Bay Area commuter rail also includes

BART and SF Muni certainly carry a lot of Bay Area riders..., but they are not the only agencies on the block. Perhaps this message board should also include Valley Transit, Altamont Commuter Express, and CalTrain?

Gee... this forumn set up is sure a lot better than the old version!

You are right.

I recognize CalTrain and ACE, but what is Valley Transit?

He probably means the Santa Clara County transit system.

You could also put the Capitol Corridor in there as it is not generally covered in the amtrak forum, is getting very close to being a commuter line per the agreement with UP, and carries a decent number of commuters between the Sacramento Area and the Bay Area.

Otto,

The Valley Transit Authority (VTA) operates the Light Rail system in Santa Clara County (primarily in San Jose).

It looks like we got everybody - that is every commuter railroad in the bay area.

Locally, there are a couple of usenet groups that are marginally useful. one is ba.transportation - and it can be pretty nasty at times. (One of the regulars grew up in my home town, and stole a Budd RDC and drove it into the turntable pit, a few decades ago - that'll give you some warning.)

The other is sbay.transportation - hard to find, except on the old www.deja.com (now google groups). At one time, there was a "gentleman's agreement" allowing "technical" discussions of non-sbay (south bay = south of San Mateo bridge - State Route 92) transportation. That has gone away, but the archives have some pretty good technical resources.

The new groupings look good here, thanks Otto!

Valley Transit Authority -or- Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), yes, is Santa Clara County's Congestion Management Agency (CMA). Each urban county has one. VTA is interesting in that they are both the CMA and operate transit.... rail & bus.

Other rail (commuter and light) operators in the bay area include:

The Capitals (Caltrans service contracted out to Amtrak)

The San Joaquin's (same)

BART (commuter rail for Contra Costa, Alameda & SF County. Recently added service to SFO in San Mateo County and will be extended to Santa Clara County)

Caltrain

Muni (SF light rail)

Napa Vine (more tourist oriented if any thing)