Riding Amtrak from San Jose to Sacramento
We took a little trip over the weekend, riding public transportation (i.e. trains) with our two little children (3 years old and 4 months old) from our home in Mountain View to Sacramento, to visit the Railroad Museum. Here’s a little trip report (pictures to follow):
- Friday:
We started off by taking VTA Light Rail from Middlefield station to Downtown Mountain View. Then we switched to Caltrain for the short trip to San Jose. At Diridon station, we boarded Amtrak Capitol train 534 that took us all the way to Sacramento.
- Saturday:
Visited the California State Railroad Museum and we loved it.
- Sunday:
Boarded Amtrak train 737 in Sacramento to Great America station and again VTA Light Rail from there to Middlefield station again.
Pros
- All trains were more or less on-time, no connections missed or anything.
- The cars on the Amtrak trains are pretty comfortable and spacious, the Snack Bar isn’t too bad (it’s only a three hour trip, so you don’t really need more).
- On board personnel was friendly.
Cons
- While you can see special spaces being reserved for Seniors and Disabled people everywhere, there really are no provisions for people with small children. Access with strollers is sometimes very difficult (e.g. on the older Caltrain cars - Amtrak and VTA are more or less low-floor and therefore ok) and there is no storage space (and you’re not supposed to use the Wheelchair or bike spaces …). What you’re supposed to do is fold up your stroller and put it in one of the luggage spaces. But when your traveling with two small children, one of which can neither stand or sit by herself, then this is a problem. And usually, you’ll have luggage and stuff all over your stroller anyway. And while we did not ride the Sacramento light rail, we did read the signs at the stations and they say that you’re supposed to fold up your stroller before you board the train - now how are you going to do that if you’re alone with two small children? Forget about taking the train … use the car, it’s much easier …
And at Great America station, you have to climb the stairs to get up on the bridge where the light rail is - no elevator or anything. And then you have to walk off the bridge along a busy street to get to the light rail station. That connection could be very convenient, if it were easier to use …
- Amtrak ticketing staff at the San Jose station don’t seem to be working very efficiently. And there is no Quik-Trak machine. We had to go pick up our website-ordered tickets and must have waited about 15 minutes in the line (there were only two or three people in front of us) and when we left at 10 minutes before departure time, there were still quite a few people in the line. I doubt that they all got their tickets, because the train did leave on time …
- VTA ticketing machines don’t give a lot of change and there is no option of saying “I don’t care about the change, just give me the *&% ticket”. So if you only have a ten dollar bill and want to get a ticket from the machine, forget it …
All in all, taking the train with your family can still be an enjoyable experience, but you have to be prepared, take your time and you better be at least two adults …
Posted in: Uncategorized | November 22, 2004 8:38 am
1 Comment »
tyler, on July 6, 2007 @ 8:57 am
wtf…how do u get to the times!!!!
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