Only two or three trains fill up each day - usually the expresses right at the most popular commute time, and the ones that stop at Mountain View and Palo Alto. I take the 5:24 from PA Northbound a couple times a week. I see the 5:04 and 5:14 go by - very rarely do I see people booted off, and I never have a problem on the 5:24. It's mostly the 5:04 - it expresses to SF with just a couple stops. EVERYONE who lives in the city wants that train becasue it's so fast.

Stay off the Baby Bullets, and stick to the locals and partial locals/partial expresses and yer in like Flint.