've had folks like Russ Roca from PathLessPedaled. On the pod. He has a YouTube channel you may or may not be familiar with, but that's become his livelihood, right. And he has sustainers through Patreon. He doesn't do endorsements and things like that. I don't think he's doing any sort of sponsored episodes or anything of that sort. And he's been able to make a living. And there are obviously plenty of YouTuber influencer types who may have less scruples about promoting things and things of that sort. But who I'm curious, either within bike or, or outside a bike what projects do you see succeeding in the model that you could imagine emulating or building upon? Because I've seen a bunch of attempts at it and it's, it's a really tough nut to [00:30:43] Caley Fretz: it's a tough not to crack. I, I would say that the biggest and most obvious is the athletic, which was just purchased by the New York Times for something like, I think it was 425 million. Now, so the sort of caveat around that is that that's probably less than they were actually hoping for. This is a, a VC funded media entity that, that primarily covers ball sports. And their whole thing was you take, you, you, you essentially apply the beat reporter model of like a local newspaper. You know, you, you, the, the, the Denver Post for example, will have a Broncos beat reporter. Then all they do is talk about the Broncos, right? And, and they're even allowed to kind of be fans of the Broncos a little bit. They take that and they apply it to every single ball sport. So both types of football, you know, baseball, basketball, all the rest. And they apply a beat reporter to every major team. And sometimes more than one beat reporter to, to really big teams. You know, like if we're talking English, English Premier League you know, Manchester United has a couple different writers on it. Aston Villa has probably won, right? So, but, but, but even so, if you're a massive Aston Villa fan and you just want your Aston Villa News, you can go, you know that the athletics gonna have it cuz they have a person who is dedicated to your team and nothing else but your team. So you can also get like, okay, well I want some broader, I want World Cup news, I want, I want the Manchester United news. I want the Ronaldo news, but I really want my Aston Villa guy, right. That is essentially the same model that I'm talking about where like, I believe that people really want Dave Rome's tool. They probably also care about lots of other things that, that we will write about. But they really want Dave room's tool stuff. And that's probably the thing that's actually gonna get them across the line from a, from a membership perspective, right? Is that deep, deep, deep love of this one thing that a content creator they like is talking about. That's the kind of thing that, that, that moves the needle in. So yeah, the athletic is, is kind of the biggest, most obvious example of this kind of working. They made I think some strategic areas early on in the way that they pulled staff together that made it quite an expensive organization to run. And I think that's part, probably part of the reason why they didn't get quite as much cash for it as they thought. But still building a media a media entity from nothing in the last, I think it started five years ago or so. I remember sitting at a Tor de France press buffet with some of the. The British. So at the time it was, you know, sky Era. A lot of big name British sport writers, sports writers were coming over the tour, and a couple of those guys were talking about job offers from the athletic and actually like how insanely well paid they were going to be So I think [00:33:13] Randall R. Jacobs: And the, these are full, full-time positions. We're not [00:33:15] Caley Fretz: oh, yeah, yeah. [00:33:16] Randall R. Jacobs: Just shifting everything to freelance. Like so [00:33:18] Caley Fretz: No, no, no. These are, yeah, [00:33:20] Randall R. Jacobs: models Do. [00:33:21] Caley Fretz: no, I mean, I don't, I mean, perhaps they're contractors or something, but like, you know, the, the, these individuals are writing a, a story a day most of the time about the particular beat that they're talking about. A story every other day, depending on the, on the, on the writer probably. But anyway, yeah, about about five years ago. So you see, you know, you've got a media entity that's only about five years old and just sold to the New York Times for half a million or whatever it was, or sorry, half a billion. [00:33:43] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. [00:33:43] Caley Fretz: a pretty, that's a success story in my mind. And shows that the. The model can work, I think. There's no guarantees and that's a scale that I don't really have any need, want, or desire to come anywhere near. But I do think that the core essentially value proposition of membership that they, that they showed worked, can work elsewhere. It can work in cycling, can work across endurance media, I think. [00:34:12] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, and again, with