Tag Archives: BART

Titanic Tidbits & Musings

1. National Geographic has decided to look back at the 1990s in an upcoming documentary called The ‘90s:The Last Great Decade? As is usual they send out press releases and even previews to media. Sadly TNC seems to never get those media packets. At any rate James Cameron’s Titanic is tied with Forrest Gump as best movie of the decade. Sadly for Kate Winslet, Jennifer Aniston was the female icon with Christina Applegate coming in second. And a show about nothing about four self-centered people barely beat out the X-Files. While Aniston was the babe, sadly the rest of her Friends were pushed aside by the show about nothing. Then again what was Friends about anyway?
Source:Titanic,’ ‘Seinfeld’ Top Best Of ’90s Poll(25 June 2014, Popwatch)

2.The Titanic Hotel at Liverpool’s Stanley Dock (not to be confused with the other Titanic hotel in the former White Star headquarters) is nearing completion reports Liverpool Echo. The first guests are slated to be International Festival For Business delegates. Prices for staying at the new hotel will be between £129-£200 a night (about $203-$339).
Source: Sign That Liverpool’s New Titanic Hotel Is Getting Ready To Open For Business(23 June 2014,Liverpool Echo)

3. In order to raise money for St John’s Hospice a group of fundraisers decided to have a Sink The Titanic food challenge. The challenge will be to eat a mammoth 3 foot, six inch burrito in 30 minutes at Lancaster’s Go Burrito. Calling Adam Richman from Man Vs Food! It is a daft idea, as one person notes in the article, but it certainly gets a notice and awareness of St. John’s Hospice. Have the antacid standing by. Eating that much burrito is bound to have after effects. You can click here to contribute.

4. MasterChef:Mutiny On The Beach Update
Joe Bastianich had the following to say about this recent episode. On Team Red he writes:
Sadly, the same cannot be said for the red team. Leslie was a disappointing leader, but at least he owned up to his incompetence. The rest of his team didn’t help much either, and for that alone they all deserved to lose. Their collective dislike of Leslie helped make a bad situation worse, so at the end of the day, it was everybody’s fault. Who knows how many people flew to California to experience this auspicious event? I have a restaurant and B&B in northeast Italy called Orsone. If my team there ever mishandled a wedding—one of the most important events in a couple’s life—I’d die of embarrassment. The end result on the plate was pleasing to the wedding party, but if we judges hadn’t been there, that would not have happened.

I did not delve into the other team members actions in my write-up. And Joe is right on this. They all wanted to throw Leslie under the bus for the failure not looking at their parts in it as well. Had they been left to their own devices and no one checked them at all, the result would have been very bad indeed. But perhaps they ought to let it happen if nothing else to teach them a lesson in being responsible. In fact, I suggest MasterChef do that at least once or perhaps twice a season. Let them take full and total responsibility for the cooking without any of the Culinary Trio telling them to correct things.

As for the Ahran and Leslie dustup:

Last night’s episode suffered no shortage of drama. Leslie continues to allow himself to be sucked into Ahran’s ridiculousness. As a seasoned adult, he should have recognized that with her he is not dealing with a peer. She is ruining this for herself, but it would be a real shame if Leslie lets her take him with her on the way down. Most of the kids from MasterChef Junior exhibit more poise and emotional maturity—look at last year’s winner, 13-year-old Alexander Weiss.

Ahran is still in high school, at least when the show was filming (she may have graduated by now) and pretty young to compete on the show. She already has shown how anger colors her thinking in a previous episode when she wanted to take Courtney down. And she all but accused the judges of favoritism when it comes to Courtney. That she dislikes Leslie is obvious. While he mispronounced her name at team selection, it was not intentional but she took as such. And in her rant against him said that was the reason she did not like him. At that point Leslie ought to have cut it off and walked away. Instead he decided to take her on at told her to get some cojones (paraphrasing again). The other gals did not like that. Ahran has her own problems and Leslie ought not to be sucked into them. He made it worse when he decided to put up three for the pressure test. To the judges, he showed he could be just as immature. Something they are going to be watching down the line. You know Ahran is in trouble when Joe believes 13-year-old Junior Masterchef winner Alexander Weiss is more mature.

