From: pmontgom@math.orst.edu (Peter Montgomery)
Subject: Re: SP Coast Line (San Jose-LA) may be sold
Organization: Oregon State University Math Department
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 03:14:36 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.194221.5300@Veritas.COM> joshua@Veritas.COM
(Joshua Levy) writes:
>adrian@ntmtv.UUCP (Adrian Brandt) writes:

>>The speed and design of the trains is undetermined.  But it is likely the
>>first trains added to the line would be similar in speed to Amtrak's Coast
>>Starlight, which takes about 12 hours to run between Oakland and Los
>>Angeles and is the only passenger train currently on the line.

>Government subsidies at their worst.
>Is there any demand at all for a 10 hour trip between LA and SJ?
>This compares to 2 hours or less by plane and 8 hours or less by car.
>(Plane and train times station to station; car time is door to door.)

        The real demand is for trips not necessarily to points
near airports but all along the coast.
For example, I have often attended conferences in Asilomar (near Monterey,
40 miles south of San Jose), after which I want to visit my
family in San Rafael (Marin County, 20 miles north of San Francisco).

        Sometimes I am fortunate enough to have another conference attendant
deliver me from Monterey to San Francisco airport, after which the
Marin Airporter (which runs every 30 minutes) gets me home.  Other times
I have gotten connections to BART, Caltrain, or to San Jose Greyhound,
but it has been cumbersome hauling my luggage through downtown
San Francisco from these stops to Golden Gate Transit stops
(GGT serves Marin County).  Amtrak serves Salinas (near Monterey)
only once a day, at a time not convenient to my travels.
When I last investigated, Greyhound traveled from Monterey
to San Francisco about four times a day, sometimes requiring
a transfer in San Jose.

        When a 1991 conference ended at 15:35 near Bonn, Germany,
I was able to claim my luggage at the hotel,
walk to a local subway stop, catch a train downtown,
and transfer to a Frankfurt-bound train which left at 16:10.
I arrived comfortably in Frankfurt around 18:00, stayed at a hotel,
and caught a 5:40 am subway train to Frankfurt airport
the next morning for my 7 am flight home.  All very convenient.
I had only about three minutes to spare before the 16:10
Bonn-Frankfurt train, but another such train left the next hour.

        There should be hourly rail 24 hours a day from San Diego to Seattle
(or Tijuana to Vancouver) along the coast, with no reservation required.
If my Monterey conference ends at 11 am and I get to the station at 11:45,
they I won't need to wait past 12:45 pm for a northbound train; I will then
get to Richmond or San Rafael around 3 pm (or get to San Francisco Airport
around 2:30 pm, where I can transfer to the Marin Airporter).
Hourly service ensures that if the conference instead ends
at noon, I will still get to San Rafael before dinner,
without worrying about catching a connection.

>Planes already make the bay area to LA trip more than once an hour
>(likely more than twice an hour)!  They take 1/5 or 1/6 the time.
>The fares would likely be within $50 of each other.  What are they
>going to call the train, the "unemployed express"?  Maybe the "no
>money, but lots of time, startlight"?  Jeeze.

        Planes serve only those individuals whose journeys
both start and stop in big cities.  Furthermore,
airlines require reservations.  Often I don't know my
precise itinerary.  For example, I moved from Los Angeles to Oregon
in June and didn't know in advance precisely which day the movers
would be packing my goods (but wanted to leave ASAP afterwards,
so I would locate new housing before my goods arrived).
I chose Greyhound, which did not require a reservation but got me
to Oregon in 23 hours.

        In April I did fly from Los Angeles to San Jose for a
job fair, but there were no return flights (or trains) SJ to LA
leaving around 10 pm; in practice I stayed with a friend that night
and flew home the next day.  Requiring me to stay an extra
night waiting for the next flight hardly saves me time!
-- 
        Peter L. Montgomery              Internet: pmontgom@math.orst.edu
        Dept. of Mathematics, Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR 97331-4605 USA
``Who do you trust?''  Those whom I trust know English spelling and grammar.
Our economy needs more business, not more Bushiness.