my kind of very cursory understanding of the space, they were required by the New York Times, which itself went through its own economic model crisis and had to make the switch to a paywall. And the quality of the content was sufficient that they're, they're making such large acquisitions, so they must be doing something right. They're, they're not the failing New York Times. As some folks called them a few years ago. I think there's also something to be said for consolidating quality and having the interaction of the sort that you did at at cycling tips, not just through Velo Club but also just the comments section. It, it was a very unique space and your team was in there. Interacting and the, the nature of the communication that I saw, the way that your readers were engaging there, it didn't seem hierarchical at all. It was a conversation with, with you and your team and that that was very, very cool to see. And that was something quite special that I think is more a consequence of the people involved than of the particular platform as special as cycling tips was. And I was one of the early readers that was, those are my racing days when it was literally just the blog and it was pointers on how to train. It was the cool thing at the time. And. Actual cycling tips. Yeah. That name was, was a direct, directly correlated with the contents. But I don't know if I've shared this with you, but in addition to the podcast, which is founded by Craig Dalton we also started this Slack community called the Ridership, which also is bit over a couple thousand members, and also has these like healthy dynamics. We call it a, a community of Rogers Helping Riders. And that was directly inspired by what you guys do at Velo. like saw what you were doing over there was just something that wanted to emulate, found inspiring saw a place for. And I'd be curious one of the things that Craig and I have talked about, is some form of shared platform that's somehow democratically governed. Where content creators and those who are engaging with their content who wanna support them and so on, can all meet and having that be something centralized in the sense that it's all meeting in the same place, but decentralized in terms of the governance structure, and then maybe even set up as a non-profit. I'm curious if you've had any thoughts around that sort of thing. [00:36:35] Caley Fretz: Yeah, I've actually sort of played around with similar ideas. We, yeah. In this, well, and again, in the sort of couple weeks that I've been thinking about, really thinking about this now we thought through, so, so ironically, one of the things that. There's been a fair number of complaints around with outside was was essentially like web three and, and NFT stuff. However some of that technology would actually make something like what you're talking about potentially work quite a bit better. Again, I haven't spent, we, we didn't go too far down this, this, this rabbit hole cause we feel like getting something off the ground relatively quickly is, is, is a priority. But I agree that, that something platforms work, right? Like that's essentially, that, that's all YouTube is, is just a platform for other people to, to, to put content on. They monetize it over top. They give you a cut, they take most of it. That's a, it's a pretty good business actually. So like could you do that for endurance sports, perhaps? Probably. Are there enough? Are there enough really high quality individual content creators out there to make that work? Probably, maybe like, are, are there enough Ben Delaney's, who would love to probably work with a platform that, that increased their visibility? But, you know, in, in exchange for a cut of whatever he's making, probably. I mean, that's essentially the, the deal that he's made with YouTube, right? Like we were saying. I think there's something there. I don't, I think it'd, I think it'd be incredibly difficult to, to get off the ground and would almost have to be quite organic and you'd have to be kind of willing to, to sit on it and let it grow for quite some time or, or sit on a bunch of investment money and, and do it that way. Which I don't necessarily have the time for at this point in time, but I like the idea. I really, I like, I genuinely, you know, I've, I've had a lot of conversations with other people in, in bike media over the last couple weeks because for obvious reasons, people giving me a ring. They're saying a lot of 'em are saying basically like, Hey, I'm sorry just checking in on you. Stuff like that. And we, and we get to talking about this sort of thing. And one of the things that keeps coming up is this desire to stop competing so directly with each other as bike media, right? Like the space is too small. We all do our own thing. We talk to maybe the same audience in general, but we talk to them in very different ways. And you know, like I I I, I, I've been on the phone with editor in chiefs of, of, of a couple different major bike outlets in the last week and all have said something along those lines. And I think that some