It’s official. Caltrain is drastically cutting service starting on July 1st because of its $30 million budget deficit. Twitter user DCdoozy has been keeping a running log on today’s hearing.
Up to seven stations will have service suspended for the upcoming fiscal year. To add insult to injury, a 25-cent fare increase will be instituted. The service will essentially be a commuter train only based on the hours, with virtually no leisure service possible. VTA offered a $7.1 million payment it already owes Caltrain, as well as an offer to buy Diridon Station from Caltrain (that would’ve been interesting). VTA’s proposals went nowhere.
An example of leisure service is the Wet Your Whistles pubcrawl, which occurred during Beer Week. It was the third annual crawl and was held on a weekend. That kind of scheduling is no longer possible. I’ve been trying to get my friends who run the site and the crawl to do it once a quarter. Now it’s going to be difficult to do it just once a year.
We’ve had a lot of talk among local business interests, from the Giants to SVLG members, about saving Caltrain. Very little action emanated from those town halls. Come July we’ll see how this affects the Giants, as the service drop will occur right before a homestand.
newballpark.org 
Will they still have service this afternoon? I’ve got a problem if they dont
The cuts start in July, not immediately.
I’m starting to get concerned about the public transit options at Didiron. BART and HSR have issues and now Caltrain. Not looking good.
Yes, I know. Just joking. That “cuts service” headline just jumped out at me.
It does look a bit sensationalistic in bold, doesn’t it?
Gas going to $4 a gallon and the South Bay’s and Peninsula’s rail service is getting cut in half or more. That makes sense. Can’t wait for that BART extension, though, since I’ll easily qualify for senior citizen discounts by the time it gets built.
re: ’m starting to get concerned about the public transit options at Didiron. BART and HSR have issues and now Caltrain. Not looking good.
…the ballpark wouldn’t open for several years. A world away. The CalTrain cuts provide more of an incentive to get Major League Baseball to San Jose, since transit options to ATT Park are becoming more limited. Let San Joseans take VTA Light and whatever is left of CalTrain to Cisco Field at Diridon Station, instead of driving to Frisco at $4+ a gallon. Neukom’s “territorial rights” argument just took a big kick to the gut..
pjk is right. The future of Diridon Station and Cisco Field is very bright in terms of transity connectivity. As far as Caltrain goes, this appears to be the first step in “winding down” the entire system, and I agree. Shut it down, rebuild in along with HSR on the Peninsula, and resurrect it as an HSR “Local service” from SF to SJ. The current Caltrain setup and technology just stinks (including the diesel fumes).
I used to go to about 10 games a year at ATT park. I took Caltrain from SJ to probably 80% of the time.
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If I wasn’t already boycotting the Giants for their treatment of SJ, the Caltrain cuts would result in me attending far fewer Giants games in the future.
Except for a few weekday games, CalTrain is no longer an option for Giants fans. And it’s only an option on weekdays for people willing to spend 6-8 hours in Frisco, not just get to the game, watch it for three hours and get right out. These fans will need to get a CalTrain by 8:30 am, maybe 9 am or so, get to Frisco at 10:30 am and sit there for two to three hours before the game starts. Weeknights and evening games? Those fans will all have to drive now. Makes much more sense to put a ballpark in San Jose.
WeekEND and evening games…
Between SJ and SF, HSR plans for stops at Palo Alto and SFO. I can’t really see them adding additional stations while still being high speed despite HSR utilizing Caltrain tracks. This is just fantasy talk, but I’d like to see the SF Giants privatize Caltrain and make some money off of Cisco Field. Having controlling share of Caltrain could play into the plans for Seawall 337 in Mission Bay. Everyone wins.
The best transit system in the BA, Bart, being only a short walk to VC park makes more sense than any Diridon transit option.
BART in Fremont does nothing to get people from not driving from San Jose to Frisco for Giants games 40 miles at $4+ a gallon. Cisco Field gets Major League Baseball to the Bay Area’s largest city, so residents do not have to drive to Frisco or Oakland.
…just saw the proposed 48-train schedule. San Joseans who want to go to Giants weekday mid-day games have to be on CalTrain no later than 8:30 am, and then wait 2-3 hours for the game to start once they get to Frisco. They’d be in pretty good shape on the way home, though.
Unless this plan changes soon after implementation, I don’t see Caltrain surviving long enough to see the debacle of the HSR getting resolved in the affirmative.
Cutting service and raising fares, yet the highly-paid head of their agency is still considered its savior.
As if it needed repeating: Cisco Field is all about the future in mind, and in the future Diridon Station will be served by VTA ligh rail/bus, BART, High-Speed Rail (both mainline and Altamont), Capitol Corridor Amtrak and possibly a new, resurrected “Caltrain” (see below).
I recommend that some here visit http://www.cahsrblog.com and search “Caltrain Firebird” to see how a HSR “local service” might look like. In a nutshell: shared tracks, sidings/passing tracks, less stations, high-speed EMU’s, possibly even operated by BART. It would be a huge improvement over the current Caltrain.