Within the first month of its electrical prepare service, Caltrain noticed over 753,000 passengers — a 54% enhance from October 2023 and its greatest ridership numbers for the reason that coronavirus pandemic, in line with new figures launched by the transit company.
Whole ridership elevated 17% between August — the final month of primarily diesel service — and October, the primary month of all-electric. Weekend ridership — with service each half-hour fairly than each hour — grew by 38%.
That bucks the same old tendencies, which generally present ridership falling off in August. This yr, although, it elevated by greater than 100,000 riders.
“When we broke ground on the electrification project back in 2017, we set out to deliver a state-of-the-art modern rail system for the people we serve,” stated Caltrain Govt Director Michelle Bouchard in an announcement. “It is immensely gratifying to see our riders embrace our new service on this scale.”
In comparison with final October, the numbers are much more beautiful — common weekday ridership rose 38% to 27,000, and present weekend ridership soared previous pre-COVID ranges, with Saturdays seeing a 169% enhance and Sundays a 142% enhance from final October.
BART ridership additionally elevated over the past yr, with the common weekday ridership rising 8% to 180,834 from 167,484. Weekend ridership additionally rose by 3.1% on Saturdays, and 11% on Sundays.
Caltrain’s new trains should not solely extra environmentally pleasant than their diesel forerunners, they’re additionally quicker. Whereas a diesel prepare working specific may get commuters between San Jose and San Francisco in an hour and 5 minutes with stops at seven stations, the brand new trains cease at 11 stations and make the journey in simply 59 minutes.
As a result of they will speed up and decelerate a lot quicker, too, common service can also be shifting a lot quicker. Sixteen stations have trains stopping each 15-20 minutes at peak hours. All stations have service each half-hour on the weekend.
The brand new trains are additionally extra trendy — they provide Wi-Fi onboard, digital shows and energy retailers alongside the ahead dealing with seats.
“If you haven’t experienced the future of transportation for yourself yet, find out what everyone has been talking about,” Bouchard stated.
Initially Revealed: November 15, 2024 at 12:46 PM PST