5. Caltrain San Bruno Station
Okay for folks in and around San Bruno, CA, this is for you. The new Caltrain station at San Mateo & San Bruno Avenues was opened for use in April. Construction is still going on the underside (putting in steel plates etc). And use of San Mateo Ave at Huntington is still limited forcing drivers to divert San Bruno Ave and turning left to San Mateo Ave. The good news is that the elevated platform is spacious. The shelters are big allowing a lot more people to stand in them during inclimate weather. When it is windy the shelters come in handy. The downside is that there is no crossover to the other tracks, you have to access them from the street. It sucks but they could not build a wide platform that would allow an island configuration (where people can access trains in either direction from the center) for arrivals and departures. Parking is still an issue because Granite Construction still has it office and other things in that area. And both SamTrans 140,141 have Caltrain stops. The eastbound 140,141 stop near Chuy’s while the westbound stop is at Euclid. Unfortunately for eastbound bus riders who get off, there is no crosswalk at Euclid to cross over to the station. You have to walk up to San Bruno Ave for the crosswalk. San Bruno ought to put a crosswalk at Euclid.

Overall the new station is a vast improvement than the old one at Sylvan. There was no direct bus service to it. Of course being elevated means no more risks of cars stalling on the tracks in the downtown area. It has an easy access area for people with wheelchairs (ramps that lead up to the station on both sides of the station). The elevator is not done but once done, people who have problem walking up stairs can use it. Another plus it is a lot closer to Tanforan and San Bruno Bart. Instead of a 30-40 minute walk from Sylvan, it is 10 minutes or less by foot.

6. SamTrans Makes No Changes To 140/141
The recent schedule changes for SamTrans came into effect on 15 June. Neither of these routes had any schedule changes except that with schools out, runs that made trips to schools now run without going to those schools. Unfortunately some transit apps like Roadify seem to think SamTrans has shut down for the summer!


Update:SamTrans Changes To 140,141 and Others Coming 26 Jan

[Off topic but important info for those who live in, near, or around San Bruno,CA]

Well it is a New Year and time for SamTrans to implement changes to routes on 26 Jan. Some changes are going to be major while others are tweaks to service.

140
Sam Trans busThe 140 will begin servicing the AirTrain station (near the car rental area) at SFO and it means altering the entire schedule to make this possible. Just about the entire schedule has been changed except for the school bus trips in the morning and afternoon to Parkside Intermediate. However to make the route streamlined for the airport run, service on San Bruno Avenue between Huntington and El Camino Real is being dropped. That means the eastbound stop by the Wash N’Dry and the westbound stop by the Green Valley Market are going away. The 140 will turn left on El Camino after the stop on San Bruno (west side) and El Camino. There is an ECR stop on El Camino at the gas station which the 140 will stop for people wanting to get off there. The 140 will turn right at Sneath and El Camino to San Bruno BART and after dropping off passengers there, heads off to the AirTrain station. For those wanting to use Caltrain when that station opens, both eastbound and westbound buses to/from AirTrain stop nearby. Eastbound the closest stop is at Chuy’s deli. Hopefully they will move this further south since you nearly always get off right in front of parked cars. The westbound stop does not have that problem but could be moved further south to be closer to the station (not that far away right now but pulling it back would make it more convenient)

A major change is also the start times of most routes. Currently westbound buses from San Bruno BART leave at 20 after the hour outside of commute hours. That changes to 41 minutes after the hour for most runs since the run starts earlier at AirTrain. Most eastbound runs will start earlier with some exceptions so check the schedule because it is likely your favorite bus time has changed. On weekends both east and westbound runs start on the hour from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The last bus in both directions on weekdays is 11:00 p.m.

You can view the new schedule here.

141
I think they cannot make up their mind about this route at SamTrans. First they wanted to eliminate San Mateo Ave and 3rd Street along with dropping most of Jenevein and running the bus more on San Bruno Ave. Then that changed and then they were going to keep San Mateo Ave (going all the way to BART) and Jenevein and drop the crossover to Angus & Third except for school runs. The current description of the change is “Realign route via San Bruno Avenue to improve direct service to San Bruno BART; only serve San Mateo Avenue on select trips. ” However the map you bring up for the new schedule shows something different. What is dropped is the Angus crossover and the bus will go to San Bruno BART via San Mateo Avenue to Huntington. Unless there is a correction made, this is the final schedule for the 141 beginning 26 Jan. If you take this frequently, be sure to check the schedule as many times of bus runs have changed.

