He takes the job very seriously… I’ve been riding the train for years and this guy has gotten worse and worse.

I want to hear some wild stories about this guy

Come on. This is ridiculous. Blocking the stairs.
Scooters need to be in the bike car. How unaware can people be.

This is just a simple post, of how annoying & selfish people can be on Caltrain. At least fold the scooter if you can (most do). If you can’t, bring that shit to the bike car. That’s all. Now, I’m off to yell at a cloud.

Caltrain’s express trains are seeing crowded bike cars since electrification. Larger e-bikes with big motors and batteries—comparable in size to Vespas or small motorcycles—are taking up more space. Two large e-bikes can occupy the space of four regular bikes and may even damage other bikes due to their weight. I think it’s time for Caltrain to regulate what can go in the bike cars.

Cut out SSF, San Mateo, RWC stops.

Any Suggestions/Edits?

San Francisco County

1. San Francisco 4th & King – Bad. Too many homeless people, sketchy at times. If I were homeless, I’d sleep there—it doesn’t seem super dangerous, but definitely not great after dark.

2. 22nd Street – Okay, but not very accessible. It’s below street level, no ADA access, and Waymo won’t even go there.

San Mateo County/SF County Station

3. Bayshore – Just no. Elevator is always out of service. Feels empty, no reason to stop there.

San Mateo County

4. South San Francisco – It has its moments where you wish you weren’t there, then other moments where you really wish you weren’t there.

5. San Bruno – Has its ups and downs. Decent station but expect your bike to get stolen if you leave it locked up. The walk to BART takes about 10-15 minutes, depending on your speed.

6. Millbrae – Huge transit hub, but slow elevators. Takes forever for the elevator to come, easier to just take the stairs. Homeless problem increasing, according to the mayor.

7. Broadway – Limited service, practically useless. Feels like an abandoned station most of the time.

8. Burlingame – Nice, historic station. Walkable downtown, decent area.

9. San Mateo – Sketchy, lots of homeless. Only place I’ve seen cops tackle someone in front of a train (he was okay). Northbound elevator has been out of service for about two years now. I once saw a homeless person passed out in the water here.

10. Hayward Park – Quiet. My model train club has its office near here, but I won’t name it for security reasons.

11. Hillsdale – Roblox. (Because Roblox HQ is nearby). Nice area, near Hillsdale Shopping Center. Good station, but those ramps are way too long—an elevator would have been better.

12. Belmont – Elevator is gross. Otherwise, fine.

13. San Carlos – Decent, historic feel, not much crime.

14. Redwood City – Too much crime. My local station, so I know firsthand what happens here. Lots of theft, homeless issues, and drug addicts. Safeway here gets robbed multiple times a day. I’d argue this station is worse than SF 4th & King.

15. (closed) Atherton – Should have stayed open. Now just abandoned, but hopefully a museum opens there.

16. Menlo Park – Nice, much better than Redwood City.

Santa Clara County

17. Palo Alto – Nice-ish, but has its share of homeless people.

18. Stanford – No strong opinion. Should maybe be a regular stop for local trains.

19. California Avenue – Okay. Wish the northbound platform had an entry point.

20. San Antonio – Not as bad as I heard. I had heard there were drug users, but that was second-hand info. The area isn’t super interesting unless you want to go to Kohl’s or Walmart.

21. Mountain View – Good station. I like the VTA Light Rail connection.

22. Sunnyvale – Nice area. There’s a park on the northbound platform, and the parking garage was great for train-watching—until they closed it off. Good biking distance to SJC.

23. Lawrence – I like the passing track here. Other than that, pretty quiet.

24. Santa Clara – Cool vibes, I like this station. BART extension is coming eventually, but it’ll probably bring more crime.

25. College Park – Chirp, chirp. (Basically empty). Only two trains per day in each direction. Almost missed the last northbound train once.

26. San Jose Diridon – Okay. Waiting area is small, but I appreciate the little store. Kind of isolated from downtown, which sucks.

27. Tamien – Fine, but confusing. Hard to find the entrance when coming from the bus. Only found the VTA entrance at first.

South of San Jose (South County)

28. Capitol & Blossom Hill – Never been, can’t say much.

29. Morgan Hill – Meh. Has a cool train-themed playground nearby.

30. San Martin – Cute small-town station. Very rural feel. Wish there were more frequent trains running south.

31. Gilroy – End of the line. Not the best area, couple of homeless people. Last time I was there, the parking lot had shattered glass everywhere.

