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It was standing room only on Caltrain before the coronavirus outbreak.
It’s a much different situation now between San Jose and San Francisco.
While the trains still continue to roll, there is concern about the sustainability of the 7th-largest commuter rail service in the country.
Caltrain service has been cut from 92 to 42 trains per day.
Caltrain Executive Director Jim Hartnett said he and his staff continue to evaluate the situation.
"Ridership is down 98%, an historic unprecedented drop in ridership," Hartnett said.
Caltrain estimates the staggering drop has brought weekday commuting down from over 65,000 riders to roughly 1,100 riders.
That drop is typical of what’s been happening to commuter services around the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Caltrain is primarily supported by the farebox. There is not a dedicated source of tax that goes into the Caltrain system for funding.
"We’re going to have to figure out how we can survive through this," Hartnett said. "We are so fortunate to have Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi who pushed so hard on the CARES Act."
Caltrain received $49 million in the first round of funding from the CARES Act, but Hartnett doesn’t think it will be enough. More money may come in the second round of funding.
The financial health of the system depends on a lot of people riding which isn’t possible while social distancing.
"We’re going through different scenarios in our planning," Hartnett said. "We’re going to do the best we can to continue to service our communities."
Harnett does not expect ridership to return to levels seen before COVID-19 anytime in the next six months.