Caltrain ridership booms — Silicon Valley’s roller coaster

July 30, 2007 | Eric Eldon | Comments | |

picture-17.pngCaltrain, the local commuter train service, has seen its ridership grow to a record of nearly 11 million this past fiscal year, continuing a healthy rebound from the depths of the post-Bubble era.

This is quite a turnaround. Caltrain had seen its ridership plunge to eight million in 2004, down from more than ten million near the peak in 2001.

Trains have been running along the peninsula between Silicon Valley and San Francisco since before cars or silicon chips arrived on the scene.

Like traffic on highway 101, which parallels it, Caltrain ridership may be a measurement of the economic health of the region. Companies that didn’t exist back in 2001 are now growing all along Caltrain’s route. The San Francisco end of the line ends near San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhoods, popular with design firms and smaller startups. Further south, the train goes through cities –Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, etc — well-known for their companies.

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During the slow years of 2003 and 2004, Caltrain closed down its tracks on weekends as it added its Baby Bullet trains. The move pushed ridership numbers down. Today, the Baby Bullets can get you from Mountain View to San Francisco in under 45 minutes in time for meetings, reminiscent of rail transit in other countries. Electronic billboards, appearing on 101’s clogged intersections, compare live commute times with the trains.

In fact, so many bike commuters are using Caltrain during rush hour that Caltrain has started adding an additional bike-carrying car to some trains.

It’s even providing unscheduled trains to the busiest stations.

Increasing fares for riders has also meant an increasing revenues for Caltrain, especially versus 2001. Caltrain still faces a “structural deficit” that it says it is trying to overcome.

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Caltrain is jointly administered by the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara, and is looking for new methods of financing as it pursues a number of ambitious expansion projects.

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About the Author, Eric Eldon

Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.

  • Phil
    The trains sure seem crowded lately. But surely $3.50/gal gas is a confounding factor?
  • I used Caltrain yesterday, even on a Sunday it was packed both ways. A little rough in terms of global trains (ride quality in particular, it seems to rock a bit) but a decent service at a reasonable price.
  • Well, gas prices are no doubt a factor -- however, other systems around the country haven't had the same success.

    For example, Las Vegas: http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-monor...
  • Lee Courtney
    WHen I worked at a start-up in Sunnyvale I took the train from Menlo Park. A great transition to start my workday. Had enough time to do a first pass of email before getting into the office. On train wireless would be wonderful. BTW we hardly ever drive into SF any more - just jump on the train (or BART).
  • I live in the valley for last 8 years and first time, I took Caltrain was last May to attend JavaONE'07. The primary reasons are gas price, 101 traffic and comfort in traveling train.

    On top of my personal thing, i hate driving alone in a SUV to moscone from south bay...for the global warming reason.

    This is a good trend(increasing traffic in caltrain) and seeing another good thing these days in 101...increasing number of Prius!!!
  • I commute from Sunnyvale to Redwood Shores using a bike and Caltrain. If I drove, the 101 would take me around 45 minutes of agony and stress. The bike / train commute takes me 45 minutes and has zero stress plus time to read a book, work on the laptop or sleep. All that plus it's cheaper, healthier and better for the environment. In a valley filled with smart, environmentally conscious people who value their time and productivity, I'm amazed more people don't take advantage of CalTrain.

    Gal
  • GaryB
    I live in Palo Alto and commute by bike 4 miles to the University station (20 min), 5 min wait at the station then another 15 min to San Mateo. I get a workout and then a short train ride to read a bit or do email. This is compared to 35 minutes of idiot drivers and stop and go on 101 -- the train is a no-brainer. It's almost always on time except when it squashes someone.

    I do wish Caltrain would update their website with live train location information and email alerts for problems. This should be obvious to them ... but alas. Still, driving is just nuts if you can do the train instead. PLUS: You can drink beer on the train.
  • The biggest problem with Caltrain is that the trains comes so infrequently. I think this is the biggest reason why I and others don't use it.