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A long-delayed project promising nonstop rail service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours may be able to secure the private funding it desperately needs if California agrees to pay the investors back, its chief executive told The Associated Press. Ian Choudri, who was appointed CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority in August, is tasked with reinvigorating the nation’s largest infrastructure project amid skyrocketing costs and new fears that the Trump administration could pull $4 billion in federal funding. We started this one, and we are not succeeding, Choudri said, describing what drew him to the job after work on high-speed systems in Europe. That was the main reason for me to say, ‘Lets go in, completely turn it around, and put it back to where it should have been. Fix all the issues, get the funding stabilized, and demonstrate to the rest of the world that when we decide that we want to do it, we actually will do it.’ Voters first approved $10 billion in bond money in 2008 to cover about a third of the estimated cost with a promise the train would be up and running by 2020. Five years past that deadline, no tracks have been laid, and Choudri acknowledges it may take nearly two more decades to complete most of the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles segment, even if funding is secured. Funding woes The project’s price tag now exceeds $100 billion, more than triple the initial estimate. It has mostly been funded by the state through the voter-approved bond and money from the states cap-and-trade program. A little less than a quarter of the money has come from the federal government. The authority has already spent about $13 billion. The state is now out of bond money, and officials need to come up with a financing plan for the Central Valley segment by mid-2026, according to the inspector generals office overseeing the project. The managers of the project were in trouble from the very beginning because they never had the financingcertainly not stable and predictable financingthat they would have needed to manage the project efficiently, said Lou Thompson, who led a peer review group that analyzes the states high-speed rail plans. Losing money from the federal government would require a real hard rethinking of what do we do to survive the next four years, he said. Rail leaders are in talks with Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration and state lawmakers on what will be needed to secure private investment, Choudri said, adding that without the private sector money the state may have to take out federal loans or issue new bonds. At an industry forum in January, private investors expressed interest in the project but need some form of security, he said. Choudri is pushing Newsom and lawmakers to consider a program that would eventually commit the state to paying back private investors, possibly with interest. That would give the state more time to cover the cost. Legislative Democrats say they remain hopeful for the projects future. But they havent unveiled any proposals yet this year in the state Legislature to set aside additional funding and have resisted spending more money on the project in the past. Choudri plans to provide lawmakers this summer with an updated timeline and price tag. An ambitious vision Choudri aims to fulfill the original vision of building a pioneering systemalready common in Europe and Asiathat spurs economic growth, curbs planet-warming emissions from cars and planes, and saves drivers hours on the road. At speeds up to 220 miles (354 kilometers) per hour, it would be the nation’s fastest way to travel by ground. Amtraks Acela train transports passengers at speeds up to 150 miles (241 kilometers) per hour to major cities including New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. Another rail line in Florida, operating at speeds up to 125 miles (201 kilometers) per hour, shuttles people from Orlando to Miami. Construction is underway for a mostly privately funded high-speed system to carry riders from Las Vegas to Southern California. California’s construction is far from completion. Of the 119 miles (192 kilometers) of construction underway in the Central Valley, only a 22-mile (35-kilometer) stretch is ready for the track-laying phase, which isnt set to start until next year. Finishing the line in the Valley is just the first step. Next, the train has to extend north toward the San Francisco Bay Area and south toward Los Angeles. Choudri’s goal within the next 20 years is to build to Gilroy, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco. Under current public transit, it would then take at least one more train transfer to get into the city. Southward, he envisions building to Palmdale, 37 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles. From there, it takes more than one hour to drive or two hours on an existing train line to reach Los Angeles. In the ideal world, you can take the 500 miles, build it in your warehouse and then just drop it, and everybodys happy,” Choudri said. But the programs are never built like that. You build incrementally, and thats what were doing right now. Doubts for the future Critics say the project will never be completed and may leave towering and unusable infrastructure stretching through the state’s agricultural heartland. More than 50 structures have already been built, including underpasses, viaducts, and bridges to separate the rail line from existing roadways for safety. Weve now spent billions of dollars and really no tracks have been laid, said Republican state Sen. Tony Strickland, who is vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. Doug Verboon, chair of the Kings County Board of Supervisors, who has fought the High-Speed Rail Authority in court over farmers’ loss of land due to the project, said the people who should be most upset by delays are its longtime supporters. It doesnt seem to me like the state government is in a hurry to finish it,” he said. Sophie Austin, Associated Press/Report for America
Category:
E-Commerce
