Caltrain Reaches Ridership Record

Peninsula commuters seeking relief from driving continue to head to their nearest Caltrain station, setting the all-time record for average weekday ridership: 36,993. Ridership last climaxed during the height of the dot-com boom in early 2001. The results of the rail agency’s annual ridership count were presented to its board of directors at its April meeting.

Each February, Caltrain counts every customer who boards and alights from trains at its 31 stations. This meticulous count showed that average weekday ridership increased 9.3 percent compared to February 2007. Since Caltrain introduced its Baby Bullet express service in 2004, followed by a reinvention of its schedule in 2005, average weekday ridership has shot up 44.8 percent.

While the peak-hour commuters make up the majority – 80.1 percent – of Caltrain weekday customers, the rail system also attracted more midday and night riders, increasing 4.4 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively, compared to last year.

Weekend ridership also is doing well, with 11,121 customers riding on Saturday. Sunday ridership – 8,481 – increased 25.4 percent over 2007.

The ridership count also revealed the average trip length for passengers. For instance, on weekdays, the average customer travels 24.5 miles. This is increased to 31.7 miles for Baby Bullet customers.

To help accommodate the increased ridership, Caltrain is in the process of buying eight new rail cars that will be able to add capacity to existing weekday-peak trains. The new low-floor Bombardier cars are expected to be in service by the end of the year.

Caltrain is a partnership of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the San Mateo County Transit District, which also is the managing agency. Since the tri-county joint powers board assumed local control of Caltrain from the state Department of Transportation in 1992, average weekday ridership has increased 75.1 percent, from 21,121.

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Media Contact: Christine Dunn, 650.508.7927