ECR
Once again San Bruno BART is being serviced by an El Camino bus. Previously the 391 had done this but was discontinued when the ECR was implemented for weekday runs. Beginning 26 Jan, the ECR now will go into San Bruno BART. Because the ECR consolidated two bus routes, it now runs more frequently than either the old 390/391. You can view the new ECR schedule here. The downside is that Millbrae BART has been downgraded to stops on El Camino rather than going into the transit area.

398
This limited route will run between Redwood City Transit Center (where Caltrain stops) and San Bruno BART via SFO daily and on weekends. You can view the schedule here.

Other important route changes/modifications:

123-Eliminated. This route went from Colma BART to Skyline. The 121 services Colma BART so students and others going to Skyline can catch it. Eliminated because it was redundant.

133-As of 26 Jan, this route will no longer serve Serramonte and drops service on Huntington between Spruce and Sneath. This bus will run from San Bruno BART via El Camino Real and Spruce to Airport/Linden. People wanting to go to Serramonte from San Bruno BART can transfer to 131 at Airport/Linden.

Source:SamTrans

Caltrain Musings

Caltrain
Photo: Wikipedia

*San Bruno Grade Separation Update
Good news! San Bruno & Huntington Ave street closure is over. It was closed on 20 September for massive construction that included lowering the grade under the San Bruno elevated railway section to accommodate more trucks. It was supposed to open on 30 Sept at 0500 but alas did not happen. So it was extended to Thursday at 8:00 p.m. And now the detour around that area is over. Huntington between Euclid and San Bruno Avenue has been nearly restored to its prior condition. When they began construction, the east side was closed except for construction traffic. That meant the west side, normally two lanes for southbound traffic, was converted into a two lane traffic zone for north and south traffic. It made driving difficult at times. Buses and other traffic that had to turn north from San Bruno onto Huntington had a difficult time. It was a tight turn to negotiate for buses. With one northbound lane now restored, it alleviates a traffic problem at the intersection.

Even better is that now the tracks are elevated, there is zero chance of a vehicle being stuck on the rails in that area. During construction there were two serious accidents. One involved a tractor trailer at Angus (to big and got stuck on the tracks) and the other at San Bruno Ave where someone abandoned a car on the track. A third minor one involved a car that got grazed by a train when it was just a little over that line (those lines are there for a purpose folks). Amazingly the car was driven away and found later by police at Bayhill shopping center.

For walkers though, the sidewalk in front of the old bank at Huntington & San Bruno is closed. You will need to detour to one of the crosswalks near Mills or Easton to cross over.

*Clipper Issue/Reminder About Tagging On & Off
Recently I had a small problem with Clipper. I tagged on in San Francisco and off at San Bruno station. But when I checked my account a few days later, I was charged to full amount rather than deducting a ride from my 8 Ride ticket. I emailed Clipper and they investigated the issue. They did refund the money but did deduct the fare (discounted for an 8-Ride ticket)from San Francisco to San Bruno since my 8 Ride Ticket by that time had expired. The problem was a rare one where the Clipper terminal was not properly sending the information. So always check your balance when paying with cash or by 8 Ride Ticket. Otherwise you might get a nasty surprise the next time you tag on.

Now about what happens if you forget to tag on or off. If you board the train in San Francisco or San Jose, chances are the conductors will check at the gate and turn you around to tag at the Clipper terminal. However if you do forget to tag on and the conductor aboard the train checks your card, simply put you are doomed. Conductors will issue a citation for fare evasion and you have to go to court. I think the fine is $380 (that includes court fees) but it could be more by now. Ignorance is no defense here since Caltrain has signs all over the place and conductors reminding everyone to tag on and off.

If you forget to tag off at your destination, Caltrain will assess the maximum one way ticket fare $12.75 and deduct it from the cash purse on your card. So remember to tag off when you get off the train. Otherwise if the cash balance on your card dips below $1.25, you cannot use it until you load cash. What happens if you do not have enough money on your card to pay the fare? What happens is you cannot use that card until you load cash and pay the negative balance on it. Remember except at San Francisco and San Jose stations, you cannot add cash to your Clipper card. Either go to Walgreens, a Clipper service center, call them up, or pay on the Internet.

