In the Capital Improvement Plan approved by the board in November, Caltrain listed a 10+ year, $600 million program to upgrade its platforms to provide level boarding. Now that Caltrain is running all-electric trains between San Francisco and San Jose Tamien, it is possible to get started on this valuable program that will cut dwell […]
Increased ridership on electric trains, lower costs for electricity than forecast, and financial discipline have improved Caltrain’s financial outlook, but not nearly enough to prevent the need for new funding. Caltrain’s finance committee got a first look at a draft operating budget for FY2025 and a draft 10-Year Strategic Financial Plan on December 16. Electric
At 9am on 12/4 we got word that the City of Oakland was planning on removing 100 bus shelters without any plan to replace them and that city staff would be presenting this decision to the Oakland/AC Transit coordination committee meeting at 10am that same day. Bus shelters are key for making transit more comfortable,
In the first full month of electric Caltrain service, overall ridership jumped by 17%, and weekend ridership jumped by 38%. Weekend ridership has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with electric service that is faster and twice as frequent. With service every 30 minutes, up from hourly, Caltrain is now more convenient for fun and errands. Caltrain’s
Especially now that there is more frequent electric service, residents in several cities are pursuing initiatives to reduce Caltrain horn noise. Residents in San Mateo have been pursuing a quiet zone project to restrict the routine use of train horns at Villa Terrace and East Bellevue Avenue near downtown. The city is considering closing the
Each year, over 6,000 people are killed in America by cars while walking and 850 are killed while biking. Another 76,000 pedestrians and 47,000 people on bikes are injured by cars. Our roads are deadly places and communities of color are disproportionately affected by traffic violence. At the same time, carceral solutions both have failed
At Caltrain’s board meeting on Thursday September 5 (and meetings at SamTrans and VTA last week), board members grappled with the issues around regional transit funding and solutions being proposed in a regional process with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, legislators, and other stakeholders. At the Caltrain board meeting, about two dozen riders from all three
Caltrain, BART and other Bay Area transit agencies making progress at coordinating schedules more systematically, and the results are starting to show, with improvements at the Millbrae BART/Caltrain transfer, along the Peninsula corridor, and many other places around the region. Both BART and Caltrain will make changes to improve some of the rail transfers at
On Monday, August 26, the Transportation Revenue Measure Select Committee will start to discuss options for legislation in 2025 to authorize regional transportation funding measure in 2026. The options present stark contrasts – an option to set transit on a path toward thriving, a “less worse” option to slow the decline of public transportation in
Caltrain starts a soft launch of electric train service tomorrow, August 11. A few electric trains will be in service tomorrow, interspersed with the old diesel trains and still running the current service. Caltrain isn’t announcing which trains will be electric during the soft launch period. More electric trains will be added in incrementally, and
Two major projects completing the ring of rail around San Francisco Bay advanced in recent weeks. The $12.75B project to bring BART from Berryessa to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara broke ground. The project is now estimated to start rail service in 2036. The groundbreaking took place before VTA received a commitment from the
Discussion about a regional transportation funding measure has resumed with a “Select Committee” created by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with the goal of developing options and agreement for 2025 legislation to authorize a regional transportation funding measure. The 2024 effort toward authorizing legislation with SB1031 was halted by Senator Wiener at the end of May,
On Friday, VTA announced that the federal government would fund $5.1Billion toward the BART Silicon Valley project, about 41% of the cost of the project, currently estimated at $12.7 billion. This leaves a gap of $1.2Billion from the amount that VTA had been requesting, and a gap of $700million to complete the project, following the
Electrifying the Capitol Corridor would enable fast, frequent travel between the South Bay, East Bay and Sacramento. It would connect the economic and political capitals of Northern California– but powerful interests are pushing unproven hydrogen trains technology that could instead lock in poor train service for decades. The Capitol Corridor is the spine of Northern
For Pride Month, the Transbay Coalition was thrilled to partner with Queer Silicon Valley and Liveable Sunnyvale for a special happy hour celebrating the theme of inclusion & solidarity: \”Everyone on the bus, no one under it.\” Advocates from around the Bay came out to “Off The Rail Brewing” on the car-free outdoor plaza on
Last Friday May 24, SB1031, the Connect Bay Area Act, passed the Senate Floor and heads to the Assembly with more work to do and South Bay opposition. The next step will be Assembly policy committee hearings later in June. In order to pass the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 16, amendments were added to
Transportation is all about bringing people together and so for this “Star Wars Day,” the Transbay Coalition was delighted to host our “May the 4th Happy Hour! ‘Episode 1: A Hayward Awakens’” Folks from around the Bay Area came out to the World Famous Turf Club in downtown Hayward to chat all things transit. For
In board meetings on Wednesday and Thursday this past week, the SamTrans and Caltrain boards acknowledged progress in amendments and negotiations on SB1031, the authorizing legislation for a regional transportation funding measure. The boards retained their positions to oppose the legislation unless amended, with the rationale that this would provide the greatest amount of negotiating
On Wednesday May 1 and Thursday, May 2, the SamTrans, Caltrain, and VTA boards will review their positions on AB1831, the Connect Bay Area Act. This important bill would authorize a regional transportation funding measure that would keep transit running at Caltrain, BART, and other agencies facing post-pandemic budget challenges, and would support more frequent
A bill in the legislature this year, AB2503 (Lee), proposes to exempt rail electrification projects from the sort of delay that impacted Caltrain electrification. Back in 2015, the Town of Atherton sued the Caltrain electrification project – which is about to provide a major benefit to the environment by eliminating polluting emissions from diesel trains
