At one time, it was Fresno Transit. In the late 1980s, they wanted a more "regional" name. Yes, "Fresno Area Rapid Transit" was jokingly passed around. To avoid the obvious connotations of the acronym, they went for Fresno Area Express, so you could "FAX yourself across town." This was the same era when Santa Cruz Metro had a bunch of commercials built around the obvious rock song, with the lyrics "Another One Rides The Bus." Some actual creativity from the PR flacks ... who'da thunk it?

Speaking of the acronym ... there was a private club bus out of Solano County into SF in the 1980s that called itself "Fairfield Area Rapid Transit." Their motto, painted on the back of the ancient buses they used (mostly dark-gray-and-rust 1950s GM coaches) and later printed on a cardboard strip in the headsign area of some former Greyhound-Samtrans stick-shift GM fishbowls, was in fact "Got gas pains? Try F.A.R.T."

Now back to your regularly scheduled train troubles.