*Important 8-Ride Ticket Reminders
-Cannot be used for zone upgrade. When you tag off, the cash needed for the extra zones traveled will be deducted.
-No all zones on weekends or holidays.
-Has a time limit of 30 days and then they go poof if not used.
-Can buy monthly parking permit.
-Must tag on at start of trip and at final destination. If you fail to tag off, you pay the maximum ticket of $12.75

Caltrain/Samtrans Alert
If a BART strike does occur, service to BART stations by SamTrans will be temporarily discontinued. This will effect Daly City, Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno and Millbrae BART stations. So check with SamTrans or ask the bus driver for where the temporary stop is located if you using a bus that normally does go to a BART station. Caltrain has no plans to add extra trains as of yet, but expect some early morning commute trains to be even more packed when they depart Millbrae. Important tip: Express trains are almost always full (people standing in aisles), limiteds may be full (but not with people standing in aisles), and locals are generally have more seats available (they take longest to get to San Francisco). Plan accordingly. Bicyclists will likely have it even more tough when every seat and more is taken up.

Caltrain Sauna Effect
We have been having a some really warm weather. Sadly not all Caltrain cars have that air conditioning working right. One car I entered was warm enough for a sauna. Yikes! And the smell was pretty ripe as well.

Doors Do Not Lock Themselves
It is interesting to watch at San Francisco station (4th & King) as to who locks doors and who does not. Now usually the doors to tracks are locked when there is no need for them to be unlocked. And there is a security guard who does check. Sometimes the conductors will lock one side of the doors (the ones that will be open for the next departing train) and leave the opposite ones unlocked. And they clearly know this since I observe conductors go in and out of those doors as they get food or do other things. And train drivers are the worst. If a door is locked, they check the nearby ones. And then they walk to other ones nearby. Only if they cannot find one unlocked (or time is an issue), then they finally produce a key. But they rarely lock the door behind them (1-5 I observed locked and unlocked). They tell us to be observant about packages but if the conductors and drivers seem not to take much care in securing areas, it is no wonder why TSA wants to increase its presence in the railroad area. They might have to consider self locking doors that are always locked unless you insert a key and open it, and then lock when put back into place.

SamTrans Update

busUPDATE(23 Jul 2013)
1. Service to Parkside Intermediate is not dropped and will continue on the 140. Service to Terra Nova in Pacifica is being moved to new route 49.

2. Route 141 will be altered on 26 Jan 2014. According to SamTrans summary of 26 Jan 2014 changes: “Realign route via San Bruno Avenue to improve direct service to San Bruno BART; only serve San Mateo Avenue on select trips.” Both the 140/141 will serve the new Caltrain station at San Bruno Ave.

—-

SamTrans has announced important changes beginning 11 Aug 2013. Here is a quick summary:

1. Routes 390/391 weekday service service eliminated and replaced by route ECR. Weekday ECR will run every 15 minutes between Palo Alto and Daly City BART stations. Service to San Bruno and South San Francisco BART stations discontinued.

2. Another change to Route 140 (Pacifica to San Bruno BART). The twice daily school bus trips are being discontinued and new Route 49 will do this service.

Changes scheduled 26 Jan 2014
1. Route 140 will be extended to SF Airport Airtran.
2. Express route KX will operate between Redwood City and San Bruno BART including an SFO airport. Peak hour service to San Francisco Transbay Terminal.

My take:
As noted in a previous post, the new ECR drops San Bruno BART dropping direct service to Tanforan and BART. People taking SamTrans have two choices taking the bus to Tanforan. Option 1: Take ECR to bus stop at Sneath & El Camino Ave(north and south) and walk to Tanforan. Option 2: Get off at San Bruno Ave & El Camino(north and south) and catch an eastbound 140 to San Bruno BART. BART is the easiest option. Simply take BART to San Bruno and you are right behind Tanforan. Downside: costs more than SamTrans.

There is also in 2014 another option of taking the KX. This mixed route is being shortened from its present start in Stanford to Redwood City. This shortened route will run between Redwood City and San Bruno BART during offpeak hours and into San Francisco during peak hours weekdays. A stop at San Francisco International is part of this route. Weekend service will operate hourly. Note: This route does not duplicate ECR and only stops at selected stops.

