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Uploaded: Thursday, September 4, 2008, 1:21 PM
Caltrain mulls fare increases
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by Casey Weiss
Mountain View Voice Staff
| Only a few Peninsula residents attended recent meetings to discuss a large fare increase for Caltrain riders -- an indicator, transit officials say, that locals are resigned to the fact that fares must go up to cover rising fuel costs.
The transit agency's board of directors plans to decide next month between two proposals: either increasing fares by 25 cents per ticket, or by 25 cents per ticket plus an additional 25-cent increase per zone. Under the second proposal, a one-way trip from Mountain View to San Francisco would increase by 75 cents.
Last week, Caltrain held three public meetings and encouraged residents to e-mail and phone in about the changes, but the agency says it has only received 20 comments.
"It doesn't seem to be capturing people's attention, and I think it is because people understand our reasons," said Caltrain spokesperson Christine Dunn.
The biggest reason is an increase in costs due to higher fuel prices. In July 2008, Dunn said, Caltrain paid $4.24 per gallon of diesel gas, compared to $2.29 per gallon in April 2007 -- and every 10 cent increase costs the agency $400,000, she added.
Although prices dropped back to $3.44 per gallon at the end of August 2008, Dunn said that at their peak, fuel prices had increased by almost 85 percent.
"When people see the numbers like this they understand how volatile prices are," she said.
The board of directors will discuss the issue at its regular meeting this Thursday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. at the Caltrain headquarters in San Carlos, and is scheduled to make its final decision on Oct. 2. Fare hikes would go into effect in January 2009. For more information, visit www.caltrain.org. Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Elisabeth, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Sep 5, 2008 at 4:42 pm I disagree with Ms. Dunn's statement that the prospect of Caltrain raising fares is not capturing people's attention because they are generally understanding of the need to raise fares due to high energy prices. Caltrain is not doing anything to promote the meetings at which fare increases are discussed. I ride the train to and from work five days a week, and have never seen anything mentioning a forum where fares will be discussed. Additionally, when you go to the Caltrain website, there is no mention of a possible fare hike. If more people knew this was an issue, they would speak up, but Caltrain is not alerting enough people that this is a possibility. They sould do a better job in communicating the potential for a fare hike and receive actual responses, rather than assume that people are accepting of it. Silence is not consent.
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Posted by Resident, a resident of another community, on Sep 5, 2008 at 9:01 pm What is really needed is better innovation in the pricing policy. We have no familty tickets, no off peak tickets, no tickets that enable users to use Muni, or BART or VTA.
If Caltrain were to really listen to passengers, then they would start thinking of how to give their passengers a better deal for their money rather than just increasing fares across the board.
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Posted by Curious Observer, a resident of the Jackson Park neighborhood, on Sep 6, 2008 at 8:31 am
Curious Observer is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online Onboard the trains, you'll find bright pink notices announcing the meetings to discuss fare increases. They are in the plastic trays right above the timetables. I saw them the other day.
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Posted by Ned, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Sep 6, 2008 at 1:26 pm I agree with Resident. If you want to just putt around between Mt. View and Menlo Parks or Sunnyvale and visit the downtowns during off peak hours within one zone, its still cheaper to drive, particularly if there are two or more people. The trains are almost always near empty bewteen or before and after peak hours. Why not give some incentives to ride, rather than constantly raising fares?
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Posted by Michael, a resident of the Castro City neighborhood, on Sep 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm Why is there no electric train from San Francisco to San Jose? We would have less pollution, noise, faster trains and lower prices.
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