Avoid the Blues by Making Caltrain Part of Your Trip to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

With more than 100,000 people expected to descend upon Golden Gate Park, driving a car to San Francisco hardly seems like the right choice for this weekend’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Instead, music lovers can make Caltrain part of their trip to the annual free event. The three-day festival, October 6-8, kicks off at noon this Friday, and Caltrain’s weekday and weekend schedules provide a lot of service to San Francisco. Once at the San Francisco Caltrain Station, passengers can cross the street and transfer to Muni’s N-Judah light-rail line for a direct trip to Golden Gate Park. Now in its 17^th year, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival will feature 100 artists playing on seven different stages. The event was founded by Warren Hellman as a free festival in 2001, and continues to remain that way. Caltrain is a proof-of-payment system; tickets are not sold onboard trains but can be purchased at vending machines at the stations. To save time on the return trip, fans are encouraged to buy a Day Pass. Clipper card users (cash value) are reminded to tag on and tag off. Open alcoholic beverage containers are not allowed onboard trains starting at 9 p.m. Parking at Caltrain stations costs $5.50 for the day, and permits can be purchased at station ticket machines. Paid parking rules are enforced throughout the day. For fare and schedule information, visit www.caltrain.com or call 1.800.660.4287 (TTY 650.508.6448.)   ### About Caltrain: Owned and operated by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, Caltrain provides commuter rail service from San Francisco to San Jose, with limited commute service to Gilroy. Caltrain has enjoyed five years of consecutive monthly ridership increases, surpassing more than 65,000 average weekday riders earlier this year. While the Joint Powers Board assumed operating responsibilities for the service in 1992, the railroad celebrated 150 years of continuous passenger service in 2014. Planning for the next 150 years of Peninsula rail service, Caltrain is on pace to electrify the corridor, reduce diesel emissions by 97 percent by 2040 and add more service to more stations. Like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/caltrain and follow us on Twitter @Caltrain Free translation is available: Para traducción llama al 1.800.660.4287; 如需翻譯,請電 1.800.660.4287.