Outside Lands attendees hoping to take Caltrain to the festival this weekend are out of luck as the public transit agency is suspending service from Millbrae to San Francisco as it works to meet its fall 2024 goal of electrification.
The San Francisco festival, which is having its 15th anniversary this year in Golden Gate Park, runs from Aug. 11 through 13 and boasts headliners like Kendrick Lamar, the Foo Fighters, Odesza, Zedd and Lana Del Rey.
While Caltrain has encouraged festivalgoers in the South Bay and along the Peninsula year after year to ride the rail at least part of the way — Muni will get you the rest of the way — this year will be different.
On Tuesday, Caltrain announced it would be suspending service from Millbrae to San Francisco on the weekends of August 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27, marking the 17th, 18th and 19th weekend of the year where service will be impacted for construction and testing of the train’s upcoming electrification.
Caltrain spokesperson Dan Lieberman said that while they did consider Outside Lands during the planning process, they ultimately had to make a decision based on how construction is progressing.
“As there are many events going along the Caltrain corridor, there really is no ideal weekend to close things down,” he said.
Caltrain will be offering a bus bridge service from the Millbrae station to San Francisco during the closures. Riders can also transfer from Caltrain at Millbrae to BART, which has several San Francisco stops within several miles of the festival grounds.