Caltrain is a partnership of San Francisco Muni, San Mateo County Transit District and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

Caltrain is up against formidable competition - the convenience and speed of the private automobile - and for the railroad to survive and grow, it can't afford to stay stuck in past ways of doing business. In the past year, Caltrain added and improved service, achieved unparalleled on-time performance and enjoyed dramatic increases in ridership and revenue, direct results of policy decisions made by the Board of Directors to modernize and reinvent the railroad.

For the past three years, however, as the contribution to operating revenue from partner agencies has remained flat, expenses have exceeded revenues, and one-time funds were used to bridge the gap. As Fiscal Year 2006 approaches, the source of one-time funding is now depleted resulting in a $13.6 million deficit.

In order to decrease the deficit, staff developed a series of scenarios that help to eliminate the agency's structural deficit. The scenarios included changes to:

• Fares
• Service levels, including, weekends, Gilroy, midday, rush hour and stations served
• Ticket offices

The Proposal

Fares
Caltrain fares are below market rates in the region and throughout the nation (Commuter Rail Comparison (PDF, 52.44 KB)). Staff presented to the Board two proposals: raise the base and zone fares by $0.25 each, resulting in a base fare of $2.00 and a zone charge of $1.50 per zone. Or, raise the base fare by $0.50 to $2.25 and the zone fare by $0.25 to $1.50. The fare table (PDF, 10.71 KB) reflects the Board's desire to pursue the lower of the two fare increases. The overall impact will be to raise fares an average of 17.5 percent. The fare increase will generate approximately $3.4 million in revenue. All existing Caltrain fare media is retained and the current discount rates for 10-ride, Monthly and Senior/Youth/Disabled tickets still apply.

Service Levels
Caltrain staff looked at a wide range of service levels, even slashing the current 86-train weekday schedule to 60. The Board indicated the expansion of the Baby Bullet service model in the rush hour presented the greatest opportunity to reduce the deficit by building ridership and revenue, thus creating a new model of service that emphasizes efficiency and faster service from San Francisco to San Jose.

The Board also directed staff to continue operation of service in the midday, on weekends and to Gilroy.

The proposed 88-train weekday timetable (PDF, 70.04 KB) was developed as a result of guidance from the Board at the workshop. It provides the opportunity expand Caltrain service within the current infrastructure and puts a new focus on faster, more efficient service that is anticipated to bring greater ridership and revenues, while de-emphasizing those elements of the current model that slow down service, are less popular and are significantly more costly. Additionally, costs are reduced due to the significantly faster travel time between San Francisco and San Jose that allows trains and crews to turn more quickly. The travel times have been reduced by decreasing station stops and by suspending service to certain stations. Overall, approximately 350 station stops will be eliminated and Gilroy service will be reduced by two trains to a total of six trains a day.

Service Suspension
Under the proposed schedule, service will be suspended to the following stations: College Park in San Jose, Atherton, Broadway in Burlingame and Paul Avenue in San Francisco stations. Proposing the suspension of service to stations that have been part of the line for more than 100 years was done after much deliberation and analysis.

These factors have been considered in determining where service should be suspended:

• Ridership
• Stations with hold-out rules, which allow only one train in a station at a time
• Proximity to other hold-out stations
• Existing plans for station improvement/cost of improvement
• Proximity to other stations
• Proximity to Bullet stations
• The modes of transportation by which stations are accessed
• Alternative transportation availability
• System distribution

Ticket Offices
There are currently seven ticket offices along the Caltrain line that handle 25 percent of all ticket sales. About 20 percent of sales take place at the San Francisco and San Jose Diridon stations. The proposal would eliminate ticket offices at the following stations: Millbrae, Hillsdale in San Mateo, Palo Alto, California Avenue in Palo Alto and Sunnyvale, retaining ticket offices at San Francisco and San Jose stations. Positions will be eliminated through attrition rather than layoffs.

Passengers who use Commuter Checks can continue to purchase Caltrain tickets through our Ticket-by-Mail program (PDF, 91 KB).

Public Process
Caltrain held three community meetings on Wednesday, March 23 at 6 pm. Staff gave a brief presentation followed by a question and answer period. The public was encouraged to attend in order to gain additional insight to the proposal. The board held a public hearing on the proposal at its April 7 Board meeting. Comments were made a number of ways:

• At the community meetings
• Via e-mail (changes@caltrain.com)
• Via telephone (1.800.660.4287 or TDD only 650.508.6448)
• By mail: Caltrain Changes, P.O. Box 3006, San Carlos, CA 94070-1306
• At the Public hearing (10 a.m. on April 7 at 1250 San Carlos Ave. in San Carlos)

Frequently Asked Questions