p&sr
OBS Chief
This is the final one-day trip my wife and I did during March of this year.
Starting early in the Morning, we arrived in Fremont at daybreak. We drove up Niles Canyon (to review the route of the ACE Train we had just taken earlier that week) to Sunol, then onto the Freeway, exiting at Mission to drive past the actual Mission San Jose (which is located in Fremont), then stopping for Breakfast in the Warm Springs area.
After breakfast, we drove to Milpitas and parked at the "Great Mall" there (a former automobile factory). The Valley Light-Rail has an elevated station there, so we bought our Day Pass and caught the next train to Alum Rock (an eastern suburb of San Jose), with excellent views of Mt. Hamilton and the near-by hills. We took the same train in the other direction, through the Silicon Valley business parks, through Downtown San Jose, past the Convention Center (where Bill Clinton was trying to cheer up a huge gathering of California Democrats), then along freeways to the end of the line at Santa Teresa (on the southern outskirts of town).
On the way back, we stopped at the Ohlone Transfer Station to take the spur line to Almaden (only two stops) and back, then the main line again back to the Convention Center. Then we transferred to the Winchester line which runs along an existing RailRoad right-of-way SouthWest to the town of Campbell. Returning from there, we exited at the San Jose Amtrak Station just in time to watch the departure of the Noon ACE Train. We had lunch at the snack bar in the station, watching several other trains coming and going... CalTrains to San Francisco, and Amtrak Corridor Trains to Sacramento.
After lunch, we rode the Light-Rail to Mountain View, and walked around the historic depot there (now used for the CalTrain), and back past Moffett Field (with its huge hangers for Dirigibles) and the northern parts of San Jose, to the Transfer Station at Tasman. We then returned to Great Mall in Milpitas, completing our first tour of the San Jose Light-Rail System.
To round out the day, we drove to Alviso, a tiny old community in the marshes north of San Jose. The town is below high-tide level for the Bay, and is protected by levees. The UP Mainline (including Amtrak and ACE Trains) goes right through the town, following levees across the salt flats Northeast to Newark. There are some parks and walkways that let you walk out onto the marshes, both in the heart of town, and at a new Visitors Center for a Wildlife Refuge just east of Alviso. From each walk, we saw Amtrak or ACE Trains passing through town and crossing the marshes.
Then we drove north on Highway 101 to Millbrae and parked at the BART Station there. We purchased tickets to the San Francisco Airport. This used to be just one station up the line, but now involves going north to San Bruno and transferring to the appropriate Southbound train to get to the Airport. We took the Scenic Route there by staying on board, through San Francisco and under the Bay, then South through Oakland and East over the coastal hills to Dublin/Pleasanton. The final part of this run is very rural (except for the fact it is in the center of a Freeway), and is the longest distance between stations anywhere on the BART System. The next train back (at Sunset and in a thunderstorm) returned us to San Bruno, where we transferred to the Airport Train. [Combined with other recent trips, this completed our tour of the entire BART System in 2008.]
As we tried to exit BART at the airport, the gates wouldn't open, flashing the message "see agent". The agent checked our tickets and was surprised to see that we had been on the system for over three hours.
Fares on BART are based station-to-station. The tickets "expire" after three hours, but NOWHERE is this pointed out to purchasers or riders. He explained that we really should have purchased the expensive "excursion ticket". But that is really no better, because (according to the fine print) that one ALSO expires after three hours. Since we had in fact paid the appropriate station-to-station fare, he let us out after reminding us not to let it happen again.
At the airport, we had a nice dinner in the food court, then rode the People Mover both ways around the Terminals, with views of runway lights and airplanes, and out to the Rental Car Center and back. Then we returned by BART to Millbrae (via San Bruno, this time without any more "scenic detours").
We drove home from there, through the City of San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge.
This completed our recent exploration of the Light-Rail Systems of California (Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego)... excluding the new "Sprinter" Train from Oceanside to Escondido, which is diesel-powered and is considered by some to be more of a "Commuter-Rail" type of a system.
