Caltrain

Len and I haven't been on a train since we moved to Florida. Now was our chance to use the Caltrain to get to San Fransisco. The station we knew was Santa Clara as it was close to Len's daughter's work. There was no one on duty so we had to self service our tickets. A lady waiting to get hers after us saw that we didn't know how to use the machine. She pressed the buttons and we got our tickets. The train had 2 seats each side downstairs and one each side upstairs. It moved around too much to sit upstairs so we relaxed at the lower level. A ticket inspector came and asked for the tickets. He was very rude and arrogant and said we had the wrong tickets. He tore them up and said they were confiscated. I hoped we could get off the train without them. We got off at Millbrae and caught the BART into San Fransisco. Coming back we think we got the right tickets but no ticket inspector showed up. It was fun doing the ride. However be very careful to check the timetable. Only one out of four of the trains in the afternoon stopped at Santa Clara. We had to get off at Redwood City and wait for another train that stopped at Santa Clara. If we go to Len's daughter in San Jose again we will find the San Jose station as all the trains stopped at this one. I would have given it 5 stars as we didn't have to drive, but then the tickets machines knocked it down a star, followed by the not very nice inspector. This company needs some good P.R. more

I had the great pleasure to ride the Caltrain in California. We drove to San Carlos to start our journey. at 9.53am and arrived at our station, Milbrea. The only problem we had was to try and find any staff with help for purchasing our tickets. Luckily a person showed us how to use the machine. The instructions are very hard to read with the sun shining on the glass. On the train a very unsociable ticket collector told us we had purchased the wrong tickets. He tore up the tickets and mumbled something in a foreign language. In Millbrae we changed to the bart. I was not impressed with the lack of staff. The BART was another experience. more

For many people, the 101 or 280 commute from the city to the south bay or vice versa becomes hellish, especially complemented with the difficulty of finding parking in the city. The caltrain is a great alternative if you're simply trying to catch dinner in the city or plan on going out to the clubs or bars. The caltrain is the only mass transit system which allows you to drink aboard. People should beware though that the last caltrain to leave the city is midnight so late-night clubbers will have to either find a place to stay over night or find another alternative to come back home to the south bay. There are also several incentive programs for weekday commuters that Caltrain offers in order to support the state's clean air environmental programs. These usually result in free fare for several days of the month. more