Trains gaining as sensible alternative to cars Californians, fed up with congestion and gas prices, leave cars behind - and train ridership is booming

Passengers getting off the Capitol Corridor in Sacramento, Calif., on Thursday, May 29, 2008. The Chronicle Passengers getting off the Capitol Corridor in Sacramento, Calif., on Thursday, May 29, 2008. The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Trains gaining as sensible alternative to cars 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

The car may still be king in California, but with drivers tiring of traffic congestion and feeling the pinch of high gas prices, the train is quickly gaining popularity.

Ridership is booming on three intrastate Amtrak lines that are primarily managed and paid for by the state: the Capitol Corridor from the Bay Area to Sacramento and Auburn, the San Joaquin from Oakland to Bakersfield, and the Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to San Luis Obispo.

"In the last three months, we've seen a phenomenal increase in all three corridors," said Bill Bronte, chief of Caltrans' division of rail. "Particularly on the San Joaquin and Capitol Corridor."

For the first seven months of this budget year, which ends in September, ridership is up 13.6 percent on the Capitol Corridor, 11.1 percent on the San Joaquin and 4.7 percent on the Pacific Surfliner compared with last year. The Surfliner, the state's busiest train, carried 2.7 million passengers in the 2007 budget year, while the Capitol Corridor hauled 1.45 million and the San Joaquin carried 805,000.

While some of the trains still offer passengers plenty of room to stretch out, all of the routes carry standing-room-only crowds at times. The Surfliner often carries crowds of as many as 100 standees on weekends. Eastbound weekday evening trains on the Capitol Corridor line are getting increasingly crowded, and the San Joaquin trains are often full on Fridays and Sundays.

"You used to find some empty cars on weekends," said Vernae Graham, an Amtrak spokeswoman. "But those days are long gone."

Trains have seen year-over-year increases exceeding 9 percent for each of the past 18 months. Eugene Skoropowski, who manages the Capitol Corridor service, says the boom in ridership can be credited to an increased frequency of service as much as to rising gas prices and a desire to escape the tyranny of traffic.

In the past nine years, the Capitol Corridor has increased the number of trains running in each direction on weekdays from six to 16, with four additional trains each way in the past four years. That makes it a more viable option for commuters, tourists and other travelers, he said.

"The service is available when people want to travel," Skoropowski said, "and people have discovered that they have a travel choice now. Before, there really wasn't a choice."

Riders' perspective

Aboard Capitol Corridor trains between Oakland and Sacramento on Thursday evening, a pair of fashion students, a couple of Oakland A's fans, a UC Davis professor, a Silicon Valley financial analyst and a teen traveler agreed that the train saved them money and stress while allowing them to work, sleep or relax.

"It's too expensive to drive," said Vanessa Munoz, 23, who lives in Woodland (Yolo County) and takes the train twice a week from Davis to San Francisco, where she studies at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. "And it helps save the environment. It's a better way of commuting - especially if you're a starving student."

Sitting at a table with fellow fashion student Ximema Davalos, 20, of Sacramento, working on sketches, Munoz said she wished the fares were a little lower, or that a student discount were offered. She buys 10-ride tickets, which bring the price to about $13 each way.

Zac Zacarias, 40, works for Cisco Systems as a financial analyst from his home in El Dorado Hills, near Sacramento, most days. But about twice a week he commutes to Santa Clara for meetings and to show his face. Riding the train not only spares him the frustrations of a long drive through some of the Bay Area's worst chokepoints, it allows him to get some work done.

While on his way home Thursday, Zacarias sat at a table in front of his laptop computer, pecking away and waiting to call in and join a conference call.

"I have a Prius, but I would rather just sit on the train and work - or sleep," he said. "It just depends on what's important to you - time to work, time to sleep or being able to leave when you want."

The frustration for Zacarias is that the trains, which often have to yield to freight trains and occasionally have to stop when there's something on the tracks, are sometimes late - usually, he said, on the trip home.

"The biggest problem is being late," he said, "because everyone wants to get home. Three hours on the train is enough."

On Thursday, the train was running about 25 minutes behind schedule when it departed the Fairfield/Suisun station. But it pulled into Sacramento just 10 minutes late.

Jeff Magnin, a Berkeley resident, teaches writing at UC Davis. He gave up driving to campus a few months ago and decided to try the train. On Thursday, as the sun gleamed off San Pablo Bay, he leaned back in his seat and looked out the window.

"It's so pleasurable," he said. "Look at this view. Look at this sun."

Expanding service

But the growing popularity of the trains is driving the need for more railcars - and perhaps more routes. Proposition 1B, the $20 billion transportation bond measure voters approved in November 2006, set aside $400 million for intercity rail improvements, including $150 million for cars and locomotives. But the measure required the state Department of Finance to determine when new cars are needed, then release the money.

Rail officials say the time is now, especially because it takes three to five years to get new railcars built and delivered. Bronte said this year's state budget is likely to allow Caltrans to decide for itself when new trains are needed. He's hoping to order 36 cars and six locomotives - enough for six more trains.

"If this growth continues and people continue looking at intercity rail as viable, we don't want to discourage them by having the trains look, at times, like the (notoriously overcrowded) India national railroad," he said.

Rail officials expect the trains' popularity to continue. Bronte said they've started studies on the possibility of running trains down the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco with early-morning departures in each city. And there's interest in running trains north of Sacramento, perhaps as far as Redding.

"We've been hypnotized to believe that we can't live without our cars," said Skoropowski, "and in some ways we can't. But even here in the car capital of the world, there are people who don't want to make that long, mundane drive in their car."