"Since the Caltrain is electrified, we've really reinvented our service," said Caltrain spokesperson Dan Lieberman. "It's faster than ever before, running more service than ever before, and there's more frequency, so there are fewer wait times."
Ok, I’m gonna be that guy because I live here. Imo ridership is only going back up because it was way down during Covid, and now people are being RTO’d and going to large gatherings again. I don’t think the trains being electric has anything to do with the increase in ridership. Having said that, the new trains are nice, and I am absolutely a fan, but I think people are still using Caltrain for everything it was already used for. I am happy they have quieter, less polluting trains though.
RTO definitely has something to do with it, but I don’t think it’s a direct cause. Weekend ridership up to and surpassing pre-pandemic levels while weekday ridership has not recovered as well (though still up).
I believe ridership is up because of the new and more frequent trains. 1 hour intervals really suck and while 30 minutes isn’t great, it’s a whole lot easier to deal with. Weekday intervals were also reduced to sub-15 minutes during traditional peak commute. That’s a lot of time savings for a daily rider!
RTO does have an indirect impact: the freeways are always jammed. With partial RTO and split teams, there’s not been a return to the in-the-office-at-9am culture. Our local population has grown as well. Highway traffic is all-day now.
Is it really just RTO causing ridership increase if the dilemma faced is a guaranteed sit-in-traffic for an extra 15+ minutes versus a train that runs on time with 15-minute intervals?
Ok, I’m gonna be that guy because I live here. Imo ridership is only going back up because it was way down during Covid, and now people are being RTO’d and going to large gatherings again. I don’t think the trains being electric has anything to do with the increase in ridership. Having said that, the new trains are nice, and I am absolutely a fan, but I think people are still using Caltrain for everything it was already used for. I am happy they have quieter, less polluting trains though.
RTO definitely has something to do with it, but I don’t think it’s a direct cause. Weekend ridership up to and surpassing pre-pandemic levels while weekday ridership has not recovered as well (though still up).
I believe ridership is up because of the new and more frequent trains. 1 hour intervals really suck and while 30 minutes isn’t great, it’s a whole lot easier to deal with. Weekday intervals were also reduced to sub-15 minutes during traditional peak commute. That’s a lot of time savings for a daily rider!
RTO does have an indirect impact: the freeways are always jammed. With partial RTO and split teams, there’s not been a return to the in-the-office-at-9am culture. Our local population has grown as well. Highway traffic is all-day now.
Is it really just RTO causing ridership increase if the dilemma faced is a guaranteed sit-in-traffic for an extra 15+ minutes versus a train that runs on time with 15-minute intervals?