any reasonable parking neightborhood along caltrain route (San Jose, Oakland: 2013, transfer)

[ggcd951]

i live in fremont and whenever i fly i take a bart and get to airport travelling all the way to SFO that takes about 1 1/2 hour. I am tired of doing all my time in bart and last thing one want is to go to airport and then bart train breaks down in the middle of track. My place is right next to BART though. It'd be nice to take a caltrain which is more direct and faster route to but caltrain will only charge monthly 50$ or daily nothing in between. Is there a reasonable place / safe neughborhood to park and walk to caltrain for few days of trip (week or so), that will not violate any parking rules, not so horrible neighborhood, and i think i am ok with walking about up to quarter mile. I used to live in sunnyvale area, so somewhere around Sunnyvale, Santa Clara or peninsule would be ok.

[bentobox34]

Caltrain to the airport is a pretty terrible option compared to BART. You usually have to take three trains (Caltrain, BART from Millbrae to San Bruno, then backtrack from San Bruno to the airport). You have to pay Caltrain fare and BART fare (plus extra gas and maybe a bridge toll) so it's more expensive. Caltrain runs less frequently than BART, with truly pitiful frequency mid-day and at night, and transfers are poorly timed with BART at Millbrae. You mentioned the possibility of a BART train breaking down, but Caltrain is more prone to delays than BART. All told, using Caltrain will probably take longer, cost more, and add more hassles to your trip as compared to taking BART from Fremont. Plus you'll be leaving your car in a strange neighborhood for a few days instead of at your own place.

If after all of that, you're still determined to do this, you might have some luck with parking in Santa Clara, northwest of the Caltrain station. There are no parking restrictions and it's a safe neighborhood.

[dogandcat]

If it's only a few days of absence, may be the best option is to drive directly to the airport and park at their facility. The most cheap option is to park at their outdoor parking lot. Honestly I doubt people can save time when using BART or Caltrain instead of direct driving... Especially in non-rush hours when it should definitely took less than 1,5 hours of driving.

But I agree with another person that it is OK to part somewhere near Santa Clara Caltrain station (somewhere on small streets close to El Camino Real for instance) for a few days. I did it several times.

[Chuck5000]

Hate to tell you, but BART is more reliable than Caltrain re: departure and arrival times, breakdowns, etc. With Caltrain, you never know when there will be a grade crossing accident. BART is also far faster - it has to do with the technology. Accelerates faster and reaches a higher top speed.

[ggcd951]

Originally Posted by bentobox34

Caltrain to the airport is a pretty terrible option compared to BART. You usually have to take three trains (Caltrain, BART from Millbrae to San Bruno, then backtrack from San Bruno to the airport). You have to pay Caltrain fare and BART fare (plus extra gas and maybe a bridge toll) so it's more expensive. Caltrain runs less frequently than BART, with truly pitiful frequency mid-day and at night, and transfers are poorly timed with BART at Millbrae. You mentioned the possibility of a BART train breaking down, but Caltrain is more prone to delays than BART. All told, using Caltrain will probably take longer, cost more, and add more hassles to your trip as compared to taking BART from Fremont. Plus you'll be leaving your car in a strange neighborhood for a few days instead of at your own place.

If after all of that, you're still determined to do this, you might have some luck with parking in Santa Clara, northwest of the Caltrain station. There are no parking restrictions and it's a safe neighborhood.

oh so even after boarding from peninsula, it wont directly go to airport? That sucks.

[calicoastal]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

Hate to tell you, but BART is more reliable than Caltrain re: departure and arrival times, breakdowns, etc. With Caltrain, you never know when there will be a grade crossing accident. BART is also far faster - it has to do with the technology. Accelerates faster and reaches a higher top speed.

Wrong Chuck. Caltrain has better on time performance than BART. Also, Caltrain trains have the same top speed as BART trains (80 mph). Electric Caltrain trains will go 110 mph. Caltrain even today is faster from Millbrae to SF than BART.

Caltrain used to have a fine bus shuttle from Millbrae to SFO before BART messed that up. I'm guessing HSR at Millbrae will finally undo that mess and there will be a decent connection to SFO again. Perhaps the barely used SFO to Millbrae BART track will be converted into AirTrain.

[sonarrat]

I know in San Jose, you're not allowed to park on the street for more than 72 hours in the same spot. Use of Streets for Storage (SJMC 11.36.220) – Vehicles may not be parked on the street for more than 72 hours without movement. Whether you actually get cited, in my experience it depends on the condition of the vehicle. A clapped-out Cavalier with front end damage will get ticketed more readily than a family's extra Sienna minivan that doesn't move from Monday until Friday. In a Caltrain neighborhood they may be more aggressive in checking.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

Hate to tell you, but BART is more reliable than Caltrain re: departure and arrival times, breakdowns, etc. With Caltrain, you never know when there will be a grade crossing accident. BART is also far faster - it has to do with the technology. Accelerates faster and reaches a higher top speed.

Everything else is true, except for bold. One of Caltrain's advantages over BART is its speed. Acceleration isn't that different, but BART doesn't generally hit the same top speed. I try to always sit in the first car when riding BART, and I've seen the speed when going through the transbay tube many times, and it's rarely above 65 MPH - Caltrain hits its max of 79 MPH (the fastest they're able to go legally) routinely on the long stretches. I think theoretically BART could go 79 MPH, too, so I don't know why they don't go faster. Found this that mentions typical top speeds BART operate at are 70 MPH (http://www.bart.gov/sites/default/fi...une%202013.pdf)

"Certain sections of the BART system are designed for 80 mph operations, however the maximum operating speed BART currently uses today is 70 mph. It is unlikely that 80 mph operating speeds will be used again due to the increase in motor wear and propulsion failures at the higher rate. There are also higher impacts on track maintenance. In addition, the 80 mph segments tend to be short, and the higher speed benefits are limited as train speeds become inconsistent."

Local trains have almost identical timing over similar distances to BART (I think both average ~35 mph), but Caltrain offers limited and express trains which are FAR faster than anything BART would be able to do over the same distance (such as SJ to SF in just under 1 hour). It's one of the (many) reasons why I don't want BART to ever replace Caltrain on the peninsula.


On topic: For the OP, take BART from Fremont. It'll be faster, cheaper, and much more convenient than driving across the Bay/lower peninsula, parking, taking Caltrain to Milbrae, and BART to the airport (which might consist of a transfer at San Bruno, depending on time of day).

[artillery77]

Maybe you could fly out of Oakland or SJC.

[ggcd951]

i took bart it really sucks. even though it is same types of train, from fremont i had to transfer 2 times, and during each transfer + initial boarding wait time, the average wait time was as much as 15-18 minutes which is true sucker. that alone is almost 1 hour. Add that actual travel time and it was easily more than 2 hours. I havent quite realized this and allocated about bit more than 1 hr travel time, result: I almost got late for the plane. I was there barely in 1hr before instead of planned 90 minutes prior to departure, it was such a commotion. This thread is a reminder to me that i should never take BART to airport.