sort of collective would, would hit the same. Yeah, it would hit, it would hit the same. there, right? Of a, of a desire to provide a space for everybody to just create really good work that they actually get paid for. Cuz that's the hard thing again, you're still talking about putting the genie back in the bottle. You're still talking about trying to get people to pay for, for something that they historically haven't paid for, or you're running an advertising based model, which is incredibly difficult. And in part, and this particular moment is very, very difficult. I mean, you know, Robin, the CEO of outside mentioned that specifically in the letter that came along with with these layoffs is like the advertising world out there right now, particularly in endemic media, like cycling is bad. It is bad news. You know, they're, they're looking into 2023 and seeing and seeing steep drop-offs in the amount that that is being spent. So you've run up against kind of similar problems, I think with that model. But it is certainly something that is The incentives to me feel like they're lined up for creators in a, in a model like that, right? Because they, if done right, they would directly benefit from their, their work. Whereas, you know, something that's always kind of frustrated me in this space is like, the value of myself and, and, and editorial teams have increased the value of entities tremendously o over my career. And then they get sold and I see none of it And so like that, that the incentive, [00:40:24] Randall R. Jacobs: and [00:40:25] Caley Fretz: structure is not, is not great within most of bike media [00:40:29] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. It's bad enough in the tech space where there are stock options, but generally to the founder goes most of the spoils. Even though and I say this as a founder, I don't create most of the value, right? Nothing that, that I could do would get off the ground without all the other people who make it happen. And so, it's only right that there be a distribution of ownership and a sharing of the rewards if there's success, which in turn incentivizes success. In the case of cycling tips, in reading the comments it's very clear that the readership knows it. They're not there for cycling tips. Cycling tips is the bander under which all the people whose perspectives they valued. It's where those people are. And so, your standalone brand and that of your colleagues, has value and has value in particular, if it's brought in a single place where people can interact with you as, as they had in the past it's a terrible thing to lose. And you know, whatever the reasons for it, obviously there are economic headwinds. But it's, it's unfortunate. But there's a saying that I, I live by that seems to apply, which is change happens when the fear of change is less than the pain of staying the same. [00:41:36] Caley Fretz: Hmm. [00:41:37] Randall R. Jacobs: And there's nothing quite like a radically changing economic model or layoffs or things like that that make staying the same, really painful. And so whether the fear has changed or not, time to take the leap and people like yourself and Ben and others have been making that leap. I wonder you mentioned that some sort of platform would have to. Either be funded by a bunch of VC money, which honestly I don't, if you wanna end up with a small fortune, start with a big one. Throwing VC money at things is a really good way to end up with Juicero. I don't know if you recall that [00:42:10] Caley Fretz: Oh, yes. [00:42:11] Randall R. Jacobs: 130 or 160 million of Sandhill Road money lit on fire for a a glorified electric press for If anyone's curious, look this up. It is. It'll, it'll make you feel that yeah, it, it'll make you question the judgment of, of Silicon Valley in a way that I have learned too from the inside over the years. But the organic piece let's, let's unpack that cuz I, I have a couple of ideas that I'd like to bounce off of you. So platforms like YouTube, I suspect it's gonna be very hard for somebody who has an audience on YouTube or who wants to build an audience to leave YouTube. But having a platform that is essentially an a. So if you're a content creator, wherever your content is, this is the one place where you can find all of it along with, categorized content from other players. So you want to learn about tools you have, Dave Romes YouTube videos about tools. You have his podcast about tools. You have other content creators content there. And then it becomes kind of platform agnostic like you can be anywhere, but this is the place where you go to find it. And this is the place where you go to interact. Cuz the YouTube comments, that's not an interaction space that's largely a trolling space or, or it's a largely one directional sorts of conversation happening. Even, even the healthiest version of it is still not a conversation. But if you have a YouTube video embedded in a a community, [00:43:27] Caley Fretz: Mm-hmm. [00:43:28] Randall R. Jacobs: Now all of a sudden people are in digital community together