The 140 change is a surprise and threads a tough needle. SamTrans states it is forbidden by federal law from providing dedicated bus service to schools. That is why bus routes such as 140 divert over at certain times during the school year to serve schools like Parkside Intermediate. Now they are discontinuing such service and shifting the service over to a new route (49) in August. Presumably this limited run meets federal regulations by making all regular and school stops when it runs. One possible reason for this change is that commuters who boarded the school trip buses found it added extra time getting to BART or catching an ECR.

Source: SamTrans Transit Updates

SamTrans San Bruno Update

As noted previously SamTrans is making major changes to its schedule to cut costs and create efficiency. They did a review of all existing lines and put forth a proposal based on these findings. It is the first major system-wide change in a decade. Routes 140 and 141 which serve San Bruno faced some major changes. The final proposal has been adopted and surprisingly both routes saw major revisions to the proposed changes.

Route 140
The proposed change was to drop the Allen crossover between College and Longview, dropping the Bayhill, San Bruno Ave, and Huntington sections in favor of a going straight to San Bruno BART (SBB) down Sneath after Rollingwood. That has all been dropped and the route remains as it is now except for a proposed extension to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) AirTrain Station (pending coordination with airport).

Comment: This was a surprise. it seemed certain months ago the proposals would go through. I opposed dropping the Bayhill and San Bruno sections since people who go to Bayhill would be forced to take two buses. Also having it use San Bruno Ave meant it could stop right near the new Caltrain station. What changed? They must have gotten some really strong feedback on this and possibly from the City Council. The extension to SFO AirTrain is in response to those who work at SFO and take SamTrans and BART. BART costs a lot more because of the surcharge placed on your ticket when exiting the station. So probably many who take SamTrans to BART wanted a less costly alternative. Going to SFO AirTrain would make it less expensive for workers. They would only pay the fare for SamTrans and not have to buy a BART ticket.

Route 141
The proposed change was to drop service on most of Jenevein, no longer serve San Mateo Ave (downtown San Bruno), and Third Street. The route would shift over to San Bruno Ave where it would go to Crystal Springs, down Jenevein to Cherry, Cherry to San Bruno and then back to SBB. The revision drops that. Instead the 141 will continue using Jenevein but go down San Mateo Ave to SBB instead of turning at Angus to Third Street. The new Caltrain station will be served by this route as well. School trips will be the only times it crosses over to Third Street.

Comment: Again this was a surprise. Perhaps more people on Jenevein wanted the service than thought. Actually the thought of having this route go directly to SBB via San Mateo Avenue is something others have said before. It made no sense to go over to Third Street and back down San Bruno Ave to turn back on Huntington. The new way makes it more efficient, serves downtown San Bruno, Caltrain, and BART.

ECR (formerly 390/391)
Unfortunately the proposal on this one remains. Currently the 391 pulls into SBB but under the new schedule, the ECR will not serve this station. Instead passengers will embark/disembark at stops near Sneath & El Camino and walk to Tanforan. It is not a long walk but certainly not as convenient as it is right now.  SBB is right behind Tanforan and provides easier access. For those wanting to go to SBB using ECR, they would have to transfer either to the 140 or 141 or walk from El Camino Real. When the new Caltrain station comes on line, they could get off at the San Bruno station and catch either a 140 or 141 to Tanforan.

SamTrans wants to remind that these changes are also subject to revision down the road if things change (less passengers etc). SBB is losing the 391 and 133 leaving only the 140, 141 and shuttles serving it. The good news is that routes 140, 141 changes are not drastic and made better. It is unfortunate that the ECR will not serve SBB but not entirely unexpected either. Most people who take the 391 to SBB usually go to Tanforan or catch another bus (like the 140) rather than BART. For people wanting to head north/south on ECR, they now have to do so near Sneath & El Camino.

As a side note, SBB bus area is not a nice area. It has all the charm of an underpass, is often dirty with spilled food and other items, and some shady people hang about as well. Though San Bruno Police has its headquarters in the plaza, and BART police also is around, you rarely see any foot patrols in the plaza or bus area. How difficult is it for someone to do a walkthrough a couple times a day?

Source: SamTrans Service Plan-Final Adopted Recommendations(May 2013)

Shop Amazon -There’s Still Time to Make Mom’s Day with an Amazon.com Gift Card