Regional progress needed to implement Caltrain's equity and connectivity policies

At its September board meeting, the Caltrain board passed an unprecedented set of equity and connectivity policies with goals to diversify Caltrain’s ridership..  

Pre-Covid, about 30% of Caltrain’s riders were low-income but ridership was on the whole whiter and wealthier than residents in surrounding communities.

During Covid, the share of low-income riders has increased, as Caltrain transports low and middle income health and medical science workers, government workers, and other essential workers. Going forward, Caltrain’s equity policies will help maintain a more economically diverse rider base.

Recently, the Caltrain board increased the discount level it provides in the Clipper Start regional means-based fare program from 20% to 50%, providing more relief for low-income customers making less than 2x the federal poverty level (about $50,000 for a family of four).

But strategies to improve equitable access go beyond discount Caltrain fares. Connectivity, it turns out, is a big part of the picture.   

Caltrain’s studies show that low income people are much more likely to take buses and trains to the Caltrain station. So expanding local transit access is another important policy and strategy to improve equity.

Caltrain’s fare policy has built-in inequities for transfers; discounts on local transit are given for people who can afford monthly Caltrain passes, but no discount is provided for bus users to take the train.

Caltrain's assessment acknowledges that "improved fare coordination could make transfers more seamless & convenient for all riders and could help Caltrain provide more equitable access for low-and-middle-income riders who are more likely to connect via transit.” 

Interestingly, the need for better connections is also shown in recent research for Reimagine SamTrans, where nearly half of SamTrans trips involved connections, and most of these connections are to other bus and rail services.   The quantitative and qualitative research by SamTrans showed that improved connections to regional rail (BART and Caltrain) are top priorities for SamTrans customers.

Improving schedule coordination would also help. Today, Caltrain's customized schedule is hard for local transit to connect to, but "shifting to standardized schedules with electrification will help Caltrain better coordinate transit connections."

Regional support needed

Caltrain’s new equity and connectivity policies represent a major step away from the traditional model of “commuter rail” - a service optimized for white collar commuters - and toward the international model of “regional rail” - serving many more kinds of trips, and a more diverse customer base, with service in more hours of the day and better connections to other transit. 

However, Caltrain cannot make these changes on its own. Fortunately, there are initiatives at the regional level - including the Regional Fare Integration Study and the Blue Ribbon Transit Recovery Task Force - that have the potential to advance service coordination and integration across agency boundaries.  Caltrain’s equity and connectivity policies mention active engagement in regional processes to achieve these goals - an acknowledgement that achieving these goals will require cooperation across multiple transit bodies and agencies across the Bay Area.

In the coming year, the Caltrain board will be reviewing its governance structure. Given the equity and connectivity policies, the regional governance changes to enable service coordination should be a high priority for Caltrain.