Categories: Travel & Events; Local & Entertainment

The OTHER Bay Area Train: CalTrain and You!

By Mitch.Kocen
updated 3 months ago

Now that gas has crested $4 a gallon, public transportation has become a lot more inviting. Sure, you know BART. We ALL know BART. It connects a narrow strip of San Francisco with select locales along very specific sectors of the Bay Area. But what if you don't live along the 880? What if you want to take public transportation to somewhere in The City that isn't one of four San Francisco stops? Take the bus? Drive? Those are options for suckers. CalTrain is the answer. Linking San Jose and San Francisco, the CalTrain widens your options and will actually get you to the city in less time than it takes to drive.

Things to Know About Riding the Train

Riding the train is a great way to commute or just get someplace without worrying about traffic and driving. There are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind.

Baby Bullet: These trains make only a few stops and will get you from San Jose to San Francisco in less than an hour, which is much faster than if you drove, especially during rush hour. They run Northbound out of San Jos from 5:45 AM until 8:02 AM and from 4:45 PM until 6:45 PM. Southbound from San Francisco runs from 6:59 AM until 8:59 AM and 4:09 until 6:33 in the evening. They only make a handful of stops, so check carefully if you aren’t going from SF to SJ.
Parking: Parking doesn’t seem terrible along some of the smaller stops, but at San Francisco and San Jose the parking is terrible. Unless you have a monthly pass or get there very early, you’ll be parking far away. Bring cash for parking and leave plenty of time, especially if you want to catch a Baby Bullet.
Check the schedule: The run trains frequently, but you should make sure that it’s not a limited stop train, especially if you’re going somewhere along the line that isn’t San Jose or San Francisco.
Drink up: Booze is A-OK on board the train, so long as it’s before 9 PM and not the special Standford Football schedule. It’s nice to know that you can crack a beer RIGHT after work.
Make a connection: Unless you’re lucky enough to work close to the station, you’re going to need to keep going once you get off the train. BART, VTA and buses will get you where you need to go. Many employers run shuttles to the train stations, so check and see if you’re that lucky.
No Wi-Fi. In this day and age, all public transportation should have free internet access. Not on CalTrain. No power outlets either, so if you’re planning on getting some work done on your laptop, plan accordingly.

San Jose Station

65 Cahill Street San Jose, CA 95110

This is the end of the line for the most part. You can catch a bus or a VTA train from here. If this is your final destination, be sure to check out The Poor House Bistro. I’ve written about it before and it’s just across the street. If you want to check out a hockey or arena football game but don’t want to deal with arena traffic, the Shark Tank is right here.

Mountain View Station

600 W Evelyn Ave. Mountain View, CA 94041

The train spits you out at the top of downtown Mountain View. There are a lot of great restaurants and bookstores down here. I recommend Pasta? and St. Stephen’s Green. This is where the Google folk go when they get sick of the free meals Google gives them, so it can be a bit pricey.

Palo Alto Station

95 University Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94301

Stationed right by the educational behemoth of Stanford, this stop is perfect for students and football fans alike. It also drops you off near the Stanford Shopping Center, which is a spiffy upscale mall. The worst part of shopping is parking, so you can take the train and skip that noise.

Redwood City Station

1 James Avenue Redwood City, CA 94063

Another stop that lets you out in a dense commercial area as opposed to the creepy industrial zones of other stops. Take the train to Redwood City and you’ll discover a cute set of unique stores and restaurants that you may have never experienced because the Peninsula is evil and there is no easy way to drive there.

Hillsdale Station

3333 El Camino Real San Mateo, CA 94010

At first glance, this stop in the wetlands surrounding the bay seems dull. Then you notice that the stop puts you out right next to Bay Meadows, the horse racing funstraviganza. Hop on the train, play the ponies for a bit, have a couple beers, smoke a cigar and head home. Can’t be beat.

Millbrae Station

100 California Drive Millbrae, CA 94030

The Millbrae stop is your best bet if you want to get tricky with the public transportation. The Millbrae CalTrain station is also a BART station. Making a well timed transfer here opens up pretty much the entire Bay Area south of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’ll take awhile, but from here you can get to SFO, or out to Concord, or even to the Oakland Colosseum. It takes some pre-planning, but if it means saving a ton of gas, it’ll be well worth it, especially for one way trips.

San Francisco Station

700 4th St. San Francisco, CA 94107

The end of the line. While this puts you off kind of in the middle of nowhere, there’s a great library and a Safeway next to the station, as well as a number of spiffy offices you may be lucky enough to work at. Failing that, you’re only eleven short blocks from the MOMA. That’s worth the walk.