Caltrain Recognized by Local, State and Federal Officials

Following Caltrain’s “Ridership Award” from the Federal Transit Administration for its success in increasing ridership in a way that can be implemented by other commuter rail agencies, the San Mateo County Economic Development Association, recently announced that Caltrain was the recipient of its “SAMCEDA Business Award of Excellence” for outstanding contributions to the San Mateo Peninsula.

This award recognized Caltrain for its “reinvention,” which began in 2005, as an innovative approach to resolving a projected $13.5 million deficit. Instead of cutting service, Caltrain chose to increase its daily number of trains and change its stop patterns to reduce travel times, thereby addressing the needs of Peninsula residents and workers to get from home to work, and back more quickly. The result speaks for itself: average weekday ridership is nearly 35,000, which is an increase of nearly 40 percent since 2004, when ridership had been declining for three straight years.

The ability to attract more train commuters also brings other benefits to the region, including reduced road congestion, resulting in improved air quality. Caltrain’s passengers result in nearly 20,000 fewer cars on local roads during commute hours, which would be spewing millions of pounds of greenhouse gasses and other pollutants into the air.

On the heels of the SAMCEDA award, Caltrain received accolades from a range of other officials, including:

• Commendation from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
• Certificate of Appreciation from U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos, 12th District
• Certificate of Recognition from State Assemblyman Gene Mullin, 19th District
• Certificate of Recognition from State Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, 21st District
• Certificate of Recognition from State Senator Leland Yee, 8th District

05/09/07 - jbw
Media Contact: Jonah Weinberg – 650.508.6238