Caltrain

Website

http://www.caltrain.com has schedules, routes, fares and more

The concourse level at Millbrae (May 2008) Caltrain is a rail line that runs from Fourth and King streets all the way down to Gilroy. The northernmost three stations are in San Francisco.

Fares are calculated based on the number of zones through which the passenger has traveled. A regular adult one-way ticket within one zone costs $2.50, and each additional zone crossed costs $1.75 more. Therefore, a trip from San Bruno (Zone 1) to Atherton (Zone 3) costs $6.00, the same as a trip from the San Francisco station (Zone 1) to Sunnyvale (Zone 3). Discounted fares are available for senior citizens, disabled individuals, and minors. Fast Passes can't be used on Caltrain.

Some trains are baby bullet trains, which make select stops and therefore travel much faster than others that stop at every station. There are several bullet train "routes," some with more stops than others. Be sure to stand behind the yellow area when a bullet train is approaching, because it may pass by very quickly!

It should be noted that unlike Muni and BART, Caltrain allows the consumption of food (including alcohol) on its trains, except after 9 on special event nights such as baseball games. Let's keep it clean, though! The same courtesy applies to the restrooms, which tend to be in the northernmost car.

You can bring your bike on Caltrain. There's a designated car for bikes, noted by a yellow bike decal on the exterior. If the bike car fills up, the cyclist must wait for the next train. You should sit in the same car as your bike.

The car adjacent to the northernmost car is usually the one accessible by riders who use wheelchairs.

TransLink

TransLink works on Caltrain (all fare inspectors carry TransLink readers). You "tag-in" on the TransLink reader at your starting station and "tag-out" at your destination. You must have at least $1.25 on your account to tag-in, even if you have a monthly pass.

• If you put a Monthly Pass on your card, you have to tag in and tag out once at the start of the month. Fare inspectors will thereafter see you as going from zone whatever to zone whatever, until your pass expires.
  

• If you put an eight ride on your card, or pay for each ride a-la-carte out of your TransLink e-cash balance, you have to tag in and tag out each ride.
  

If you fail to tag off after a certain period, you'll be charged the maximum one-way Caltrain fare ($11.25). This is probably true even if you weren't in a place you could have actually spanned six zones from.

The stations, from north to south, include:

• San Francisco*

• 22nd Street
  

• Bayshore*
  

• South San Francisco
  

• San Bruno*
  

• Millbrae*

• Broadway
  

• Burlingame
  

• San Mateo*
  

• Hayward Park*
  

• Hillsdale*
  

• Belmont*
  

• San Carlos*
  

• Redwood City*
  

• Atherton

• Menlo Park*
  

• Palo Alto*
  

• Stanford
  

• California Avenue
  

• San Antonio*
  

• Mountain View*
  

• Sunnyvale*
  

• Lawrence*

• Santa Clara*
  

• College Park
  

• San Jose Diridon*
  

• Tamien*
  

• Capitol*

• Blossom Hill*
  

• Morgan Hill*

• San Martin*
  

• Gilroy*

An asterisk (*) denotes a wheelchair-accessible station.