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by rayiner 5016 days ago
It's the result of layers of dysfunction. In NYC and Chicago, the commuter rail not only runs to where people live, but also the municipalities involved have no problem with high-density residential/commercial development near transit, which makes it easier to justify the expenditures on the commuter rail. The SF Caltrain station is across the interstate from anywhere you might want to go, while Metro North and LIRR in NYC drop you off right in Midtown. My office in NYC is literally on the same block as Grand Central Station. What's on the same block as the Caltrain station in SF? Nothing. If you look towards downtown from the station, you don't see anything: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=San+Francisco+Caltrain,+4th+St...

This is what it looks like looking towards Chicago's Loop from Ogilvie: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Ogilvie+Transportation+Center,...

This is what it looks like looking towards Midtown from Grand Central: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=grand+central+station,+new+yor...

The same is true for the residential areas. There's almost no high-density development around the Cal Train stations in the Valley. Even in Arlington Heights, IL (a suburb about 25 miles from Chicago) you see substantial high-density development right around the Metra station.
2 comments
vidarh 5016 days ago
My first reaction the first time I took Caltrain to SF, was: "This doesn't look like SF. Where's the city?" If it hadn't been a terminus I'd have suspected I'd have left the train too early.
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snogglethorpe 5016 days ago
They're supposedly (if NIMBYs don't succeed in hamstringing CAHSR) going to extend the Caltrain line to the new CAHSR terminal, which is much more centrally located (although chock-full of its own idiocies).

Then if only Caltrain could adopt a not-insane schedule and reasonable frequency, and zoning roadblocks were removed (it looks like most of SV is zoned "parking lots only"), it might actually prove to be a catalyst for development!

Haha... :(

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jrockway 5016 days ago
Pretty much. (Incidentally, I used to work in the building right across the street from Ogilvie.)
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