March 15, 2004
Round-up and update.
This morning I used Aram's translink card to get me to work.
One of the main reasons I wanted this card was that it covered the entire public-transit segment: if I take the N-Judah to connect to Caltrain, then I can avoid the constraint of having to board at the first car when paying a cash fare. I was thwarted, however: a nice morning, so I cycled to the Caltrain terminal. Once there, I tried convincing the Translink reader that I held the smartcard, but the reader itself wasn't working. I ran across the station to use the other reader, which charged me the full fare rather than the discount 10-ride fare. On board, the conductor only smiled when he came to check tickets and I presented the card; later he explained that he saw me swiping it at the station. I had hoped that he would use the handheld validator to check the TransLink card.
Three of the five MUNI fare vending machines at the Caltrain station are still broken; it's been more than a week. One is entirely on the fritz, with a fuzzy screen; one has stickers indicating that it is out of service; a third has a blank screen. For additional inconvenience, the fourth doesn't accept bills. That leaves one (of five) fully-functional.
If only MUNI made tokens (or single-fare rides, or even round-trip/day passes) more widely available; that the vending machines sell a single type of ticket is very frustrating.
Oh yes: and Caltrain running the baby bullet? Or on weekends? Their home page still optimistically claims "Weekend train service returns in Spring 2004", but the agency now internally plans to launch in June. Possibly. Signal installation has delayed the service.