Scooting to Caltrain?

June 10, 2006 4:34 PM

How viable is scooting to Caltrain?

I just got an apartment in San Francisco and will be working 5 days a week in the south bay. I don't want to drive to work and am planning on taking the Caltrain instead. However, my apartment is 3 miles west of the 22nd St. Caltrain station, and I hear the Muni is extremely unreliable (especially for reaching the bullet train).

As a possible solution, is riding a scooter to the 22nd St. station and leaving it there from 8am-6pm a stupid idea? Why or why not? Is scooter theft significant in the city, and are there any methods of avoiding it?

posted by natan to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

you can bike with caltrain pretty easily. it's useful for getting to your destination, too (where abouts?).
posted by kcm at 4:39 PM on June 10, 2006

Isn't that a difficult bike ride through Potrero Hill? A physically intense 3 mile hilly ride is not really the thing I want to be doing at 7am.

My employer provides a shuttle from Caltrain to the office, so the destination is not a problem once I get on the train. In fact, I don't think there is room for a bike on the shuttle.
posted by natan at 4:47 PM on June 10, 2006

I knew someone who rode a scooter to the 22nd St station and locked it up there. I don't think he had any problems with it, but it's been a while since I've talked to the guy.

Can you get to a BART station easily? You could take BART down to Millbrae and transfer to Caltrain. Nearly all the expresses stop at Millbrae.

You could also check out Ridematch to see if anybody else is looking for a ride to/from the 22nd St station. Maybe you could work out a carpool.
posted by Quietgal at 5:13 PM on June 10, 2006

Can't speak to scooters, but in my experience, vehicle break-ins are common in the streets surrounding the 22nd St. station. I commuted from SF to Menlo Park for about a year, driving only half the time and taking CalTrain the rest. Estimate my car was broken into about 10 times during that period.
posted by donpedro at 6:24 PM on June 10, 2006

I got so I almost didn't mind, though. When I returned in the night to find someone had broken, in I'd be pissed for about 10 minutes, then go get a drink at the Mission Bar and be fine. Would-be thieves always went in through the door locks, not windows, and I replaced my locks prob. every 8 months after both driver and passenger side became unusable. I sort of viewed is as the price of living in the city. I say, buy a crappy scooter, insure it, and when something happens just take it in stride.
posted by donpedro at 6:29 PM on June 10, 2006

Friend o' mine lives in the mission and scoots everyday. She loves it and hasn't had any problems. She's a very careful driver, and she does say that a lot of the people who have scooters take unnecessary risks and wear helmets that are more for fashion than for safety. (so pay attention to scooter safety) There are a lot of car break ins at that station (a whole lot), so theft is probably a concern, but I don't know how easy it is to steal a scooter. Lots of people leave them at the station. My bf and his friend have had five break ins between them. I ride caltrain everyday and drive to the 22nd street station, and I'm waiting for my first break in.
posted by bananafish at 6:42 PM on June 10, 2006

Must suck when it's raining, but you should be OK until winter. BART to Millbrae is about 30 minutes plus however long it takes you to get to the station. As for me, I bought a really crappy car (which still got broken into, but I don't care).
posted by jewzilla at 7:01 PM on June 10, 2006

Slightly OT: I've been in Potrero Hill all week and I have to say that my experience was that the Muni there is not unreliable at all. The 19, 53 and 48 [48 goes right by Caltrain station and possibly near where you live] were all pretty on-time, but they do take a while. I have friends who live in Glen Park and take Caltrain daily, if that's anywhere near where you live, email me.
posted by jessamyn at 7:36 PM on June 10, 2006

If you do try it, you want a ratty and uncollectible 80s scooter, not a 2006 or 1956 Vespa. Give the thieves a reason to steal the next one over.
posted by mendel at 8:16 PM on June 10, 2006