There's no Transit 2030 this week, as I'm out planning some BuildSD events. In my stead, however, is a guest post from Eduardo, writer of the excellent SoCal Transiteer blog. His story of agency outreach, paper trains, and public records requests shenanigans seemed too fun to ignore. - Sam

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You’ve heard of model trains. Maybe even model bus collections. You’ve heard of transit card collections, pin collections, and more. But I bet you’ve never heard of folding transit paper models.

In fact, when I started collecting these a year ago, I didn’t know how far down the rabbit hole went. I thought that my home agency, LA Metro, was the only one that had them.

Left to right; LA Metro’s Art Bus, and my copy of the foldable Art Bus

It all started one day at a Metro-hosted event. There was a Metro Art tent distributing little folding paper models of the Art Bus. I thought it was cute, so I grabbed two sheets (with two little buses each). Later on, I found out that Metro actually had a wide variety of these, from orange Metro Local, to silver Metro Liner buses, to actual P2000 and P3010 models.

My original set of folding Metro Buses (excluding the Metro Liner)

Beginning the collection

At first my strategy was just to attend EVERY Metro event I could, in the hopes that I would find some more of these folding models. The first few I found in this manner, including more Art Buses, the Local/Rapid dual sheet, and even the P2000/P3010 double sheet. Then everything changed when I realized that it wasn’t just Metro doing the foldable model thing.

One winter day, I took Metrolink (my local commuter rail system) to Oceanside. That’s where everything changed. I realized that it wasn’t just Metro that had these. At the NCTD (the bus operator for north San Diego County) customer service center, I found three more models: One COASTER train, one SPRINTER train, and one BREEZE bus.

The three foldable models I got from the NCTD Oceanside Transit Center

Following this, I set out to look for more of these. I went to the MTS Store in Downtown San Diego. I learned that they used to have some, but ran out of them a while ago. Unfortunately, after three attempts I had all but given up. Every time, they were gone.

Then came the idea.

I could… do a Public Record Request?

First off, a little bit of background. The federal government, and every state, have a government transparency program. Many of them have different names, but they all fall under the general ‘public record request’ idea. For the federal government, it’s called FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act). For the State of California, it’s called the CPRA (California Public Records Act). All states have a version of this, like New York’s FOIL, or Pennsylvania’s RTKL.

Here’s the idea: Public Record Requests are used for transparency, to request plans, documents, or other records from the government. So, technically, these foldable models could count as ‘public records,’ right? I mean, they’re files printed on paper.

Anyways, I tried my luck on a single agency. I picked VTA, simply because it was the only agency I knew for sure had foldables. It’s a funny story, because the only reason I knew this was because the ONLY search result for foldable bus models in the U.S. was this Reddit post. Without that Reddit post, I never would have filed the public record request.

For a month, I didn’t receive any reply. Then, one day I checked my mail and got an unexpected surprise.

A copy of the letter I received from VTA, with all PII redacted

To my utter surprise, VTA actually responded! They mailed me four copies of their foldable bus and light rail vehicle. These were my first foldables from outside of Southern California. The response from VTA really piqued my interest in collecting these.

The foldable VTA bus and LRV

Systematic Public Record Request-ing

After I found out that agencies actually would respond to these requests, I went big. And I mean really big. I submitted over 100 public record requests, and documented them all in one central spreadsheet. For a few months, I took meticulous notes and documentation of every request. Every minute of my free time went into either filing new requests, updating old ones, or organizing the sheet. I also found help from a few of my fellow transitfans, who also worked on public record requests for automated audio announcements.

The aftermath of the entire operation, with over 100+ submitted public record requests

At first, I submitted requests to only the major operators. Eventually, I began to submit to smaller, local bus operators. Each request followed a similar format, with slightly different messages based on what I knew about the agency. (rolling stock, vehicles, etc.) Below is an example of what I sent to SMART. (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit)

Hello, I am looking for physical copies of any foldable paper ('cutout') commuter rail vehicles (e.x. locomotives, cab cars or coach cars), or any other foldable SMART vehicles. These 'cutouts' are most often distributed at marketing or promotional events. I am seeking physical copies of these cutouts. Please alert me of any additional charges, including mail, postage or copy charges, if applicable, before following through with the request. Thank you.

I then followed this procedure, slightly modifying my language every time. I used a less formal tone when emailing officers directly. Sometimes, I used customer service to file requests instead, when a Public Record Request was too difficult or I could not find the right email/form to submit.

The Aftermath

Throughout the last few months, I’ve collected A LOT of different foldables. It’d be impossible to document every single one individually, so instead I’ll show you some of my favorites. If you want a comprehensive list (almost complete, a few are missing), you can check out the Google Sheet I’ve made public here. Anyways, I’ll show you the table where I keep my collection now, as well as some of my personal favorites. Onward!

The full collection of every single foldable bus/train model I’ve gotten in the past couple of months

Two different Long Beach Transit designs from the Greater Los Angeles Area

Two similarly hexagonal-shaped subway systems; BART from the Bay Area, and WMATA from Washington DC

Caltrain, from the San Francisco Peninsula in the Bay Area

An old New York subway car from the New York Transit Museum (sorry, New York railfans, I don’t know what model this is)

A Valley Metro light rail vehicle and bus (there is also a green Tempe Streetcar, not in this photo)

Maybe the most unique foldable in the entire U.S., this beauty from Kitsap Transit left me astounded.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve seen my collection, consider making your own! This is still a really small niche, and there hasn’t been much internet presence on the topic. In fact, only a few Reddit posts and some NYCTransitForum posts have discussed it. We can’t even agree on what to call them, from ‘paper cutout buses’ to ‘cardboard cutout buses’ to ‘folding paper models,’ though I’m partial to ‘foldables’ as a shorthand.

I’m looking forward to seeing your foldable collections!

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Thanks again to Eduardo for filling in, and please do go subscribe to The SoCal Transiteer. It's essential reading for any fan of the columns I write. See you next week!