Two More Letters To The Editor About Caltrain Bikes On Board
Two letters showed up in the San Mateo Daily Journal, and the one from Max made it into the Mercury News, too:
Caltrain should add another bike car
Editor,
First off, I love Caltrain. I live down in Palo Alto and work in Soma and I couldn’t imagine a more convenient mode of public transit.
The only downside is the occasional bump I get during rush hours to and from San Francisco. The bike cars are often full, leaving me and sometimes up to 20 other bikers stranded until the next train comes through.
Being able to carry my bike on Caltrain is an essential component of my commuting, saving me on average 45 minutes a day as I don’t have to get on Muni, take a cab or drive to work. Every time I’m prevented from getting on Caltrain due to capacity issues, the time savings is eliminated and I think a little more about driving the car to work just to avoid the hassle and uncertainty.
I understand there are budgetary constraints and that adding an extra car might seem unnecessary given the fact that many more non-bikers use Caltrain than bikers. But the current capacity issues are causing similar reservations in the minds of many other bike commuters as well. By adding another bike car to rush hour trains, Caltrain would keep us from ditching the bikes and encourage others to ditch their cars and get two wheels!
Max Haines-Stiles
Palo Alto
Caltrain commute dissatisfaction
Editor,
I gave up my car commute from San Francisco to Mountain View in April 2008 in the hopes of saving gas money, wear and tear on my car, better exercise and of course helping the environment. I opted to ride my bicycle the 4.2 miles from my home in the Excelsior District in San Francisco to the 22nd Street Caltrain station. Calculating the costs, paying the $152 per month for my monthly Caltrain saved me a ton of money over a driving commute.
On average, I am bumped from a Caltrain one to two times per week. There have been odd occasions when I have been bumped twice in a row. As you can imagine, this is very frustrating for those of us who need to be at work on time. I have missed several important client meetings because I have been moved back trains in the morning. It’s difficult as a paying customer to stand on the platform as the train pulls away and not be terribly frustrated with the lack of solution.
Unfortunately, I am seriously considering returning to a car commute. At least that way I know I won’t miss important meetings. I won’t be standing on the platform wondering what I’m paying for and how much money this is costing my business.
I am truly hoping Caltrain can find a solution to this problem.
Christine Tocalino
San Francisco
First, excellent to Max and Christine for commuting by bike and sticking with it and writing letters.
Second, damn I’m tired about writing on Caltrain and bikes-on-board. It seems like such a simple problem to solve, but somehow there it is - day after day after day after day. Who’s in charge of this circus? Caltrain is the major player - they have to step up.
Third, I’m seriously bent. I’ve now heard personally from two people who changed their commuting habits to more poisonous forms of transport because they kept getting bumped. Somebody needs to be held accountable. January 8, 2009 is not soon enough.
Fourth, it takes incredible incompetence on the part of Caltrain to actually move a bike rider back into their cars. Speaking from experience, once a person commits to commuting by bicycle, a mind-shift happens. Many of us - possibly most of us - just can’t get back into cars to commute. It’s just not possible. The only way we’ll do it is as a last resort - like if we’re in danger of losing our jobs. It’s almost like the Caltrain Board is actively trying to push people back into their cars. Is there any other plausible explanation? I’ve heard stranger things.
Some non-expert advice: 1) be patient [it sucks, but good things will happen], 2) keep up the pressure [a must], 3) have fun with it [laugh at them - they deserve ridicule], and 4) look out for each other [always].
The good news is that consistent, unrelenting pressure will eventually win the day — incompetence just can’t compete with consistently-applied pressure from active and vocal citizens. I guess I wouldn’t mind more Letters to the Editors about what it’s really like to get stranded on the Caltrain platform. Make those complacent Caltrain asses know what it’s like to get stranded.
Things are so extreme already. We had one biker arrested already. Others get thrown off. Others get bumped - daily. The planet is dying. People’s health is in the can. Parents are trying to set a good example for their kids. And Caltrain is pushing people back into their cars.
We need to find a pressure point. Somebody is not at all worried about bikers’ needs, and that has to change. These Caltrain people shouldn’t be able to sit behind their comfy desks while bike riders suffer, possibly being at personal risk on relatively-empty Caltrain platforms at night, leaving children at home alone, suffering the indignity of getting bumped, suffering the anxiety of not knowing whether one is going to get bumped or not.
The SFBC Caltrain page shows a pretty interesting picture of the capacity of Caltrain when bike riders are getting bumped - empty seats where non-bike passengers would sit, and the train car is packed to the gills with bikes and riders:
Anger would be an appropriate response. Caltrain officials probably don’t ride Caltrain. And they probably don’t bike, either. We need to change that, too.
There needs to be some justice for all the collective misery that Caltrain officials have put so many bikers through. Someone needs to lose their job. Probably several people.
We should look at contacting all the local officials up and down the Caltrain corridor - all the train station towns. We can’t let these Caltrain people go to sleep at night in peace. They need to suffer, too. They need to be anxious about whether or not Caltrain bike riders are going to get bumped the next morning or not. If they want to keep their jobs, they’ll be appropriately anxious - and that will get us results.
We also need to look at forming a Caltrain Riders Union - maybe something like the VTA Riders Union. Call it whatever you want, but make it happen. It needs to be an alliance of all riders - bike, non-bike, handicapped, etc. - so you can all look out for each other and have enough numbers to be able to apply the type of pressure you’ll need to force a slow, overgrown, non-responsive organization like Caltrain into action.
Maybe Thursday, January 8, 2009 is the coming out party for our new Caltrain Riders group? It’d be nice to have 300 members on hand to support bikes on Caltrain. It’d be a great occasion to explain to the media that we formed this group because of Caltrain’s cold intransigence - leaving people shivering on Caltrain platforms. We pleaded with them for months, but they simply refused to do anything. And now we’re organized and we have to be reckoned with. We’re ready to negotiate on facilities for the new High Speed Rail line. 
[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
