A Caltrain ticket from Mountain View to San Francisco costs $6.00, while driving costs $21.55 (using the standard cost per mile that tax regulations allow businesses to deduct) plus parking. I agree that there is room to increase fares and that it is better than cutting service.

I agree with you, Martin.

I disagree with you, Martin.

At highway speeds in my not terribly efficient wagon, I can easily travel from mountain view to San Francisco for a cost of less than $9 at current gas rates. To encourage more to take transit such as Caltrain we should have a gas tax to reduce the cost of Caltrain tickets to at least half of driving. To phrase it another way, people should have to carpool to get the same cost as taking the train.

Individuals can not deduct the cost of commuting so using that amount for the driving cost is not reasonable. Also keep in mind that a vehicle is sunk cost for most commuters, so the majority of the cost is actual operating cost of the vehicle.

This increase seems small compared to the recent High-Speed Rail increase and it doesen't even exist yet.

Once in SF it costs $15 for cabs or $5 buses if you don't have a car.