Caltrain proposes deep service cuts including canceling weekend service
Muni’s not the only regional transit system facing a fiscal emergency due to the economy. Caltrain (run by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board) is also facing deep cuts in funding and is considering various options to address its $10M deficit, including possibly cancelling service on weekends. This isn’t likely to be approved, nor should it be – thousands of SF and regional riders count on Caltrain during “non-commute” hours to get to work, shopping, and entertainment, and the loss of weekend service would mean a huge inconvenience for these riders. (The Giants might have something to say about this too.) Fare increases are also on the table, as is a proposed $1 fee for bike commuters.
Public hearings are scheduled for Wednesday, June 4, at 10 am, at Caltrain headquarters, 1250 San Carlos Ave, San Carlos (near the San Carlos train station).
It may be time for the public to pay the real cost of transportation. We may just need to accept the facts of life. There is no free ride. Welfare recipients can be subsidized individually. Employers can subsidize their employees. But let the transit system operate in the market place.
Don, will you also be requiring car owners to pay the full cost of their transportation? The large direct and indirect government subsidies on highways and automobile parking need to be taken in to account when making arguments like this.
Yes. I think it’s time for the public to pay for the real cost of transportation. How about a 10 cents per mile toll on the 101 and 280? Use it to fund the maintenance of those roads as well as other state highways in the region and the state highway patrol. Unbundle the cost of parking: garages are astoundingly expensive to build, on the order of $20,000 per space, which means $50 per month just to pay for the cost of its construction. I’m sure if drivers had to pay the full cost of $200 per month for driving, Caltrain could compete with that. And a Caltrain running at a profit or even just breakeven would be much more immune from political machinations.
Sure, let transit and motorist “fund themselves,” and if that’s the plan, can we get are taxes slashed too? It would be unfair to be so highly taxed yet pay the real cost of infrastructure.