Texan moving to SF soon and wondering how reliable the route is for commuting to work. I rode Caltrain once last year from SF to Palo Alto and was pleasantly surprised by how clean the train was, loved the tables with power and wifi.
I don’t know who can tell them, but the brake release that happens when the train pulls into SF final station is ear-splitting and honestly damaging. Who knows why the trains design took no consideration of this problem and was built to let the pressure out directly next to people’s ears walking next to the train. But given the problem exists can they do something to set the brakes before letting people out or soften the release or something?
Hey commuters! I know there’s a plethora of Caltrain tracking apps, but I figured why not add one more to the mix! I just released it and looking for any feedback. Want to keep actively developing and improving this, so I’ll plan on implementing the most upvoted suggestion within the next week.
668 Southbound leaving SF at 12:10 AM.
Line extends around the building and all the way down past 5th Street.
If you’re waiting further down the line for this train, good luck!
I’m on a streak of like 20 straight rides without anyone checking my ticket. When I get off the train, only like 10% of people tap off.
Am I the moron? Should I just stop paying?
Imagine if they made people pay after a giants game. I’ve only seen like one dweeb pay after a game. We could solve all of the funding gaps with like 50% enforcement.
Hey guys! I am travelling to San Diego from San Francisco via Amtrak. Its a bus-to-train connection (Amtrak connection 4790 to Pacific Surfliner) with a bus from SF to Santa Barbara and then train from Santa Barbara to San Diego. I am used to Amtrak trains but have never tried Amtrak connections buses before. Since its a 8.5 hours bus journey, I am interested in knowing people’s experience about this or similar Amtrak bus rides. Are they really too bad? Are they safe?
Someone was unfortunately struck at Millbrae Station southbound around 9:50-10pm.
Caused about an hour delay, and the passengers saw the body being moved out.
Please make sure to continue checking in on your loved ones. Things like this remind us how fragile life is.
From my experience riding caltrain for years, there's a less than 50% chance of an inspector asking to check your ticket on board. Most of the time they don't. And when they do, they usually take look for 2 seconds to make sure you have a ticket and then go on their way. So it's pretty easy for people who are over 18 to get away with paying $2 for a day pass and claiming to be youth.
Today, a group of boys (who I assume were in college) got unlucky on a train southbound from SF. They all had youth passes, and an inspector passed by and asked them all for their date of birth and asked to see ID. I didn't hear all of what happened, but one of them said 2006, and the inspector then wrote all of them $75 fines for being adults using youth passes and lectured them for 5 minutes. I believe one of them was actually 17, but I saw the inspector holding at least one boys ID. He had initially told them to get off at the next stop, but they ultimately stayed on the train.
The inspector had also asked me my date of birth, and he said that starting next week they were requiring IDs. He also told this to the boys he caught and someone else nearby who had a youth pass. I've never had to show my ID before on a train so idk how true this is, and maybe this is just one super strict inspector on train #124 on a random Thursday evening. But just as a heads-up to those who are using youth passes and aren't actually youth, you might not get away with it forever.
It sounded like we lost the air but something doesn’t seem right. :/
My NB train is currently stopped because there is police activity in South San Francisco. Does anyone know what’s going on and if the delay will be long?
Is WiFi down on the trains? Can’t connect and seeing tons of hotspots in my network list…
Told him that he’s not supposed to do this. Should really discourage people who do this
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 wouldn't practice new drivers on the rush hour commute.
I am unable to use clipper cash to buy monthly caltrain transit pass. On the App i see no option to use clipper cash. If i try the website it keeps erroring out with message "
Unable to process request. Please contact customer support"
How do I do this? This App and website are so trash
After docking at SF for the game. My only issue is that not everyone on the train is going to the game so maybe take that into consideration. We were coming home from Stanford for cancer treatment and everyone was screaming. I've never seen it that crazy
What happened to showing the upcoming stations?
Hello all,
I am trying to buy a 1-zone Caltrain Monthly Pass, and I have some questions. Please help me get answered to some of these.
So I am assuming a 1-zone Caltrain Monthly Pass should work for VTA rides since none of them explicitly states it should be 2 or + zones, like for SamTrans, but I’m not sure.
For my scenario, I ride Caltrain -> VTA in the morning. In this case, I tag first for activation on July 1, then tag off when I get off at my destination. Then, I tag on again before riding a VTA, and then tag off after hopping off of VTA.
In the afternoon, I ride VTA -> Caltrain. In this case, I tag before riding VTA, tag off after getting off of VTA, and no tagging for Caltrain.
Then, on the next morning, I don’t tag when I’m riding Caltrain, but I need tagging on and off when I’m riding VTA. Is this correct?
Summary:
Caltrain 1-zone Monthly Pass, does it include VTA buses/light rails (excluding non-express buses)?
Caltrain Monthly Pass tagging on and off for Caltrain – once for activation on July 1 and no more until August 1. For VTA, tagging on and off whenever I get on and off with the Caltrain Monthly Pass.
Correct me if I am wrong in any way.
Millbrae Station is going to become one of California's most important rail hubs once High-Speed Rail arrives. Unfortunately, it's also one of the Bay Area's most constrained stations.
Today, Millbrae already serves Caltrain, BART, SamTrans, and SFO. In the future, it will also serve California HSR, requiring more tracks and more space. Also, the BART wye into SFO creates awkward transfers for Caltrain passengers and operational inefficiencies for BART.
My proposal/TL;DR: make Millbrae the Bay Area's primary rail-airport interchange by extending SFO's AirTrain to both San Bruno and Millbrae, while simplifying BART operations.
The first step is extending AirTrain about one mile north from the Rental Car Center/Long-Term Parking to San Bruno BART and Tanforan.
Benefits:
Once AirTrain reaches San Bruno, the southern leg of the BART wye can be rebuilt with minimal impact on travelers.
Instead of continuing BART south from SFO to Millbrae, AirTrain would use the same corridor and most of the existing structures to reach a new station adjacent to the Millbrae parking garage, connected directly to the existing mezzanine. This would not affect BART, because BART would continue serving SFO directly from the north into SFO, and maintain separate service to Millbrae.
This simplifies BART operations while giving Caltrain and future HSR riders a much shorter transfer to SFO. BART will also keep paying rent to SFO to have a station at the international terminal, keeping SFO happy.
With AirTrain moved to the eastern side of the station, space is freed for a more efficient Millbrae layout.
That creates room for:
Millbrae is now the region's primary transfer point for HSR, Caltrain, BART, and SFO, with SamTrans buses feeding Millbrae.
Another advantage is that the AirTrain stations at San Bruno and Millbrae can now also serve as pick-up and drop-off locations, as well as bag check locations, making the experience and operations easier for everyone.
Once the project is complete, SFO now has the flexibility to do things like:
What's more, because Millbrae becomes the primary transfer hub, San Bruno Caltrain can now be closed, improving travel times for both Caltrain and HSR while maintaining airport access to that area via the extended AirTrain.
Relevant Links:
PS: Feel free to suggest additional links or other content for me to add to the post for reference!