Caltrain will not suspend weekend service or raise fares this year as it grapples to balance its $100 million budget, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board announced yesterday.

Instead, Caltrain will reduce midday service to one-hour headways, increase GO Pass pricing to the equivalent of the full fare three-zone monthly pass and increase parking fees to help trim its $10.1 million deficit for the 2009-10 fiscal budget.

This is particularly good news for merchants on Broadway in Burlingame who have been fighting to maintain weekend service for months.

“Oh my god. That’s wonderful news,” said Barbara Zukowski, on the board of directors for the Broadway Improvement District. “We’ve fought so hard for our train. We are very grateful.”

Currently, the Broadway Station only gets train service on the weekends, which is vital to employees working at hotels on the east side of Highway 101, Zukowski said.

“It brings people to Broadway and people take the train to Giants games. It’s vital for us,” she said.

Cutting weekend service would have saved Caltrain about $1.9 million.

The GO Pass is a program that large companies participate in and Caltrain determined to be significantly underpriced.

The three actions will save Caltrain about $2.7 million.

The train will also continue to serve Gilroy.

However, the board will likely declare a fiscal emergency at its meeting tomorrow because, based on current service levels, the transit agency will be in the negative by $3.5 million at the end of the budget cycle.

Caltrain listened to the public and weekend service was very high on people’s list of concerns, said Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn. The agency also raised fares in January, Dunn said, and didn’t want to hit consumers in the pocketbook a second time.

The transit agency has held a number of community meetings to gauge the public’s wishes.

Approximately $44 million of Caltrain’s budget comes from paying customers while about $39 million comes from San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

In March, the agency felt its first monthly ridership decline in many years.

A public hearing will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 4 at the Caltrain Administrative Office, 1250 San Carlos Ave., in San Carlos.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.