"Schedule is completely thrown off": Early morning Placer County super-commuters upset over route change to Bay Area
PLACER COUNTY -- An upsetting route change for early morning commuters in Placer County traveling to the Bay Area is causing riders to write a petition to the state to bring it back.
The train many have relied on to get to work is now running at a later time.
For people like Paul Sanftner, who took the route to get to work and organized the Save Train 527 coalition, a morning commute to work looks different than most.
"I'm a super-commuter," said Sanftner. "I'm traveling 110 miles one way. It's a long day for me but at least I can make a full day."
Riding from Placer County to the Bay Area, Amtrak Train 527 was his go-to to get to work. But now, a change in the route has made the morning commute a morning headache.
"Now my schedule is completely thrown off," said Sanftner.
The train now leaves the station an hour later than before, just enough time to mean early commuters will not make it to work on time.
Sanftner put out flyers at the train stops in Placer County as a warning to fellow commuters.
"It alerted over 50-plus riders that usually take train 527 from Auburn, Rocklin, Roseville," said Sanftner.
He is frustrated that more notice was not given. His heads up alerted fellow commuter Rajesh Meenakshinatha Pillai Girija to the change.
"It's not easy," Girija said.
For him, the later train is not an option.
"Some days I'm driving to Sacramento from Roseville and then I am catching the train," he said. "If I take the new train I reach the office by 10 o'clock which is unacceptable for my manager."
They say only five days' notice was given to passengers before the route change on Oct. 3.
"I would have respected our elected officials if they had let us know 30, 60 days ahead of time and solicited public input. They did not do that," said Sanftner.
Rob Padgette, managing director for the Capitol Corridor, said he sees why these commuters are frustrated.
"I absolutely understand and I am excited in some ways to hear people advocating for our service. I want them to help us bring more service to Placer County," said Padgette.
However, it is tough to make everyone happy. He said, in the first week after the schedule change, the ridership actually jumped by 23%.
"In Placer County, we have the right to one round trip daily. So, we have to really carefully choose when we run that single trip," said Padgette.
Capitol Corridor's vision is already underway to expand the number of trips leaving from Placer County. They're applying for federal dollars to get more routes to these commuters.
"With that, we will have enough funding to implement phase one of the Placer County expansion and that will get us to three round trips daily. We are not going to stop there, though," said Padgette.
Ten round trips daily from Placer County to the Bay Area is the goal.
It helps super commuters. It helps the environment. They just need the money to do so.
"Public transportation is the way to go in 2022," said Sanftner. "It keeps vehicles off the road."
Commuters who relied on train 527 continue to ask the Capitol Corridor to bring the route back at its original time so they can get back on track.
A monthly ticket for a daily roundtrip from Roseville to San Francisco comes at a discounted price of $612.