Caltrain has launched an effort to install bike eLockers at most of its stations, allowing people with bikes to park them easily, affordably and securely. So far in 2021, 96 eLocker spaces have been installed on the corridor at the Belmont, Redwood City, Lawrence, Mountain View and San Jose Diridon stations.
The standard fee for an eLocker is $.05 per hour, with night and weekends priced at $.02 per hour. The eLockers are available on a first-come, first-served basis. In the past, Caltrain rented lockers out keyed lockers to individual users, but the new eLockers will give people with bikes more flexibility and increase locker availability. More information about accessing and using the eLockers is available at www.bikelink.org.
Following the railroad’s commitment to invest at least $3 million in wayside bicycle improvements in conjunction with the Electrification Project, Caltrain’s Board of Directors approved an award of contract for the expansion of eLockers at their September 2020 meeting.
The contract awarded to Berkeley-based eLock Technologies, LLC will provide a guaranteed minimum of 632 eLockers at most of Caltrain’s stations along the corridor by the end of 2023, with the option to purchase up to an additional 718 units depending on customer demand and available funding.
This investment was made possible in part by grant funding from California’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Caltrain served approximately 10,000 bicyclists every weekday. Ten percent of customers typically bring their bike onboard. Survey data has found that many of these riders do so because they do not have a secure place to leave their bike at the station. This effort will provide those customers with an easy to use, secure facility and help alleviate some of the demand for bike space on trains. Expanding station bike parking is critical to meeting the Caltrain Business Plan's projected future ridership, which is expected to triple by 2040.
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About Caltrain: Owned and operated by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, Caltrain provides commuter rail service from San Francisco to San Jose, with commute service to Gilroy. 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.
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