and not just over say Dave and his tool-based content or his tool focused content. Not to say that's all he does, but using that as an example, but also Dave in community, in his local chapter, right. In his local riding community. And in the context of a place where people are also going for, James' bike reviews and you know, your Twitter de France coverage and, and things like this that's one model that I've wondered, like if there was such a platform. [00:43:59] Caley Fretz: how, how, how do you monetize it? Is it, is it pay? Walled, [00:44:03] Randall R. Jacobs: That's a big question, right? [00:44:04] Caley Fretz: Well, so, so, the reason I ask is because I, I, like, I would see a couple different options, right? And, and we're getting into real sort of media theory here, but , [00:44:11] Randall R. Jacobs: This, this was actually part of the conversation I wanted to have with you long before all these changes. And it's something we've discussed on the pod before as well with other content creators. [00:44:19] Caley Fretz: I, I think So I, I'll say that first and foremost that I'm, I'm not anti paywall. I know some of the, some others are in, in the media space, but I fundamentally believe that if done properly you're essentially only targeting. So, so, so I'm, I'm a big advocate of what, what we call meter paywall, which is basically you get a couple free stories in a given amount of time whatever the number is, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, whatever you want. And then at some point you, you pay right? Now, the nice thing about that is that you know, if we, if we take a, let's take a hypothetical cycling media outlet with somewhere in, you know, we, we'll call it, we'll call it 2 million unique users a month, right? You've got 2 million people showing up at a website every month. The number of people who are actually gonna get to the paywall that are gonna go to enough stories to get to that paywall is probably something in the neighborhood of like, Less than 5% of those people. It's a tiny, tiny, tiny number because a huge number of those people are coming in from Google. They're, they're, they're seo, they're coming into SEO stories, they're coming into, you know, how to bet in my disc brakes. And they're, they're in and they find out how to do that and they're out. Right? And that's the only interaction you have with them. And they're useful from a page view perspective if you're monetizing that. But they're not particularly useful from a membership perspective cuz who's gonna pay to get one story, right. That, that's, that doesn't make any sense. So you're really only trying to monetize your super users. So your super users are that 5%, the people that actually end up hitting paywall. And part of the reason why I'm not anti paywall is because those people that, that, that small group of people that is coming back day after day after day after day, they value you. And if they truly value you, they should pay for you. , like, I don't have any problem with, you know, we put a ton of time and energy and effort into this and it is our jobs. And we need to get paid. And if people, if people appreciate what we're doing enough to come back every single day and they're not willing to pay for that, then as far as I'm concerned, they need to look at themselves and, and, and ask why. Right? Like, all I'm asking for is, is, you know, eight bucks a month or whatever to continue doing so that, so that you can do something that you do every single day that you enjoy, that you, that you gain information and entertainment from inspiration from even. I think that that's a pretty reasonable trade off. I don't really have any problem asking the super user to do that. I think that there are other paywall versions of a paywall that, that I, that I don't agree with, sort of philosophically, I don't agree with paywall in a hundred percent of content. I also think that that just ruins your discoverability and it, it, it doesn't allow anybody [00:46:49] Randall R. Jacobs: was, I was gonna say, is [00:46:50] Caley Fretz: Yeah. Then nobody, [00:46:53] Randall R. Jacobs: thing or is it more just practically like, you're, you're gonna cut off all the channels for discovery? [00:46:58] Caley Fretz: Both. Yeah. I, I, it, it realistically, yeah. Like I said, your discoverability goes to zero. People can't tell that you make good content. I have kind of a similar issue with the, the like premium content model. So you, you know, you give away your, your crappy stuff for free and the really good stuff you gotta pay for, like, I don't like that either. Cause why then anybody's strolling around your website, it's gonna be like, well, it's the only thing is I can read are crap. So why would I pay for the, i, I don't know that [00:47:23] Randall R. Jacobs: poor, it's a poor pitch. [00:47:24] Caley Fretz: It's a bad pitch. So, so I have issues with that. I also just like philosophically, you know, the, the sort of fully hard pay wall that you can't read anything without paying beyond the discovery of discoverability problems. I