I want to Spare the Air! But I don’t want to get stuck on Caltrain
January 8, 2010 12:35 PM Subscribe
Where can I get data on Caltrain delays, to help me avoid them?
I commute to San Francisco to San Jose a couple of days a week and I wonder if I can reduce my chances of getting stuck in Caltrain’s horrible delays by picking days / times with fewer delays.
I have the option of driving, but if I can figure out the “good” times to go by train, I’d rather keep the car at home. I also have the option of taking an early train home, but in general it’s better if I spend a full day at the office.
The really bad delays are the suicides and a bomb scare. I’ve seen three of those in the past three months, and they resulted in the train being stuck for hours and hours on end.
My guess is that these happen more on some days than on others (Fridays? Mondays?), and some times more than others (peak rush hour?). What I’m hoping for is something like TSA flight delay data, but the Caltrain website has basically zero info.
Is there any data on the time/days of Caltrain delays?
Or any other suggestions for deciding when to drive vs. take the train?
I commute to San Francisco to San Jose a couple of days a week and I wonder if I can reduce my chances of getting stuck in Caltrain’s horrible delays by picking days / times with fewer delays.
I have the option of driving, but if I can figure out the “good” times to go by train, I’d rather keep the car at home. I also have the option of taking an early train home, but in general it’s better if I spend a full day at the office.
The really bad delays are the suicides and a bomb scare. I’ve seen three of those in the past three months, and they resulted in the train being stuck for hours and hours on end.
My guess is that these happen more on some days than on others (Fridays? Mondays?), and some times more than others (peak rush hour?). What I’m hoping for is something like TSA flight delay data, but the Caltrain website has basically zero info.
Is there any data on the time/days of Caltrain delays?
Or any other suggestions for deciding when to drive vs. take the train?
Best answer: Apparently there's a Caltrain Twitter, which provides delay updates from riders.
http://twitter.com/CALTRAIN
posted by elsietheeel at 12:39 PM on January 8, 2010
http://twitter.com/CALTRAIN
posted by elsietheeel at 12:39 PM on January 8, 2010
Response by poster: Ooh! The Twitter feed looks useful -- not for real-time use in my case, because I'll either have my car in San Jose or not, and there isn't really another way to get home if I don't, but I guess I could go through it hunting for the major delays and build a historical, TSA-style dataset.
But any chance someone has done this already?
posted by CruiseSavvy at 12:43 PM on January 8, 2010
But any chance someone has done this already?
posted by CruiseSavvy at 12:43 PM on January 8, 2010
Best answer: All of these responses are close to an answer, but the best one, I think, is a step beyond them: use a Twitter client that allows you to save a Twitter search for the word "caltrain." When you're about to hit the train, first hit that saved search. You will find that when there are delays, dozens of people will have tweet about it, often saying things like, "been waiting at the San Mateo station for 45 minutes." It works very well.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:30 AM on January 9, 2010
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:30 AM on January 9, 2010
Reposting after yesterday's data loss:
"We don't know the answer to that question," said Christine Dunn, a Caltrain spokeswoman. "We've gone back and looked at the data to see if we could identify a pattern — a location perhaps, or a time of day, or the demographics. There just isn't a pattern. If you can't identify a pattern, it makes it much more difficult to prevent."
If CalTrain can't find a pattern to suicides, you're not going to be able to find a pattern to avoid the delays, either.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:52 PM on January 9, 2010
"We don't know the answer to that question," said Christine Dunn, a Caltrain spokeswoman. "We've gone back and looked at the data to see if we could identify a pattern — a location perhaps, or a time of day, or the demographics. There just isn't a pattern. If you can't identify a pattern, it makes it much more difficult to prevent."
If CalTrain can't find a pattern to suicides, you're not going to be able to find a pattern to avoid the delays, either.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:52 PM on January 9, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
There are no current real-time Caltrain alerts.
posted by GuyZero at 12:39 PM on January 8, 2010