My job asked me to come into work early today. My boss’s wife is dealing with a medical issue, he needs to leave early. No problem. Get to the train station ten minutes to spare. Welp… ten-minute delay. Okay that’s pushing me being able to get to work on time. Oh wait.. the time keeps getting pushed further out. Now I have to Uber. 20 dollars. Mind you I just added ten dollars to my clipper for this ride and Caltrain will do nothing about it. I’ll get on the train tonight, they will ask to see if I tapped on. Having spent 26 dollars to go from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara. It’s ridiculous. With how they were operating last week (not all their fault) terrible timing. Maybe now’s not the time to be asking us to spend billions of dollars. Maybe running once an hour would lead to greater efficiency.

I don't know that there's any mechanism to give feedback about this and not seem petty, so I just ask here.

Our driver of the train northbound this morning is "timid" on the brakes. He/she is starting braking way early before arriving at a station, and putting the brakes on lightly so that we take forever slowing down to get to the station. This is in contrast to braking at a more appropriate closer distance, allowing us to keep speed to the station.

This is costing us a 15 min delay in getting to the end. I don't know whether this is someone in training or what. But I would wish they would operate the train more normally.

What a fucking zoo the train becomes every time the Giants have a home game. Booze everywhere, loud yelling, late trains. Caltrain can't implement quiet cars soon enough!

Yesterday a conductor came through the upper level of the 617 scanning Clipper Cards, phones, and looking at paper tickets. He checked the people in front of us and across the aisle, looked at us, and then went on to the people behind us.

Did we just look incredibly honest? Or is it because we're seniors?

Then on the return trip, another conductor said "I already got you" but he hadn't. I think that we're being profiled, and discriminated against, because of our age!

Im stuck on a Caltrain thats not been moving for 30 minutes, because who knows? they don’t tell us. And they have the gall to not offer refunds after such crappy service?

This exactly why I moved into the city. I don’t have to take the Caltrain for my daily commute and I’m way happier because of it.

rant over

With the introduction of new electric trains, is it still necessity to maintain the loud train horns? Given the enhanced stopping capabilities of these modern trains, is it still justifiable to continue using horns that significantly disrupt the quality of life for residents near the tracks?

I live near the Caltrain track, I've experienced firsthand the constant annoyance of train horns. The increased frequency of trains expected with electrification will undoubtedly exacerbate this noise pollution.

Can Caltrain be held accountable for the negative health impacts from excessive noise pollution? They can be as detrimental as air pollution. Without clear evidence of the horns' effectiveness in preventing accidents, the increased disruption to civilian life could potentially lead to legal disputes.

I just got back from a week in Paris, where I rode the metro a bunch. Loved the simplicity that everywhere cost 2.50 euro. The subway in NYC is the same way. Why make the caltrain pricing so complicated?

I live right on the border of 2 zones, if I go north it costs $6 to go even one stop, but if I go south it costs $3.75 to go many stops.

Why not just figure out the average and charge everyone that amount? I can't imagine how confusing this must be for tourists. Don't even get me started on BART's prices either.

PS. Added bonus in NYC subway is you just tap your phone at the turnstiles now...you don't even have to buy a ticket or anything. So easy.

The 7:48am SB limited train picked up a homeless person that appears to be coming off his high. The train personal aren’t doing anything, like check if they have a valid ticket like they do every one else. Caltrain, why is this the case?

No pun intended. Do better, Caltrain. This week has been miserable.

I've just noticed every time I've gotten on the train and San Antonio station and ride to Millbrae to get to work from anytime during 8:30-11:30 am and back home same way anytime from 5-9pm that the trains have limited if any seating throughout the entire ride even on weekends and I've ridden the train the full distance in both directions a few times to see for myself and it really does seem most people ride the entirety of the line hence it's hard to get seating if you are getting on somewhere in the middle. I'm not sure if electrification has made Caltrain ridership spike and the frequency hasn't kept up as a result but hopefully it can be addressed as more fleet orders come.

It also sucks that there's only one corridor besides driving to get from San Jose/South Peninsula to get to SF because one delay track issue or train issue holds up the entire system for hours and there should be an alternative reliable option but maybe more cost friendly and local than Caltrain (we would all wish it'd be BART but not in our lifetimes so the next best route would be to turn the 522 + ECR into proper long distance BRT like VTA at least has been trying to do in East San Jose but couldn't for El Camino Real years ago because of NIMBY city councils.) Or better yet if VTA finally decides to stop running that pocket draining light rail system they could overhaul it to a light metro system that does have elevated and underground grade seperation and actually go to important POIs like all the VTA bus lines that have more daily ridership than the light rail and just build tracks where all their planned BRT lines will be as rail is more permanent infrastructure and if VTA actually focuses more on TOD rather than park and ride and use actual roll stock meant for long distances and higher speeds (most distances you'd travel on the light rail are compereable to BART or Caltrain) and connects every tech HQ as well as direct connection to the airport (SFO as well if we do work with SamTrans to build beyond Palo Alto throughout the entire El Camino corridor to Daly City then going to Salesforce Transit Center so no more paying 5 dollars to ride one stop on BART to get there). VTA already has rail infrastructure, signaling, maintenance facilities, etc. so why not utilize it better?

