Please be advised that the Menlo Park City Council will not be
considering the below referenced item until its Regular meeting, which
commences at 7 p.m.-not at 5:45. The only business between 5:45 and 7
p.m. will be Council interviews of applicants for appointment to the
Menlo Park Planning Commission. Bill McClure, City Attorney

________________________________

From: Martin Engel [mailto:martinengel@earthlink.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 1:24 PM
To: city.council@menlopark.org
Cc: "Neighbors For Quiet Zones (N.F.Q.Z.)"
Subject: Fwd: Menlo Park City Council to discuss CalTrain service
Importance: Low

        Status: U
        From: RicSilver@aol.com
        Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 14:27:58 EDT
        Subject: Menlo Park City Council to discuss CalTrain service

        To: RicSilver@aol.com

        RailPAC Alert: Local City Councils want to tamper with Caltrain
Service

        Tuesday afternoon at the Menlo Park Special City Council meeting
(Menlo Park City Hall 701 Laurel St) at 5:45pm, the Council will
consider a resolution "Supporting Expansion of and Safety Enhancements
to Transit Service
<http://www.belmont.gov/doc_center.asp?d_id=240003129> " Other city
council may soon be asked to consider this same resolution.

        RailPAC finds it interesting that the City Council, which
normally meets at 7pm includes this issue on a special, unscheduled
meeting for 5:45pm. 5:45pm is a time not convient to the majority of
Caltrain riders from Menlo Park.

        A small group of councilmember from San Mateo County. are
promoting a resolution titled

         "Supporting Expansion of and Safety Enhancements to Transit
Service <http://www.belmont.gov/doc_center.asp?d_id=240003129> " That
could seriously damange Caltrain service along the entire line in all 3
Caltrain counties

        While we all support the expansion of and safety enhancements to
transit service, the real purpose and intentions of the sponsors of the
resolution is different from the title.

        In fact this is a fraud. It is an attempt by a group of
disgruntled city councilmembers, (from some cities that don't even have
Caltrain service like Daly City and Pacifica) and led by Atherton and
Burlingame who are upset only because the Broadway and Atherton Stations
were closed because of lack of ridership.

        Now, in an attempt to hopefully get those station reopened, they
are asking for a full restudy of the Caltrain schedule and operating
system.

        Let me be clear, RailPAC was opposed to the Closing of the
Atherton station, but considering Atherton's original response to
Caltrain's plan to rebuild the station to maintain service it was
inevitable that the station would have to close.

        But in any case, once a decision has been made, AND PROVEN TO BE
VERY SUCCESSFUL, as is the case with the addition of the Bay Bullets and
additions and changes to Calitrain schedule, we shouldn't be
micromanaging what the Caltrain staff and Board are doing.

        Please let your local officials now that you are opposed to any
political tampering with the current Caltrain Schedule especially
changes that would reduce or eliminate the highly successful Baby
Bullets express trains.

        We don't need Caltrain to spend $250,000 on a study to answer
questions that the Caltrain staff has answered or could answer given the
chance.

        IRidership is way up, (over 33%) service is being expanded. IT
AIN'T BROKE!!! IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE FIXED!!!

        If you have any questions or comment, please give me at call at
415-370-7479. If you can help also, please let me know by return
e-mail.

        Thank You,
        Richard L. Silver, Executive Director
        Rail Passenger Association of California
        916-833-4218
        http://www.railpac.org/ <http://www.railpac.org/>

        Published Friday, March 16, 2007, by the various peninsula
editions of the Daily News
        
        Editorial
        
        Don't derail Caltrain's new service

        Schedule can be tweaked but avoid drastic changes
        
        An ad hoc group of some city council members in the region, the
        Coalition to Expand Transit Service, is asking Caltrain to
revisit
        its schedule in hopes of boosting service for certain cities.
But,
        the system's steadily growing ridership suggests things may be
just
        fine as they are.
        
        The decision to add the express Baby Bullet runs in 2004 came at
the
        expense of local service, which meant ending weekday stops in
the
        Atherton and Burlingame Broadway stations -- among the
least-used on
        the line -- and making fewer stops at other stations.
        
        Even during the debate over service, however, riders have
flocked to
        Caltrain. In January, average weekday ridership rose by 7.3
percent
        compared with that time a year ago. Year-to-year ridership is up
        about 31 percent since the pre-Baby Bullet ridership of 2003,
Caltrain reported.
        
        "Our goal is to have as many people riding as possible," said
        Caltrain spokesman Jonah Weinberg.
        
        The Caltrain board will review station-by-station ridership
numbers
        in April, Weinberg said, and it will be up to the board to
decide
        whether to have an outside firm review the schedule, as the
coalition suggests.
        
        Fine-tuning the schedule might bring improvements, but making
drastic
        changes could be a zero-sum game. Adding a stop in one city may
        require nixing another city's stop. Adjustments that add time to
the
        schedule will not appeal to the new commuters attracted by the
        express runs.
        
        Caltrain works best as a regional service, shuttling more than
30,000
        people up and down the line on weekdays. The Peninsula already
has
        extensive bus service for multistop transit throughout its
cities, so
        there is no need to replicate that.
        
        Many riders using Caltrain are driving to the stations anyway,
        Weinberg noted. It's just a matter of which station to drive to.
The
        Atherton station is less than a mile from the Menlo Park station
and
        Burlingame still has one station under the current schedule.
        
        Having fewer train stops is a worthwhile trade-off for the
improved
        regional service commuters enjoy. Any changes that the coalition
        wants should be balanced against the need to keep the new riders
coming back.

        
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