Unless the counting is done by independent people, I would not trust data generated by Caltrain management. Similarly, when it comes to VTA buses, they seem empty most of the time (especially on El Camino Real), but the VTA claims high ridership.

As a daily train/bike commuter between SV and SSF, I'll save them the trouble and skip right to the results: The bike cars are maxed out with bikes. Many riders are regularly left on the platform due to over crowding. Take the max allowed and use that number. Now, on to the solution!

So are you saying that here in Silicon Valley, high tech capital, the only way to count ridership on a commuter train where the commute is in both directions is by having someone on each train in both directions counting riders?

Is this really the best way to count riders?

How much will this cost?

Low tech, indeed.

They picked a pretty rainy day to run the counts, their bike numbers will be much lower than they should be.

@PA

This shouldn't cost anything to do, but I'm sure Caltrain will find a way to make it expensive. The conductors basically do nothing but babysit the doors, announce the stations, and catch the occasional fare dodger. Random ticket checkers would be just as effective. The current staff could count the entire train between every station, especially when near capacity. Take a known number of seats, subtract the empty ones and add the standing passengers. Move on to the next car. Six cars, three per conductor.

Caltrain should evaluate the volume of their train horns. We like using the train but why does the horn have to be so loud. We can certainly hear them in this neighborhood but also when we lived 2 miles away. Two miles is pretty far away. This is as annoying as the plane noise. Our city should look at more directed horns or a quiet zone like in Menlo Park.

@Nico

Elevating the tracks and letting traffic pass under would mean no more horn. It's only needed in places along the route without such grade separation.

@Nico

Safety! You do like safety don't you? Louder horns. Brighter lights. Louder sirens. Traffic lights where they are not needed. More signs. More fences. "Traffic calming" measures. Change for the sake of change. Civil servants justifying their existence by creating "improvements".

This is why the horns are so loud.

They actually moved the horns lower on the trains to quiet them a bit and had to move them back up top because they did not meet some arbitrary Federal standard about how loud they have to be.

@Greg

Behind most of these regulations is a death. Regulations are in place to prevent the same death or accident from occuring again.

@yimby

I get it. But at what point do we receive diminishing returns? Should all of society be burdened because of a handful of idiots?

“Handful of Idiots” sound like the gun store owners that continue to profit on violent. Selling guns and bullets that are used in crimes is a much worse safety hazard than train horns!