just kinda have issues with that because like if we do write a, how to bet in your disc brake so they don't make noise story. Like, I want people to be able to access that, right? Like, then I don't have to listen up. people's loud disc breaks. You know, like people, I, I have no problem sort of providing that much content to somebody for free. And I think that the fully pay well in that is, is, is isn't great. But again, I I'm not against paywalls in general. Meter paywalls I think work quite well. They yeah, we know that they're effective. They can be incredibly effective, particularly if you have this sort of requisite essentially story volume to make them work and, and sort of audience size to make them work. So given that like the, the sort of concept that you are talking about, paywall seems like a, like a, a, a good way forward because again, you're sort of avoiding the avoiding the need to, to chase advertising dollars constantly. And this is, this is gonna be somewhat a reflection of what I'm thinking for, for. For myself going forward, obviously you're avoiding, you're, you're avoiding chasing advertising dollars incessantly, which, you know, I'm not against advertising either. I think the right advertising partners can be, can be crucial, right? They provide lots of actually value to an audience at some point, right. You know, the fact that you get bikes to test the fact that you have a good relationship there. Those, those are all valuable things. So not, not anti advertising either. I'm just more anti, constantly chasing every single cent you can possibly get out of advertising. And the, and the sort of the, the, the extra resource that, that very concept requires. And so yeah, some sort of like membership driven thing lines up with the sort of ethos of what you're talking about, which is very community driven. We know communities are willing to invest in their own space where they can be a community. And so that would make sense as well. And if you start to do things like add too much advertising to something like that, then you do the incentives start to shift. Cuz you start working for the advertisers instead of working for the community. And that I think goes against the whole ethos that you're talking about of the sort of communal thing. So that would be my, that would be my 2 cents on, on, on how to build something like that. Like I said, it is a concept that, that we played around with and I've played around with in my head for, for some time actually. I personally, again, it's more of a, more of a time issue for me than anything. Not that I don't think it could be cool and don't think it could work. I just think that the, to build that community would take quite a bit of time. And also figuring out the precise method of paying. So the other roadblock that I, that I came across when I was thinking through this was the precise method of paying content creators in that scenario, it's quite complicated. Cause are you paying them? Are you paying them by page view? Are you paying them? Is there a tip jar? Is there some sort of, of, you know, rank voting system when people sign up, like, I like these three creators and I don't like these three, and so the top three get, get my money. And the, and the other three don't. That starts to create some perverse incentives toward bad content as well, right? And, and essentially that's the, that is the YouTube problem. The YouTube problem is that YouTube is incentivized for clickbait. It's incentivized for garbage content, , because that's, that's the stuff that gets picked up. And think about, think about your average, like YouTube headline or YouTube sort of, title card. Versus what you would find on a, a site like cycling tips these days. Right. It's a dramatic difference. Like we, we would have to change headlines depending on whether it was going on YouTube or going on on the site back in the day. Cuz YouTube is incentivized to be like all caps and exclamation points and somebody crashing in the title card and all these things that we kind of hate because that's what you end [00:51:25] Randall R. Jacobs: Kaylee, Fritz destroys X, Y, [00:51:27] Caley Fretz: Exactly. So after the monetization question, how do you actually split up that money with the content creators? It's a, it's a, again, I like, I love the, the idea, I love the concept, but the sort of those particular decisions. Be crucial to success and crucial to it actually working for the people that, that you, that you know, that you want, want, would want it to work for. And it'd be hard. It'd be really hard. I I don't have the solution to those questions, which is why I, again, thought through a lot of this and, and thought through a similar concept, not, not identical but a similar concept and, and basically came to the conclusion that in the near term, a a slightly more traditional model is not the worst thing in the world, right? Like, build really good content, pay people for it make people pay for it. , that's essentially the, that's the, the, the three part business plan of most membership