Gilroy resident George Munoz notices how the Gilroy Caltrain
station has become more packed with commuters in the morning, that
more residents these days are carpooling or riding their bikes to
catch a ride there.
NATALIA GALBETTI – SPECIAL TO THE FREE LANCE
Gilroy resident George Munoz notices how the Gilroy Caltrain station has become more packed with commuters in the morning, that more residents these days are carpooling or riding their bikes to catch a ride there.
Munoz is a commuter and rides the bus from the station each day.
“I’ve noticed a big change,” he said Wednesday evening as he got in his car parked for the day at the Gilroy Caltrain station.
Munoz is not the only one seeing these changes.
As gas prices have been rising steadily for the past weeks, many commuters in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley have left their cars parked and are resorting to public transportation.
Now that buses and trains face increased ridership and struggle with rising fuel costs themselves, however, commuting to work might get even tougher soon with no planned increases to fares for public transportation. Route expansions, meanwhile, aren’t under consideration regionally.
“It’s crowded,” said E. Jungh, a commuter from Gilroy who takes Caltrain to her job in Palo Alto daily. “Some people are standing. I’ve never seen this before.”
The number of commuters on buses and trains in San Benito and Santa Clara counties has increased considerably over the past year with up to 9.3 percent more people taking public transportation to work, according to transportation authorities’ annual passenger count reports.
So far, however, no plans are in store for an extension on the number of northbound and southbound trips offered between San Jose and Gilroy – a change that could give commuters more options and space when coming and going to work.
With increasingly tight budgets because of the rising prices of fuel, transit authorities have invested in replacing old buses, leaving no funds for route expansions.
“We have no room for expansions right now,” said Lisa Rheinheimer, executive director for the Council of San Benito County Governments, which runs the County Express bus system. “We’re focusing on replacing aging vehicles to provide better service for our customers.”
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and Caltrain also reported not to have plans for expansions in service even though their buses and trains run on a limited schedules from Gilroy.
Currently, only one VTA bus runs from Gilroy to San Jose throughout the day while two others offer six trips in the early morning and early afternoon during rush hour.
Caltrain offers three trips each way – leaving from and arriving at the Gilroy station – also during rush hour. Still, a limited range of options hasn’t stopped many commuters who save money by keeping their cars parked.
“Nowadays, I do it because of gas prices,” said Jungh. “And you can save time, sleep, read.”
According to the VTA Web site, which offers a comparison of costs between taking the bus and driving, residents can save approximately $15 by taking the bus on each trip to San Jose.
That difference might get smaller for Hollister residents since County Express expects a fare increase in the near future.
“We need to fill up our buses, too,” Rheinheimer said. “We’re doing fare restructuring so we get the revenue we need to continue operating.”
According to Rheinheimer, the county’s annual transit budget will face an increase of $5,000 for oil and gas expenditures alone. The VTA also reported an increase of about $1.50 per gallon over last year’s budget.
While the VTA does not expect to increase fares, Caltrain is considering an increase to ticket costs. That’s expected despite Gilroy experiencing a decrease in commuters taking the train ever since the Highway 101 widening and a decline to the dot-com industry.
“Gilroy is an anomaly,” explained Christine Dunn, Caltrain’s public information officer. “We’ve seen dramatic increases at every other station.”
