Weekend Caltrain may see increases

The plan would provide 68 trains during the weekday, with two trains per hour, per direction running throughout the day. Caltrain picked two trains per hour to provide 30-minute frequency at higher demand stations, ensure reasonable travel times, coverage to all stations, and coordinated connection to every BART train at Millbrae. Caltrain would run 28 to 32 trains hourly on weekends, higher than before the pandemic. Under the Base Service Plan, Caltrain would also eliminate weekend baby bullet express service for now. Caltrain said it has not retained ridership on the baby bullet at numbers needed to continue service.

“We will need to stay nimble and react to changes as they happen in order to make sure our service meets riders’ needs while also being fiscally responsible,” Caltrain spokesman Dan Lieberman said.

Caltrain is contemplating the Base Service Plans as a temporary solution due to an $18.5 million deficit this year from decreased ridership due to COVID-19. Caltrain does not expect ridership to recover to prepandemic levels in 2021, putting a strain on its budget for the upcoming year until it stabilizes with Measure RR funds. Caltrain has also seen changing travel patterns for ridership during the pandemic. Caltrain weekend ridership now makes up 17% of total ridership, three times greater than pre-COVID-19, according to Caltrain. Essential workers and low-income riders are most likely to use the services on the weekend for work, and the plan responds to the current needs of those workers who need more regular weekend hours. Caltrain recognized they needed to explore service changes to fit their current riders’ needs while also preparing for financial issues.

Caltrain Deputy Chief of Planning Sebastian Petty said staff explored various service plans changes to meet the uncertain future. They decided the Base Service Plan is the best plan for now. Caltrain could cut rides down to 44 trains per day under an Austerity Service Plan if financially forced. However, Caltrain staff are not recommending the Austerity Plan at this time. Caltrain hopes to develop a schedule framework plan for train schedules that can be scaled up or down based relatively quickly based on demand and funding over the coming years without disrupting core ridership. Caltrain prepandemic had a 92-train schedule a day with 65,000 daily riders, and it now has a 70-train schedule with only 3,500 daily riders.

“We are still in a very lean time. Caltrain has been hugely dependent on fare revenue, and that is substantially gone. We’ve really been subsistent on federal CARES funding throughout the balance of this year. Under the terms of that agreement, we have not engaged in any significant furloughs,” Petty said.

Caltrain does not expect the recently approved Measure RR funds to help their immediate budget or service problems because funding collection does not start until next year. San Mateo, San Francisco and Santa Clara County voters passed Measure RR earlier in the month. Measure RR authorized a sales tax increase of 0.125% for 30 years, generating $100 million per year for Caltrain. Caltrain officials said the first use of the Measure RR funds would be stabilizing the system so the system can recover from the effects of COVID-19. Caltrain will then use the funds to maximize the benefits of electrification by improving stations and purchasing additional electric trains, increasing the service’s capacity and frequency. The funds will also allow more people to use Caltrain by funding new equity policies.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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