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Well.. grabbing the light rail in the Bay Area and changing at Santa Clara around 9pm was an eye opening experience. Let’s just say an old man snapping at my ge

Well.. grabbing the light rail in the Bay Area and changing at Santa Clara around 9pm was an eye opening experience. Let’s just say an old man snapping at my geeky reading would’ve been the least of my concerns. I had one guy pushing a cart trying to sell me drugs, a bunch of school kids leering at everyone and making a nuisance of themselves and just a general feeling that everyone with any sort of reasonable level of income was not using public transit. I’m from London, where you’ll be on the tube train with everyone from cleaners to financiers. It’s pretty democratic. Not so in San Jose at all. Very depressing in fact.

octorian 8y ago
Which train was this? There are two major train systems going through the area. There's Caltrain, which will be full of professionals if you ride it close to working hours. Then there's VTA Light Rail, which is effectively "the bus on rails." Later in the evening it will be full of the type you describe.
- leonroy 8y ago
  Edited my post too late - it was light rail from Gish maybe to Ohlone/Chynoweth. Had to change at Santa Clara.
  - ummonk 8y ago
    Yeah that's VTA. Not really used by professionals.
    - leonroy 8y ago
      But why isn’t it used by professionals? It seemed clean enough, punctual and conveniently located as well as being reasonably priced. Is there an alternative (besides owning a car) that I’m missing for travelling around the conurbation of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose et al.
      - ummonk 8y ago
        There isn't an issue with VTA itself (aside from maybe the expectation that it companies would move their offices to locations accessed by VTA rather than vice versa). The South Bay is just really suburban and car-friendly, and the VTA was a failure as a result because most people in the South Bay are happy travelling by car don't need to use the VTA. In contrast, Caltrain is used to travel to SF, which isn't car friendly, so a lot more professionals use it.
- Symbiote 8y ago
  > "the bus on rails" See, that's the difference with much of Europe, including London. Those financiers probably don't use the bus that often, as they have a home just a couple of minutes walk from the station. But they won't have a prejudice against using the bus.

octorian 8y ago

Which train was this? There are two major train systems going through the area. There's Caltrain, which will be full of professionals if you ride it close to working hours. Then there's VTA Light Rail, which is effectively "the bus on rails." Later in the evening it will be full of the type you describe.

leonroy 8y ago
Edited my post too late - it was light rail from Gish maybe to Ohlone/Chynoweth. Had to change at Santa Clara.
- ummonk 8y ago
  Yeah that's VTA. Not really used by professionals.
  - leonroy 8y ago
    But why isn’t it used by professionals? It seemed clean enough, punctual and conveniently located as well as being reasonably priced. Is there an alternative (besides owning a car) that I’m missing for travelling around the conurbation of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose et al.
    - ummonk 8y ago
      There isn't an issue with VTA itself (aside from maybe the expectation that it companies would move their offices to locations accessed by VTA rather than vice versa). The South Bay is just really suburban and car-friendly, and the VTA was a failure as a result because most people in the South Bay are happy travelling by car don't need to use the VTA. In contrast, Caltrain is used to travel to SF, which isn't car friendly, so a lot more professionals use it.
Symbiote 8y ago
> "the bus on rails" See, that's the difference with much of Europe, including London. Those financiers probably don't use the bus that often, as they have a home just a couple of minutes walk from the station. But they won't have a prejudice against using the bus.