SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA: Transit/Transportation News

[OhioGuy]

I would love to be able to commute by ferry!

[fflint]

According to APTA, the Bay Area averages 12,900 ferry riders each weekday.

[atlantaguy]

Originally Posted by CharlesCO

For added interest, here's the Moraga passenger station on the Sacramento Northern Railroad, from the Saint Mary's College Alumni Facebook page. The only thing that's still there from that picture is the college obviously. The train station is gone, and everything else has been paved over with asphalt. They do have some janky 80s exercise equipment sprinkled throughout the trails in Lafayette and Moraga though.

Sigh....

How unbelievable that the massive Interurban network that covered almost all fairly populated areas of the U.S. & Canada has been erased, along with most cities streetcars.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful pic, CharlesCO.

[fflint]

Sure we've eliminated many of the old rail ROWs, but Northern California currently enjoys modern interurban rail service. The Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins, and ACE railroads ply the routes between the Bay Area and Sacramento, Stockton, and Bakersfield.

[northbay]

Speaking of trains in Northern California:

SMART gets $20 million for Larkspur extension


The first Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit trains roll off the assembly line at the Nippon Sharyo factory in Toyokawa, Japan, in this undated handout photo from SMART. (COURTESY PHOTO)

By MATT BROWN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
May 28, 2014, 12:51 PM

A regional transportation board Wednesday approved $20 million in bridge toll money to fund an extension of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit line to Larkspur.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission money is half of the funds that SMART needs to extend the commuter rail line 2.2 miles from downtown San Rafael to the Larkspur ferry terminal.

The project is in the running for a $20 million federal Department of Transportation grant, which could be awarded later this year. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant requires local matching funds, which the project now has with Wednesday's MTC action.

...

The Larkspur extension will give the commuter rail line bookends at major North Bay transportation hubs when the service launches. SMART officials have said the first trains will roll in late 2016. They are building the line in stages due to a funding shortfall.

The north end of the line was extended from Santa Rosa to Airport Boulevard after SMART received MTC funding in December. The Airport Boulevard area includes an expanding Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport, a widened highway and interchange and a business park with 5,000 jobs.

....

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Brown at 521-5206 or matt.brown@pressdemocrat.com.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...cles/140529549

[OhioGuy]

Good news about the additional funding for the Larkspur extension. Hopefully the grant comes through later this year.

[OhioGuy]

Study: Caltrain ridership reaches all-time high
KGO - ABC 7 News

A few years ago, it looked like Caltrain had come to the end of the line because of financial problems. Now, new studies show business is booming thanks to younger, wealthier riders.

A new report on Caltrain ridership shows the number of passengers has reached an all-time high, up 54-percent over the past four years -- with more than a third of riders using Caltrain less than a year. Ridership has increased almost 12 percent compared to last year. Many trains are full, putting a strain on capacity during the morning and evening commutes.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

Study: Caltrain ridership reaches all-time high
KGO - ABC 7 News

Caltrain ridership is booming so strongly--the SF Business Times reports average weekday ridership rose 12 percent to 52,611 this year, up from 47,000 in 2013--that they're looking into extending the platforms and buying rail cars from Los Angeles in order to run six-car Caltrain consists.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by fflint

Caltrain ridership is booming so strongly--the SF Business Times reports average weekday ridership rose 12 percent to 52,611 this year, up from 47,000 in 2013--that they're looking into extending the platforms and buying rail cars from Los Angeles in order to run six-car Caltrain consists.

Since Caltrain is planning on purchasing EMUs in the future to use the planned new catenary wires hanging above their tracks, I doubt they are planning on buying brand new railcars from Los Angeles. Which Metrolink used cars are becoming available than Caltrain might wish to buy?

[Busy Bee]

The electrification project is pending and isn't slated for completion until 2019, so it's very possible Caltrain is looking for some used gallery bilevel cars to add to their fleet in the meantime.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by electricron

Since Caltrain is planning on purchasing EMUs in the future to use the planned new catenary wires hanging above their tracks, I doubt they are planning on buying brand new railcars from Los Angeles.

Doubt no more. As reported on Streetslog last month:

"To alleviate crowding in coming years, Caltrain is planning to run longer trains using 11 to 16 used train cars to be purchased from Los Angeles Metrolink for $8 to $10 million. By 2015, Caltrain riders could see some five-car trains extended to six-car trains."

Which Metrolink used cars are becoming available than Caltrain might wish to buy?

From the Streetsblog article:


"Caltrain plans to purchase surplus train cars like these from LA Metrolink to extend its trains. Photo: Steven Cuevas / KPCC"

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by fflint

Caltrain ridership is booming so strongly--the SF Business Times reports average weekday ridership rose 12 percent to 52,611 this year, up from 47,000 in 2013--that they're looking into extending the platforms and buying rail cars from Los Angeles in order to run six-car Caltrain consists.