driven media entities these days. Does that all make sense? I feel like I went in a bit of rant there. [00:52:31] Randall R. Jacobs: Not at all. Not at all. And in fact, it's a conversation I'd like to continue cuz I have a few ideas that probably we, we don't want to dedicate a whole episode to just this conversation. But certainly appreciate you pulling back a curtain on the sorts of questions that you as an editor in the space and an editor for one of the most respected publications in the space and for good reason, providing that perspective in the sorts of things that you are thinking about from this new Vantage point is very much appreciative. So thank you for that. I wanna go in a completely different direction. What are the pieces that you've written that you most enjoyed or found most challenging, or that were most meaningful for you as a writer? [00:53:08] Caley Fretz: Hmm. Internally at cycling tips. We called them riddles. It was a, it was a coin, a term that I intro coined for his little, the little essays. Right. There's a couple of those that I, that I really enjoyed writing and, and liked writing. It's just sort of the pure act of, of, of sort of language, basically like playing with language. Which is still fundamentally like why I started doing this to begin with is cause I really enjoyed doing that. And the last couple years have stepped away from writing almost entirely. Not entirely, but almost entirely. And, and so when I did get a chance to write, it was always, it was always meaningful and I, and I liked it. That tended to be at things like the Tor de Frances where, you know, I would essentially send to myself cuz I, I wanted to go cover the to Frances again. I had plenty, plenty, plenty of, plenty of talented, talented writers that, that reporters that could have gone instead of me. But at some point you pull the boss card and I'm like, I'm gonna the tour So, so yeah, there's a couple pieces on that front. Actually one of the first pieces I ever wrote for segment tips it's, it was called The Road to Niro's House. And it was about a trip that my wife and I and two friends took to Columbia. And it, it, like half the photos are broken on it now. It's, it's, it's from like 2017 like 6,500 words of a trip around Columbia and all the sort of things that, that riding in Columbia. Particularly in 2017 meant sort of keeping in mind that that, you know, a relatively large and disastrous war there only kind of wrapped up around the 2010 mark depending on who you ask . So I, I, I really enjoyed that piece. And then, yeah, like these, these little riddles, you know, there's a couple that I've written over my career that I that you tend to write them in 20 minutes, right? Because something just hits you in the head and, and you just, I mean, you just get it out, but it, because of that, it's, they're very pure. I think. I wrote one about the toe strap that my dad would use to attach a sock full of Tube tire, co2, you know, flat fixing implements underneath his saddle. Right? And he would, he would strap this thing underneath his saddle with a, with a strap, like a tube sock underneath his saddle with a, with a, with a tow strap, like a leather tow strap. And, and I, and I wrote this story about how, like, you know, I just remember when I was 12, 13 years old. And you know, my dad is obviously a much stronger cycl cyclist than me at that point. And just like, you know, trying to stay on his wheel with this like, toe strap dangling in front of me as like the, you know, I'm just, I'm just, I just need to stay on the tow strap. Wrote a piece about that at some point that I, that I ended up, I, I really liked. And it was meaningful to me because of my, my relationship with my dad is like very tied into my relationship with cycling because we grew up doing it together and, and still ride together when we can and things like that. There was one about eating Castle and Carcassone during a rest day, Tor de France that I liked. Again, these, you know, [00:55:59] Randall R. Jacobs: Castle in Per, [00:56:01] Caley Fretz: Castle is is like a, [00:56:03] Randall R. Jacobs: I'm, I'm, I'm not so [00:56:04] Caley Fretz: is like, is like a meat, like a meaty stew thing you know, white beans and, and, and some, some meat. And Carcassone is a town in southern France with a big kind of world heritage site castle over top of it. And it's always hot as hell there. They often have restage there at the torque. It's always hot as hell. And I have yet to find a hotel or an Airbnb there that has air conditioning. So you're always just like baking, you know, second rest day of the Tor De France. You know, I, I think I was sitting in a cafe. And I had a couple roses like you do and, and eating a castle, which is also hot. So I'm like, I'm hot eating a hot castle and just watching the world kind of go by like the sort of Tor de France rest day world go going by and, you know, like Greg Van Ama coming up and, and stopping at a red light. I'm this, I've wrote the story a while ago and I'm trying to remember what I even talked about. You kn