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Comment by mikeknoop | Hacker News Reader

Two things:

1. This is great for before 7AM flights out of SFO / SJC, where public transit is not an option.

2. I showed this to my fiancée (who does the south bay / city commute every day). She said: "This would be a lot more useful to me if they came in between Caltrains, which can be an hour apart."

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It seems like these guys are relying on there being zero traffic in the dead of night to deliver these travel times. How feasible would it be to drive from San Jose to San Francisco in an hour and a half during the day?

Disclosure: I don't live in California, and I have no idea. I only just looked up the schedule from Caltrain.

Suggestion #2 is probably feasible outside of the core commute hours -- which is inline with constraints because Caltrain runs trains more frequently during commute hours already (ie. this service is not needed then).

I've done 101 from SF to SJ in about 40 minutes at midnight. Multiply that by 3 for rush hour.

Ok so they've already really factored in all the time for all the stops and the inevitable delays... Wow, then my question is... why is the train so slow!

there are three level of trains. baby bullets go from san jose to sf in about an hour with very limited stops. there's local express which have more stops than baby bullet, but don't stop at every station (gross oversimplification). And then there's the trains that stop. at. every. single. s.t.a.t.i.o.n.

The train makes many more stops.

I live in San Mateo, makes it super easy to split the difference. ;-)

Driving takes <1 hour without traffic. Could take >2 hours at peak commute hours.

This is great for before 7AM flights out of SFO / SJC, where public transit is not an option.

So how does one get from Millbrae to SFO if the BART is not running? (asks the occasional visitor)

SamTrans Route 397. http://www.samtrans.com/schedulesandmaps/timetables/397.html

Catch is you have to pick it up around 4 AM and get to the airport that early, but if you're not flying until 7, maybe you can snooze in the airport for a bit...

Super shuttle is a popular and econimical option. Or you just call a cab. At that hour it's $35 before tip.

I used to live down El Camino Real from the Millbrae station. It should be closer to $15-20.

FYI, bart starts running at 4am, and google maps is pretty good at giving public transit direction in the bay area. the only caveat is to choose when you want to arrive as opposed to depart (duh), and if you plan to drive part way, choose the start to be where you start taking public transit.

BART starts running at 4 AM - but that's at the terminus, which is Pittsburg for trains going to SFO. The first train doesn't get to the airport until about 5:30.

(I know this from a painful morning where my wife missed a 6 AM flight.)

UberX is a pretty good option for that, although it's a pretty short fare for the driver.

It's a $15 (10min) taxi ride from the Milbrae station to the airport arrival terminal of your choice, if you take one of the cabs that's at the taxi stand (which I've used, and never seen empty.)

But will there be taxis there when the trains aren't running?

The 192 or the KX also...except maybe those don't start running until later.

> "This would be a lot more useful to me if they came in between Caltrains, which can be an hour apart."

The fact that this bus actually seems more appealing than Caltrain actually makes me question the Caltrain's existence as a matter of transportation policy.

EDIT: note that the bus is faster.

The implication was if she just missed the Caltrain, she'd take this bus in 30 minutes instead of waiting one hour for the next train (not stop taking the train altogether).

It's a complaint about the Caltrain's infrequency rather than existence.

your fiancée should get funded!

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