The service must have excellent frequency in order to have that level of ridership with such short trains. 5 cars? No other NA commuter routes with ridership anywhere near that has trains so short. For instance, Go Transit's Lakeshore West route has rider of 52,230 (2008) and its trains have 10-12 Bi-Level carriages.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

The service must have excellent frequency in order to have that level of ridership with such short trains. 5 cars? No other NA commuter routes with ridership anywhere near that has trains so short. For instance, Go Transit's Lakeshore West route has rider of 52,230 (2008) and its trains have 10-12 Bi-Level carriages.

I don't know what you consider excellent frequency, but I can point out a couple of reasons Caltrain ridership is so high for a (mostly) two-track corridor.

One, passengers are now standing on between 10% and 20% of the busiest runs. I suspect most Chicagoland commuter railroad passengers actually get to sit down. Two, Caltrain is unusual in that it sees heavy ridership in both directions during both rush hours. In the mornings, SF residents ride down to their jobs on the Peninsula while Peninsula residents ride up to their jobs in the City, and vice-versa in the evenings. Most commuter railroads are crowded only inbound in the mornings and outbound in the evenings.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by fflint

Doubt no more. As reported on Streetslog last month:

"To alleviate crowding in coming years, Caltrain is planning to run longer trains using 11 to 16 used train cars to be purchased from Los Angeles Metrolink for $8 to $10 million. By 2015, Caltrain riders could see some five-car trains extended to six-car trains."


From the Streetsblog article:


"Caltrain plans to purchase surplus train cars like these from LA Metrolink to extend its trains. Photo: Steven Cuevas / KPCC"

The photo in that link is of a brand spanking new Rotem cab car (Guardians). They aren't used and certainly cost more than twice, if not thrice a half million dollars.
Math: 16 used railcar / $8 million = $half million.
More likely, their old Bombardier BiLevels (Sentinels) will be sold as redundant as new Guardians enter their fleet.

[fflint]

Yeah, we're clearly not going to get that particular car.

Anyway, the larger point stands: Caltrain plans on running longer trains with additional cars bought from Metrolink in order to add capacity before electrification is completed in 2019.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by fflint

I suspect most Chicagoland commuter railroad passengers actually get to sit down.

I can't speak for all 12 lines but on my line, the off-peak trains usually have more standees than the peak trains... there is far more demand than the hourly trains can provide.

[Gordo]

I suspect there's also much more intra-line traffic on Caltrain than on most other commuter rail lines in NA, since it sort of functions as a trunk line up and down the peninsula and at least at the mid-south end most of the cities are major employment centers.

As an anecdote, I took Caltrain down to Mountain View a couple weeks ago, and the seat next to me turned over three times - but was never empty. One person rode SF to Millbrae, one Millbrae to Palo Alto, and one Palo Alto to someplace after I got off.

[Eightball]

The good news keeps on coming for CalTrain! Exciting!

And to think the SF area commissioners wanted to drastically cut service and stop weekend service just a few years ago! They should be laughed out of office. What a disaster that would have been.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by fflint

I don't know what you consider excellent frequency, but I can point out a couple of reasons Caltrain ridership is so high for a (mostly) two-track corridor.

One, passengers are now standing on between 10% and 20% of the busiest runs. I suspect most Chicagoland commuter railroad passengers actually get to sit down. Two, Caltrain is unusual in that it sees heavy ridership in both directions during both rush hours. In the mornings, SF residents ride down to their jobs on the Peninsula while Peninsula residents ride up to their jobs in the City, and vice-versa in the evenings. Most commuter railroads are crowded only inbound in the mornings and outbound in the evenings.

For commuter rail in NA on mainline tracks, I'd consider 1 tph or less quite poor, 2 tph to be decent, 3 tph to be very good, and 4 or more to be excellent.

But having demand in both directions is probably what makes the biggest difference.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

For commuter rail in NA on mainline tracks, I'd consider 1 tph or less quite poor, 2 tph to be decent, 3 tph to be very good, and 4 or more to be excellent.

It's hard to break down Caltrain service that cleanly, as service differs greatly by station as well as time of day/night. Any given station will be served by all local trains, but only by half the limited trains. And a select few stations are served by the long-haul Baby Bullets, which skip as many as 17 stations on a given run between San Jose and San Francisco.

Alternatively, we can look at the totals--Caltrain currently runs 92 consists between 4:30 a.m. and 12:00 a.m. per weekday. That's a total of 46 in each direction over 17.5 hours, averaging 2.6 trains per hour in each direction over the entire course of the day/night. Again, though, actual service levels will depend on location and time of day/night. The bookend stations at SF and SJ are served by all 92 trains; Redwood City station gets 58 trains per day; San Antonio station only gets 34 per day.

But having demand in both directions is probably what makes the biggest difference.

That is my impression--Caltrain is somewhat unusual in that regard.