Northern California - Caltrain unveils plan to stop weekend service, raise fares, add $1 bike fee

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12318079

Pretty ridiculous. But they would be losing a lot of trips, like they already said. So, I'm sure some of the cuts/hikes might not be very cost effective.

I'd pay a surcharge for my bike, no problem, if I never got bumped.. sure...

Caltrain's problem is that it's already effectively useless given its terrible schedule and slow service.

If they "solve" the problem by cutting out weekend service and making the schedule more of a disaster, they'll lose even more mindshare and fewer and fewer people will use it for their daily commute...

Weekend service was the only service I used. The trains are too packed/poorly timed in the morning to actually use the train if I don't want to ride.

Caltrain's problem is that it's already effectively useless given its terrible schedule and slow service.

If they "solve" the problem by cutting out weekend service and making the schedule more of a disaster, they'll lose even more mindshare and fewer and fewer people will use it for their daily commute...

I disagree. I find the schedule to work well, and the baby-bullets his 80mph between stations.

I get on the train at Hillsdale in San Mateo at 8:40AM and arrive at my desk in Downtown San Jose at 9:15 AM.

I take the train 5-days per week. I rarely use the weekend service.

I don't see how it could be considered well-scheduled. It might work on some commutes, depending on the stops.

20 minutes between trains is fine. Unfortunately, the next train will either:

A. Not stop where you are at.
B. Not stop where you are going.
C. Both

makes it a deal-breaker for me. Only the milk run trains are useful for that reason, and then it takes forever to get to SF from San Jose.

I will say, if your origin and destination both happen to be on (one of only 4) baby bullet stops, it's probably quite convenient.

I will say, if your origin and destination both happen to be on (one of only 4) baby bullet stops, it's probably quite convenient.

Yes.

Those stops happen to be the busiest.

You can also transfer (for free).

They actually stagger the schedules pretty well. There will be one train that expresses (skips stops) on the north end, followed by one that expresses on the south end, and another that just skips them evenly throughout.

For me I have 6 trains to pick from in the AM:
7:40 bullet
7:46 express
8:01 express
8:40 bullet (usually catch this one)
8:46 express
9:01 express (this is my seriously slacker train ;) )

Today I missed the 8:40 by like 10 seconds... and caught the 8:46...

All I know is that for me to make it from MV to Stanford by 8am, I need to catch the 7:13am train in MV. Or, I can leave at 7:30 and just ride in.

So, for me, the trains are timed poorly. :P

I like the current Caltrain service. It gets me where I want to go, usually faster then driving in rush hour traffic and then finding parking. I do try to study the schedule to find the trains that work for me and then make sure I get to the station on time.

Maybe that's my problem, I didn't understand the scheduling theory of skipping stops in the north end or south end. Santa Clara/Lawrence/Mountain View/San Antonio are equally "convenient" (as in, not very) to where I live, and on the other end I'd get off at Redwood City/San Carlos/Belmont.

My commute with bike + train would still take me 2 hours, and I can bike the whole distance in that time! Since I go from south to north, and none of the stations are "major" stations that the train always stops at, it ends up being really erratic for planning purposes -- to the point that I don't even bother.

usually faster then driving in rush hour traffic and then finding parking.

That's my other issue. Bike commute = 28 miles, car commute = 22. Even at rush hour I can make the drive up (or down) 101 in about 30-35 minutes. It would be hard to beat that on Caltrain. I guess 101 traffic just isn't bad enough! :-D

Mine is 29 miles by car, 32 by bike.

Caltrain Bike combo get's me from door-to-door in 40 min. It's pretty hard to beat for me.

I only take Caltrain on weekends to get up to the city. It will be very unfortunate if weekend service is yanked completely, but wouldn't be surprised. In cases where there is a big event in SF, and difficult to find parking for (like Kaboom, or Chinese New year parade), that is when Caltrain is more attractive. It is also highly convenient to take Caltrain up to AT&T park. Without Caltrain, I'm guaranteed never to see a Giants game (as if I really wanted to).

That's my other issue. Bike commute = 28 miles, car commute = 22. Even at rush hour I can make the drive up (or down) 101 in about 30-35 minutes. It would be hard to beat that on Caltrain. I guess 101 traffic just isn't bad enough! :-D

Depends a lot on your route. Caltrain works a lot better for some people than for others. Some parts of 101 are a lot worse than others and most Caltrain customers are probably traveling too far to bike (more than 1 hour bike ride to work).

This means no one from SF can come down for a ride in the Peninsula or the South Bay on a Saturday ... :mad:

This means no one from SF can come down for a ride in the Peninsula or the South Bay on a Saturday ... :mad:

This plan has not been approved thus far.

Just a matter of time.

Maybe it will force more people to bike...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/07/cycling-safety-york-calderdale

The article does say there will be a public hearing on June 4. If you have a strong opinion on this issue, that is the place to be.

I may actually have to get a car if they shut down weekend service. But that's a hypothetical, of course it would never happen. I mean, this is San Francisco/San Jose. California. C'mon, they can't shut down weekends, can they?!

When they were retrofitting the tracks for the baby bullet, they shut down Caltrain service on Sundays only. They probably can shut down weekends.

- I wonder if my ecopass will cover the bike fee.
- Even recreational trips to SF would be better accomplished by driving to Fremont and taking BART, or even by taking VTA to BART.
- Great idea to finally expand bike capacity and then shoo off all of the cyclists with a new fee.
- Agree with the above comments on the poor scheduling.

For goodness sakes, when are they just going to plow Caltrain under and finish the BART loop around the bay?! Honestly.

From the Caltrain.com
"In addition, the deepening recession and job losses are beginning to negatively impact Caltrain ridership and revenues. March showed the first monthly ridership decline in many years. "

So you mean to tell me to combat lower ridership, they are proposing to cutting trains and raising price. Where did these Economists get their degrees from?

- Even recreational trips to SF would be better accomplished by driving to Fremont and taking BART, or even by taking VTA to BART.


You can't be serious.



For goodness sakes, when are they just going to plow Caltrain under and finish the BART loop around the bay?! Honestly.

Highly unlikely. BART costs way more, especially underground tracks.

I am happy with the current state of Caltrain service, and the potential direction it can go. Hopefully, the ridership increases or at least stabilizes in the next couple months. Once caltrain is electrified, it can have more stops and smaller headways. Electrifying Caltrain would still be WAAYYY cheaper than replacing it with BART.

From the Caltrain.com
"In addition, the deepening recession and job losses are beginning to negatively impact Caltrain ridership and revenues. March showed the first monthly ridership decline in many years. "

So you mean to tell me to combat lower ridership, they are proposing to cutting trains and raising price. Where did these Economists get their degrees from?

This is what I never understand about these transit agency plans. If you take only a very superficial look at the problem, cutting service and raising prices is indeed a solution. But anything more than a cursory look should show that this is entirely the wrong approach to take. What they need to do is provide incentives to be on the train instead of in your car, not penalize those who want to take transit.

Of course, if transit were made more appealing by a gas/mileage tax or something of a similar nature, that would help too...