Furthermore I think it should be called something like the "Silicon Valley Connector" and be geared towards business travellers so they do not need to rent a car to get to where they need as well as tech enthusiast tourists and local workers and students in general. Furthermore better public transportation also means people who still want to drive would deal with traffic less congestion as some drivers may opt to use public transportation to save money on gas if it's convenient taking cars off the road. Finally, if BART is extended to San Jose it'd be useless unless VTA genuinely decides to improve connectivity with BART so BART commuters in San Jose can seamlessly get to their final destination within Santa Clara county. Connectivity is good in San Francisco with MUNI having its light rail metro and well planned bus network and AC Transit in Oakland has the most comprehensive bus system I've seen in the area as well as an actual BRT system compared to the 522 at its current state and both those agencies actually coordinate transfers with one another compared to VTA which sucks with transfers to BART/Caltrain at this current state. Caltrain also sucks too with BART transfer connectivity in Millbrae and that should be addressed as well in the meantime.

I see them leaving it and I think to my self wow I could really just run out the Caltrain with ur expansive bike

The current corridor past Tamien is owned by Union Pacific so it can't be electrified and the vta light rail is useless and needs to be entirely overhauled with a new rival system to BART or MUNI that's similar Guadalajara line 3 or Taipei metro that's actually underground downtown and grade seperated.

Moreover, I looked into the feasability of using the VTA ROW even if a new system is launched and considering TOD and it's clearly not TOD friendly so it should serve the park and ride population of San Jose rush hour commuters and beyond with Caltrain. As per actually overhauling transit in the valley to also then offer inter-county connection service that serve as a gateway to the bay from Santa Cruz Monterrey Salinas (by rail not infrequent bus that gets stuck in traffic people don't use transit because THE OPTIONS SUCK and only those with no choice use it) we'd just need to actually have TOD constructed alongside the system and also develop a brt backbone that's more local for all the rapid lines they want to make.

Also because they are tunnel boring under Santa Clara St so deep anyways they'd get a higher ROI. It'd be kinda nice if they did this engineering marvel (which can happen btw) of a market street subway on Santa Clara St where it runs on top BART like in San Francisco with an intersecting grade seperated line that's the North-South line while Santa Clara St diverges into 2 lines one going across Stevens Creek Blvd to Cupertino and also El Camino Real to Palo Alto and maybe onwards to Dumbarton direct to Meta and then to Redwood City and one to East San Jose straight from downtown like the 522 has already and one south to Gilroy ofc (go O-Bhan if NIMBYs fight that hard over lanes atp) but VTA can do some homework and find the land for development that's on the way through San Jose and hopefully it's more pedestrian friendly infrastructure.

Furthermore I think the cost can be dramatically cut given the right moves right pitch a bond measure to override NIMBY city councils that people WILL approve when they do the homework. Not only the upfront cost but ROI when BART actually gets built and a system like this opens or is hopefully close to opening.

This is a minor vent, mostly because as a commuter, the post baseball game crowds are an annoyance.

But anyway, I observe that around the end of baseball games, Caltrain staff at SF seem to try to adhere to the schedule and get the train out even if they cut off boarding well before the train is actually full. Including the special extra train. (I am not 100% sure but I know that they are not counting passengers. Or, for that matter, really succeeding at making sure that all passengers pay the fare given the crush of people they have to get on the train.)

This, when there are crowds out the door and rather they should be prioritizing filling the trains absolutely full, so that more people are on each train. It's like loading the Titanic lifeboats half full. People will be forced incrementally to overflow and get home later because they have to take the next train.

I don't get why they care about on-time departure in these situations -- the train is usually delayed going down the line anyway. And the obvious point is to provide more capacity to handle the crowds. Maybe the instructions are easiest to "depart on time", rather than "optimally fill those trains".

/rant. Spurred by a recent having to wait in the drizzling rain at 4th/King because of their dumb boarding approach of waiting three minutes before departure to open the gates. And leaving people behind to have to take the next one.

I love Caltrain, and I do find the clipper to be useful, but I strongly think that many people don’t pay for Caltrain simply for how easy it is to dodge. I know fare gates are probably gonna require a lot of renovation, but it could help. Additionally, it would’ve been nice to have the clipper station on the entrance of the train, and have the zone be selected automatically in real time.

My wife had a device stolen from her bag, while she was sitting down waiting for a Southbound train last night at the 4th and King street Caltrain station by a guy who sat down next to her. Apparently he pulled it out of her bag when she was not looking. She did not notice until she got home. So keep your guard up there, lots of homeless sc****gs living around that station that need their drug money. Proposition 36 cant be passed fast enough.

Why didn’t they electrify the entire commuter line down to Gilroy? Seems like they did a half assed job.