Starting early in the Morning, we arrived in Fremont at daybreak. We drove up Niles Canyon (to review the route of the ACE Train we had just taken earlier that week) to Sunol, then onto the Freeway, exiting at Mission to drive past the actual Mission San Jose (which is located in Fremont), then stopping for Breakfast in the Warm Springs area.
After breakfast, we drove to Milpitas and parked at the "Great Mall" there (a former automobile factory). The Valley Light-Rail has an elevated station there, so we bought our Day Pass and caught the next train to Alum Rock (an eastern suburb of San Jose), with excellent views of Mt. Hamilton and the near-by hills. We took the same train in the other direction, through the Silicon Valley business parks, through Downtown San Jose, past the Convention Center (where Bill Clinton was trying to cheer up a huge gathering of California Democrats), then along freeways to the end of the line at Santa Teresa (on the southern outskirts of town).
On the way back, we stopped at the Ohlone Transfer Station to take the spur line to Almaden (only two stops) and back, then the main line again back to the Convention Center. Then we transferred to the Winchester line which runs along an existing RailRoad right-of-way SouthWest to the town of Campbell. Returning from there, we exited at the San Jose Amtrak Station just in time to watch the departure of the Noon ACE Train. We had lunch at the snack bar in the station, watching several other trains coming and going... CalTrains to San Francisco, and Amtrak Corridor Trains to Sacramento.
After lunch, we rode the Light-Rail to Mountain View, and walked around the historic depot there (now used for the CalTrain), and back past Moffett Field (with its huge hangers for Dirigibles) and the northern parts of San Jose, to the Transfer Station at Tasman. We then returned to Great Mall in Milpitas, completing our first tour of the San Jose Light-Rail System.
To round out the day, we drove to Alviso, a tiny old community in the marshes north of San Jose. The town is below high-tide level for the Bay, and is protected by levees. The UP Mainline (including Amtrak and ACE Trains) goes right through the town, following levees across the salt flats Northeast to Newark. There are some parks and walkways that let you walk out onto the marshes, both in the heart of town, and at a new Visitors Center for a Wildlife Refuge just east of Alviso. From each walk, we saw Amtrak or ACE Trains passing through town and crossing the marshes.
Then we drove north on Highway 101 to Millbrae and parked at the BART Station there. We purchased tickets to the San Francisco Airport. This used to be just one station up the line, but now involves going north to San Bruno and transferring to the appropriate Southbound train to get to the Airport. We took the Scenic Route there by staying on board, through San Francisco and under the Bay, then South through Oakland and East over the coastal hills to Dublin/Pleasanton. The final part of this run is very rural (except for the fact it is in the center of a Freeway), and is the longest distance between stations anywhere on the BART System. The next train back (at Sunset and in a thunderstorm) returned us to San Bruno, where we transferred to the Airport Train. [Combined with other recent trips, this completed our tour of the entire BART System in 2008.]
As we tried to exit BART at the airport, the gates wouldn't open, flashing the message "see agent". The agent checked our tickets and was surprised to see that we had been on the system for over three hours.
Fares on BART are based station-to-station. The tickets "expire" after three hours, but NOWHERE is this pointed out to purchasers or riders. He explained that we really should have purchased the expensive "excursion ticket". But that is really no better, because (according to the fine print) that one ALSO expires after three hours. Since we had in fact paid the appropriate station-to-station fare, he let us out after reminding us not to let it happen again.
At the airport, we had a nice dinner in the food court, then rode the People Mover both ways around the Terminals, with views of runway lights and airplanes, and out to the Rental Car Center and back. Then we returned by BART to Millbrae (via San Bruno, this time without any more "scenic detours").
We drove home from there, through the City of San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge.
This completed our recent exploration of the Light-Rail Systems of California (Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego)... excluding the new "Sprinter" Train from Oceanside to Escondido, which is diesel-powered and is considered by some to be more of a "Commuter-Rail" type of a system.
