GILROYLocal transportation and elected officials gathered early Monday morning at the Gilroy Transit Center to celebrate the expansion from three to four weekday trains from San Jose to Gilroy. The expansion represents a shift to better transit access for residents of South Santa Clara County, officials said – the realization of a years-long effort to improve service for local commuters.
“While we’re not yet where we’d like to be, this fourth train is a significant, long-awaited step for our residents and others to better connect with the job growth of the wider Bay Area,” said Gilroy Mayor Marie Blankley at the event, noting that while Gilroy’s population has increased, its job growth has stagnated.
“Caltrain is a real lifeline to South County families that commute north for work, and adding a fourth train will make a world of difference,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas in a written statement. “Four trains means more time at home for parents to spend time with their kids after work, it means more options to avoid stressful driving on clogged highways, and it opens up new job opportunities with different start times.”
Besides Blankley and Arenas, the event was also attended by Morgan Hill Mayor Mark Turner and Supervisor Cindy Chavez, as well as several representatives from Caltrain and Valley Transportation Authority, which administers public transportation throughout Santa Clara County. After the event, officials boarded the very first train on the expanded service schedule, riding from Gilroy to Morgan Hill.
Before 2004, Caltrain riders south of San Jose enjoyed four trains traveling north and back every weekday morning. But as ridership declined, service was cut to three trains – and briefly to two at the height of the CoVID-19 pandemic.
With the current expansion, the train service returns to its previous heights for riders south of San Jose’s Tamien Station. “Getting up to four trains at this point is sort of a historic thing for Caltrain, and we hope we can only go beyond four to five at some point in the future,” said Michelle Bouchard, Executive Director of Caltrain.
The move comes after years of advocacy for expanded transit in southern Santa Clara County by local residents and officials. “[Former Morgan Hill mayor Rich Constantine and Mayor Blankley] just did such a good job of never, ever letting this be on the back burner,” said Chavez, who also serves as a Caltrain board member representing the Valley Transportation Authority, at the event. “Because we can’t have South County on the back burner. It’s got to be just like every other part of the county.”
Until recently, calls to improve public transportation in the region had been met with concerns that there would not be enough ridership to merit the expansion. However several shifts in the last few years led to an increase in demand and available funds. When ridership went down during the CoVID-19 pandemic, Caltrain began to downsize trains, which saved money on maintenance and operations costs. This freed up space for a reshuffling of service.
At the same time, many workers with remote and hybrid options wanted to move to more affordable areas such as Gilroy, which saw a population jump of more than 5% over the last two years.
Additional funds will be provided by measure B, a tax measure meant to fund public transit and transportation infrastructure, which will provide nearly $1 million over the next two years to fund the increase in service.
While many officials lauded the expansion as a milestone, some also see it as a prelude for service to Salinas and Monterey. “I look forward to expanding Caltrain service even further south beyond Gilroy,” said Jeff Gee, member of the Caltrain board of directors. “This is just the beginning.”
The updated Caltrain schedule can be found at caltrain.com/schedules/pdfs.