Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, January 28, 2011, 11:00 AM
https://n2v.almanacnews.com/square/print/2011/01/28/uncertainties-mount-for-struggling-caltrain
Town Square
Uncertainties mount for struggling Caltrain
Original post made on Jan 28, 2011
Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, January 28, 2011, 11:00 AM
Comments
Posted by Joseph E. Davis
a resident of Woodside: Emerald Hills
on Jan 28, 2011 at 5:05 pm
a resident of Woodside: Emerald Hills
on Jan 28, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Given that unemployment in California is above 12%, there is an extremely simple and efficient way to solve the problem:
- cut salaries by 50%, and hire replacements for anyone who quits.
- cut benefits by 50%, and hire replacements for anyone who quits.
- fire 2/3 of administrators.
Posted by J. Black
a resident of another community
on Jan 29, 2011 at 7:14 am
a resident of another community
on Jan 29, 2011 at 7:14 am
Caltrain already has a very lean management staff, and the organization is administratively "hosted" by SamTrans, so there's less overhead for office space, IT infrastructure, phone system, etc., than you see in most mass transit or other public organizations. Cutting salaries is not going to do it; you won't attract and/or keep the quality people that you need to run the system (and it's actually not possible to cut the salaries of the engineers, conductors, train dispatchers, and others who all work under a collective bargaining agreement with Amtrak, Caltrain's operations and maintenance contractor). Even if you could cut salaries by 50% and maintain a qualified staff, the staff is so small that this would be a tiny drop in the bucket of the overall cost of running the system.
The only viable option to fill that large a budget hole is unfortunately to slash service.
Posted by Lean Caltrain
a resident of another community
on Jan 29, 2011 at 8:12 am
a resident of another community
on Jan 29, 2011 at 8:12 am
A $30M budget cut is the best thing that can happen to Caltrain, it will be a forcing factor.
Caltrain is suffering from chronic inefficiencies in the way it is run
Outside of peak hours, Caltrain runs nearly empty. Late night trains runs up and down the peninsula with a handful of people on board.
We need efficient public transportation and that is not Caltrain.
Caltrain is a temporary solution, unsafe, inefficient and unreliable that should not get permanent funding or we will stand very little chance to get something better in the future.
Short term solution: Cut Caltrain diesel trains to peak hours only
Long term: Electrify, let BART take over and save on operating costs.
Posted by Caltrain fan
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Jan 29, 2011 at 9:32 am
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Jan 29, 2011 at 9:32 am
I am not defending the fiscal management of Caltrain, but have to point out that BART is not the answer from a rider's perspective. In the end the riders have to be happy or the revenue doesn't flow. Caltrain travel is FAR more efficient for Menlo Park residents than BART ever will be. Caltrain is a straight shot to San Francisco whereas BART wanders and currently takes longer door to door to the City. Even if it were to come down the peninsula, its routing would be more timeconsuming than Caltrain is now.
BART has grossly misused its funding for things like the extremely expensive and disjointed connection from Calltrain to SFO.
How about a southern San Mateo county vote to divert its contributions from BART to Caltrain? We've been paying for decades for lousy BART service for us.
