Caltrain To Hold Public Meetings About Proposed Station Closures, Fare Increase

Caltrain will hold four public meetings where staff will present proposed service and fares changes, as well as seek comments on the proposal.  The changes are necessitated due to a gap in available revenue and anticipated expenses.    

Proposals to be considered include:

• Reduction of weekday trains from 86 to 48, to run during commute hours only, and any necessary adjustments to shuttle bus services
• Suspension of weekday service at up to 7 of the following stations: Bayshore (San Francisco), South San Francisco, San Bruno, Burlingame, Hayward Park (San Mateo), Belmont, San Antonio (Mountain View), Lawrence (Sunnyvale), Santa Clara and College Park (San Jose)
• Suspension of all service south of the San Jose Diridon station (Tamien, Capitol, Blossom Hill, Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy)
• Suspension of weekend service, including the Tamien shuttle, and holiday service
• Suspension of special event service, such as to baseball games and Bay to Breakers
• Increase base fare by 25 cents
• Increase parking fees

A draft timetable and fare chart are available at www.caltrain.com.  The changes are tentatively scheduled to go into effect July 2, 2011.

The meetings will take place at:

• Monday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m., San Jose City Hall, Council Chambers, 200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose

• Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m., San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Atrium, 1 So. Van Ness Ave., San Francisco

• Thursday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m., Gilroy Senior Center, 7371 Hanna St., Gilroy

• Thursday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m., Caltrain Administrative Office, 1250 San Carlos Ave., San Carlos

Two public hearings, one on the proposed changes and one to declare a fiscal emergency, will be held:

• Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 10 a.m., Caltrain Administrative Office, 1250 San Carlos Ave., San Carlos

Comments also can be e-mailed to changes@caltrain.com; sent by regular mail to District Secretary, Caltrain, P.O. Box 3006, San Carlos, CA 94070; or telephoned to 1.800.660.4287 (TDD for hearing impaired only 650.508.6448).

Para servicio de traducción en Español, llame a Caltrain al 650.508.6242 por lo menos tres días antes de las audiencias.

Caltrain relies on contributions from its three partner agencies - the City and County of San Francisco, the San Mateo County Transit District and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority – to balance its budget.  

Last year, SamTrans was forced to reduce its annual contribution to Caltrain.  As a result, four midday trains were eliminated, staffed ticket offices were closed and zone fares were increased 25 cents. 

This year, SamTrans is expected to reduce its annual contribution to Caltrain to approximately $4.8 million, a reduction of approximately $10 million.  If the other partners follow suit, the budget shortfall is expected to be $30 million.