County's public transportation is excellent

Other Voices, by John Baker

(Published May 2000)

I was disappointed to read my colleague Jennifer Pearson Bonnett's comments relating her recent negative experiences with San Mateo County's public transit system (Independent, April 26). As someone who travels everywhere he can via public transportation, I can assure her that her travails were not the norm and I hope she would not base her entire opinion on a few bad encounters.

In fact, San Mateo County's two main transit systems -- SamTrans and Caltrain -- are jewels, out-shining most similar systems in California, if not the United States. I can get anyhere I need to go in the county, in a relatively convenient and certainly painless fashion.

Take my situation: I live in San Mateo; I work in Redwood City, with occasional trips to Burlingame; I have classes at both Cañada College and the College of San Mateo; I visit friends in Daly City; I transfer from visits to my fiancée in San Francisco from BART at the Colma station; I have future in-laws in Foster City; I have taken weekend trips to Half Moon Bay and studied at Stanford. In short, I traverse the length and breadth of San Mateo County, and SamTrans has been a Godsend. The buses are clean, the drivers are courteous, and -- despite Bonnett's assertion to the contrary -- the schedule works.

Unless you're traveling between about 1:30 a.m. and 4:10 a.m., depending where you are in the county, there is always a bus serving Colma BART and along El Camino Real, seven days a week. Save for extenuating circumstances, such as the seemingly ongoing installation of fiber optic lines along El Camino Real, I have rarely faced a SamTrans bus more than 10 minutes behind schedule. It happens, yes, but only infrequently. That is no small feat, and I have traveled on (yes, I counted) 23 distinct transit systems within the state of California, so I can compare.

Bonnett has a very valid point in that connections to some areas off El Camino Real are infrequent or stop service early. It was not always so: before last August, hill service was both more frequent and more convenient. But locals should be happy to know that many cities, including Belmont, where my esteemed colleague lives, are exploring shuttle services that would connect to the rest of the transportation infrastructure.

SamTrans does have one serious flaw in that it does not offer free transfers. This can be disconcerting to the casual rider, and the district should consider at least a reduced-fare transfer, such as do the Los Angeles MTA or AC Transit in the East Bay. In this system, you pay an extra 25 cents to the first bus driver, are given a receipt and can ride for free on the next bus. I'm sure having to pay twice (and perhaps again if riding on another system) dissuades many would-be bus commuters.

However, a $38 monthly SamTrans pass not only provides unlimited rides, but will pay for itself after 35 uses -- most people have at least 40 one-way commutes per month. I myself opt for the $56 per month BART Plus pass, which quite literally is honored on almost every public transit system -- save Caltrain -- in the Bay Area.

To be honest, as an infrequent Caltrain rider, I cannot directly defend the system from its detractors. I do, however, know three things about Caltrain: it's the fastest way to bring a document you left at the Independent's Redwood City office to the Burlingame office while on deadline; I can set my pocket watch based on when mid-day trains go by my apartment; and it's the best way for Peninsulans to go to a sporting event, whether its a hockey game, a horse race or a ballgame at Pac Bell Park.

I shouldn't even have to get into the substantial benefits to the environment of taking public transit. Although a bus -- or locomotive -- does emit more exhaust into the air than a typical car, there are generally many more people on a bus, resulting in a very small amount of pollution per person.

Me? I'm very happy to do my part to reduce pollution and congestion. But mostly I ride public transit because I enjoy reading on the way to or from work.

Try doing that on the 101 or 280!

John Baker is a reporter with the Redwood City Tribune and once traveled from Glendale to the Mexican border using nothing but public transit -- simply because he could. Baker can be reached via e-mail at: jbaker@smindependent.com