Caltrain Board To Vote On Weekend Service Reduction
SAN CARLOS (KCBS)- The Caltrain Board will vote next week to determine the level of train service between San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties. The proposal under consideration would reduce service to a 76 weekday train schedule and eliminate much of the weekend service. In addition three stations would be closed on weekdays and 12 on the weekends.
Some are looking at the latest proposal with optimism considering the original plan would have cut service from 86 to 48 trains on weekdays to save $30 million.
San Francisco Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who sits on the Caltrain Board, said many passengers will be impacted.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
"It still means three stations are going to close". Elsbernd was referring to San Francisco's Bayshore Station, San Mateo's Hayward Park Station, and Capitol Station in Santa Clara.
With weekend service reduced and trains running far and few in between, Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager, another Caltrain Board member, is determined to keep service at its current level.
"To change it at a time when ridership is at its all-time high, with gasoline prices skyrocketing; it just would be good the next couple of years to have people rely on a regular schedule that they can take," said Yeager.
The funding shortfall is $3.5 million and Yeager feels the gap can be closed with additional help from Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco Counties. He notes that 41,000 people rely on Caltrain service and every passenger on a train means less congestion on the roadways.
Other details of the proposal would include raising fares and parking lot fees. Yeager will be voting no.
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