I ride the train to work from San Francisco to San Jose 1-2x/week because I enjoy it. Today, the VTA lightrail was a few minutes late, and there wasn't time to validate my 10-ride ticket before boarding the train in Mountain View because the validators are all the way on the opposite side of the platform. The 2 female conductors (373) were incredibly unpleasant about it. 20-30 people ran to make the connection that is usually seamless. We in no way delayed the train. In fact, the train was 2 minutes early to Millbrae and had to sit and wait.
I understand there must be some kind of policy about onboard validation; Caltrain employees have also instructed me to do this. But that's not the point. I ride the train because it is pleasant. If Caltrain attendants are going to be unpleasant, I believe a lot of people will find another way to travel.
One of these attendants made the statement: "that has nothing to do with us," which indicated to me a complete lack of understanding of how public transit works. People ride one form often to access another. In addition, VTA funds part of Caltrain. They have everything to do with each from both functional and administrative perspectives. I'm not even suggesting something so radical as timing the transfers (gasp!) -- I'm suggesting not being a jerk when people need a few seconds of your time onboard because another service is delayed and didn't even delay your service.
I noticed one attendant talking on her cel phone immediately upon arriving at 4th and King -- perhaps she was having a personal crisis. This was also not my fault.
Please train your employees in how public transportation works and in how to be pleasant to customers. If they can't understand that, please transfer them to cleaning toilets or something. There is just no excuse for having unpleasant staff onboard the train.
Thank you.
Lilia
PS, the new bike cars are also bad. Most people need their bike on both ends of a trip. Caltrain's multimodal capabilities were always its best feature (until these new cars!).
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I received the following response:
We regret that you had an unpleasant experience involving Caltrain recently. However, 10-ride ticket holders must validate their tickets before boarding the train and arriving late at a station is unfortunately not a valid reason for boarding a train without a valid ticket.
A conductor has two options when encountering a customer who does not have a valid ticket: he can either issue a citation or he can allow the passenger to disembark at the next station to validate or purchase a ticket.
However, we do expect our conductors to treat our passengers in a professional and courteous manner at all times. Since this does not appear to have been the case here, I have sent your report to the conductor's supervisor for handling.
From you comments concerning bike space on the trains it appears that you may not be aware of the reasons for the space limitations - please see http://www.caltrain.com/caltrain_bike_FAQs.html. Caltrain is currently utilizing all bike equipment, and cannot add more equipment at this time.
Because of the high demand for space on some trains, cyclists must plan for the possibility that they will not be able to board a particular train. Because of these limits, Caltrain's current bike plan focuses on providing more storage options at our stations via bike stations and secured locker areas.
Astrid Lindell
Caltrain Customer Relations Specialist
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