Without a Car in the Suburbs

Arriving at San Jose International Airport on a flight from New York City, I challenged myself to rely on public transit to get around during my three day trip to the San Mateo County coast of California. As a born and bred San Franciscan who is a frequent flier, it is somewhat surprising that I’d never used this airport serving the Silicon Valley, 50 miles south of San Francisco.

CalTrain – Heavy Rail Suburban Transit

Stretched across those 50 miles of the San Francisco peninsula is an unbroken line of suburbs including Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo, and Millbrae, the latter of which has a transit center and large mixed-use development near San Francisco International Airport. To traverse the peninsula, as it is referred to in the region, one can take Caltrain, a popular and recently electrified heavy rail line. Caltrain operates a fleet of double-decker trains which on weekends runs only once per hour.

The weekday schedule is adequately robust and includes a few express trains during the morning and evening commutes. Traveling from San Francisco all the way to San Jose? One wouldn’t want to miss the express train, called Baby Bullet, as the local train is a tiresome, 22-stop slog lasting an hour and a half. Add more time for “last-mile” connections at the beginning and end points of the run (walking, biking, taking a bus) and double it for round-trips and you’re looking at seriously formidable blocks of time spent just getting to and from your destination.Therefore, it is no exaggeration in referring to such lengthy, soul-sucking trips as “journeys”.

When the federal government prioritizes public and active transportation the way it has its massive highway system since the 1950s, car-dependency in American society will wane.

Transit Connectivity in San Mateo County

Transit connectivity refers to how all of the public transportation modes in a region fit together to serve the riding public. Connectivity concerns all the aspects of a single trip such as the ease of connections (how long the walk is), the frequency and reliability of those connections, the condition of stations and vehicles, whether a service is local or express, and methods of payment.

One thing that is glaringly apparent about the San Francisco Bay Area is the unwieldy number of transit lines that are operated by different authorities with often competitive goals. This situation is manifested by suboptimal frequency and service reliability across a plurality of local systems, leading to a lack of seamless transfers and egregious journey times for non-drivers. 40% of Americans don’t drive, meaning that transit deficiencies as described here affect millions of people by effectively isolating them from full societal participation.

SamTrans – Commuter and Local Bus Routes

SamTrans is San Mateo County’s public bus system and covers a large portion of the peninsula all the way from downtown San Francisco south to Palo Alto, a distance of 36 miles. During my short stay in San Mateo County, population 725,000, I took Sam Trans buses twice and each of those two trips could have been much faster with fewer stops and reduced transfer times. One day, for example, my 24-mile trip from Redwood City to Montara required three buses. Door to door, including walk and wait times, this trip took an unruly three and a quarter hours! Had I driven, it would have taken just 40 minutes. Stories like this illustrate the reality of life in America and demonstrate why the United States is a car-dependent nation like no other in the developed world.

Life Without a Car on the San Francisco Peninsula

Living without a car is mind-blowingly tough in the San Mateo county suburbs of San Francisco, at least if a person must commute everyday using multiple modes of transit. Most bus stops don’t have posted schedule times (some have schedule frequency but not arrival times) so one never knows when, or even if, a bus will turn up. Riders are further shamed by the lack of shelter at many bus stops, which force them to stand out in the elements beside fast moving streams of traffic. There are other issues like the no-free transfer policy and a lack of schedule coordination – buses connecting with others requiring long, intermediate wait times.

This is all a direct and sad result of the policy of the U.S. government over the past 70 years to prioritize cars at the expense of a smart mix of modes allowing people to live in cities and towns with options to walk, bike, drive, or take public transit. In the early 1900’s, most cities had streetcar lines and many bicycle riders, as well as complete, walkable streets. Without giving up its love-affair with cars, America could again be a country of walkable places and high-quality transit.