Caltrain riders speak out for San Antonio Caltrain riders speak out for San Antonio (February 13, 2004)

But no action has been taken by Caltrain board

By Grace Rauh

Wearing a neon green tag with "San Antonio" scrawled across the front, Kevin Pardo sidled up to the podium at Caltrain's public hearing last week to tell the Board of Directors just how much he supports regular train service and abhors riding in cars.

"Personally, I consider driving (Highway) 101 to be natural selection in action," he told the crowd at the standing-room-only meeting on Feb. 5.

Pardo, along with several other Mountain View residents -- including City Council member Greg Perry and Mayor Matt Pear -- assembled at Caltrain's headquarters in San Carlos to urge board members to provide regular weekend service to the San Antonio station.

Caltrain is deciding on one of four proposed schedules for weekend service set to begin in late spring, including one that eliminates weekend service to the smaller of two Mountain View train stations. Two options call for trains to stop at San Antonio roughly every two hours, and another schedules trains to stop each hour.

The board of directors heard from more than 50 people at the public hearing but did not vote on the new schedules. Its members will review the feedback, including 1,200 written comments, at next month's meeting on March 4. They may vote on the schedules then, board members announced.

Weekday and weekend schedule changes are being made to accommodate the new baby bullet train, set to debut in late spring. The bullet train will cut travel time between San Francisco and San Jose to less than one hour and will stop in downtown Mountain View during its trips.

But board members have not yet indicated which schedule they prefer. The overwhelming majority of train riders in attendance at the meeting threw their support behind "Option C," which calls for hourly trains to stop at all stations, except Tamien. "Option D," which includes service at Tamien, would reduce the trains' frequency at San Antonio to one every two hours.

"It just doesn't make sense to serve Tamien on the weekend" at the expense of hourly service at seven other stations, Perry said.

Pear agreed. "Option C makes a lot of sense for us" he said. In addition to The Crossings, an efficiency studio complex is scheduled to be constructed near the train station and the nearby Mayfield Mall is considered to be a site of future housing. The station is also close to retailers and the Community School of Music and Arts, and as the new housing developments go up, the mayor expects more riders to use the station.

The school regularly holds concerts and lessons on weekends, and students and faculty commute from more than 17 different communities to take advantage of the programs, said Evy Schiffman, the school's marketing and communications director. Limited weekend service at San Antonio would negatively impact the school and community, she said.

"Saturday at our school is one of the busiest days for lessons," added Schiffman.

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.