Starbucks held its quarterly earnings call Tuesday, during which CEO Brian Niccol highlighted a slew of design steps the company is taking as part of its overall turnaround strategy. While Niccols described the company’s drop in quarterly earnings as “disappointing,” behind the scenes he claims the coffee chain is still making progress toward its back-to-basics comeback plan by upgrading its coffeehouses, standardizing the Starbucks experience store-to-store, and implementing more efficient systems. All of this will begin to roll out over the next few months. Here’s a rundown of the design changes so far and what’s heating up for next quarter. [Photo: Starbucks] 1. Coffeeshop uplifts coming to select cities in months Starbucks has been planning to make its cafés more cozy for a while now, as part of an effort to keep customers coming back and spending more time in-store. On its Tuesday earnings call, Niccol said store redesigns are moving along and that he expects they will deliver an exceptional customer experience. Coffeehouse uplifts, as Niccols described them during the company’s earnings call, will begin to roll out in New York City and Southern California in the coming months. The chain designed the updates to its cafés to make them feel more premium, warm, and inviting while also keeping costs down and minimizing store closures. Already, a return to what Niccol described as great seats in some locations has contributed to more customers sitting and staying a while longer. “The third place is our heritage,” he said. “It’s needed more than ever, and we’re reclaiming it.” 2. An optimized shift app for employees Last quarter, the company made an update to Shift Marketplace, its tool that allows employees to trade and pick up shifts locally. This increased the pool of employees able to fill in last-minute shift changes by a factor of 10, so that fewer cafés are understaffed, according to the company. The ultimate goal of the change is to improve employee experience as well as the customer’s in-store experience, by beefing up staffing and decreasing wait times. [Photo: Starbucks] 3. The green apron premium experience at scale Niccol said the company had piloted a “new green apron service model” for employees and stores that creates more flexibility; better captures demand, especially at peak hours; and delivers “a more premium customer experience.” The model includes updated expectations and new streamlined routines, and a new algorithm for sequencing when to make preordered drinks, especially important during peak times. The new model will be expanded to more than 2,000 U.S. company-operated locations beginning in May, and reach more than two-thirds of its cafés by the end of the fiscal year. 4. Paired with premium drinks and a redesigned menu Starbucks has simplified its menu, and it’s also focusing on premium drinks. It plans to fully roll out its proprietary single-cup Clover Vertica brewer, which has now been installed in 70% of stores. Niccol said Starbucks is also working on artisanal snacks and freshly baked and prepared food it can bring to stores. The more upscale menu goes hand in hand with the elevated store design, aimed at getting customers to come in, spend more, and stay longer. Niccol said Starbucks is also finding ways to improve on existing products, like matcha, which saw sales improve 40% year over year after the company removed sugar in response to customer feedback. When it comes to seasonal drinks, the company will take “an agile test-and-learn approach” to create drinks that are not only relevant but “executed consistently.” 5. A new, more efficient ordering algorithm Starbucks piloted a new algorithm at select stores that does a better job of sequencing the production of drink orders, whether placed at the café counter, drive-through, or by app. According to the company’s tests, it has dropped café wait times by an average of two minutes. Being able to shave minutes off wait times is especially helpful during peak hours, and it gives employees a more streamlined work experience. “We’re finding through our work that investments in labor, rather than equipment, are more effective at improving throughput and driving transaction growth,” Niccol said. “We’re shifting our focus from beverage production to craft and connection.” [Photo: Starbucks] All part of its “Back to Starbucks” approach Starbucks announced an updated dress code for employees earlier this month to make the customer and employee experience consistent across cafés and to ensure the brand’s recognizable green apron was the star of the fit. The dress code is an outward sign of a larger shift at the company. Starbucks’s other ongoing design changes, like bringing back handwritten notes on coffee cups, ceramic mugs for to-stay orders, and free same-visit refills of hot or iced coffee or tea, have been received positively by customers, Niccol said. Starbucks says it’s getting back to basics, and the coffee chain hopes that a renovated store and improved customer experience will not only deliver on that, but also improve the company’s bottom line.
Category:
E-Commerce
Are you ready to hand over your wallet to AI and let it do your shopping for you? Maybe notbut the technology to do it is hitting the market. On Wednesday, Visa announced Visa Intelligent Commerce, which effectively allows AI agents to find and buy goods or services on behalf of consumers. While Visa itself doesnt create the AI agents, what its done is create the e-commerce backbone to allow it to happen. Consumers could use AI tools to track down potential purchases, but then those platforms would hand control back over to the human to complete the transaction. The big change with Visas technology is that, with the proper permissions enabled, AI agents can complete the purchase without going back to their human handler. The value-add, Visas Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell tells Fast Company, is that it frees up the cognitive load and time, delivering massively better outcomes, and more valueits going to deliver better shopping experiences. For example, a shopper can now request that an AI agent buy a bouquet for their mom as a Mothers Day gift, and the entire process requires little, if any additional input from the shopper. The AI may be able to find the particular flowers the consumers mother likes, at a desired price point, and have them delivered on or before Mothers Day. The shopper can breathe easy, and not put too much thought or effort into the transactionsomething that their mothers probably wouldnt want to know. As for the tech itself, Forestell says that getting AI agents set up to make payments involves getting a payment card credential to an agent, which he says is tech thats similar to Apple Pay or Google Paythe agent gets a token that can only be used by that agent. From there, and from Visas standpoint, two things need to occur: Visa needs to get a buy signal from a merchant that indicates an agent is making a purchase, and the confirmation that the transaction has completed. While there will be some lag between users adopting agentic payments en masse, as merchants, consumers, and financial institutions learn to trust them and use them efficiently. But Forestell says APIs will be available on Wednesday, so people and companies can begin to work with the technology.
Category:
E-Commerce
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