Analyzing Caltrain Delays
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Analyzing Caltrain Delays
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Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#2Seriously, need to break that vicious cycle: you get used to things going bad, people who run them get used to not delivering, breaking due process, posting unrealistic schedules, and BAM - now you think the problem can't be solved, only plotted.
I don't remember last time when I have not seen a train at a station at scheduled time, and the place where I live doesn't expire confidence. When something is late, it gets in the news. Not every week.
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#3If only Caltrain had a decent API for developers that produced data that is needed for any serious analysis (like train number, speed and lat/long). I hate having to resort to hackey workarounds like scraping for this info. I believe the NextBus API for MUNI has actual positional data and vehicle info. Caltrain, being the mediocre agency it is, has a next to useless API (if I remember the docs correctly on 511.org).
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#4Seriously, need to break that vicious cycle: you get used to things going bad, people who run them get used to not delivering, breaking due process, posting unrealistic schedules, and BAM - now you think the problem can't be solved, only plotted. I don't remember last time when I have not seen a train at a station at scheduled time, and the place where I live doesn't expire confidence. When something is late, it gets…
To be (grudgingly) fair to Caltrain, a lot of things are perhaps indirectly out of their control-stuff like suicides (until you get gated platforms to stop people from jumping in front of Baby Bullets) and vehicles stopped on tracks are hard to predict. Likewise they are a victim of their own success-standing room only trains make boarding and unboarding longer than they have to be.
Of course, Caltrain has put off electrification and grade separation for a long time, and even now its massively expensive and ruinous (see the CBOSS fiasco) so its not like they are totally off the hook.
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#5Seriously, need to break that vicious cycle: you get used to things going bad, people who run them get used to not delivering, breaking due process, posting unrealistic schedules, and BAM - now you think the problem can't be solved, only plotted. I don't remember last time when I have not seen a train at a station at scheduled time, and the place where I live doesn't expire confidence. When something is late, it gets…
To be (grudgingly) fair to Caltrain, a lot of things are perhaps indirectly out of their control-stuff like suicides (until you get gated platforms to stop people from jumping in front of Baby Bullets) and vehicles stopped on tracks are hard to predict. Likewise they are a victim of their own success-standing room only trains make boarding and unboarding longer than they have to be. Of course, Caltrain has put off el…
I can't help but feel that if there was a BART line where the Caltrain currently runs, things would be about a hundred times better than they currently are, on all fronts. Alas...
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#6Seriously, need to break that vicious cycle: you get used to things going bad, people who run them get used to not delivering, breaking due process, posting unrealistic schedules, and BAM - now you think the problem can't be solved, only plotted. I don't remember last time when I have not seen a train at a station at scheduled time, and the place where I live doesn't expire confidence. When something is late, it gets…
To be (grudgingly) fair to Caltrain, a lot of things are perhaps indirectly out of their control-stuff like suicides (until you get gated platforms to stop people from jumping in front of Baby Bullets) and vehicles stopped on tracks are hard to predict. Likewise they are a victim of their own success-standing room only trains make boarding and unboarding longer than they have to be. Of course, Caltrain has put off el…
The major cause of the problem is the balkanization of transit planning in the Bay Area. Most metropolitan areas this size have some kind of transit authority that plans systematically for the entire region. We are stuck with multiple incompatible systems, and small NIMBY cities like Menlo Park get to block development that would benefit everyone.
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#7If only Caltrain had a decent API for developers that produced data that is needed for any serious analysis (like train number, speed and lat/long). I hate having to resort to hackey workarounds like scraping for this info. I believe the NextBus API for MUNI has actual positional data and vehicle info. Caltrain, being the mediocre agency it is, has a next to useless API (if I remember the docs correctly on 511.org).
An API would go a long way and realtime information would obviously be awesome. It appears that even if Caltrain provided historical data of actual departure times per train per station, that would be a huge improvement.
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be (grudgingly) fair to Caltrain, a lot of things are perhaps indirectly out of their control-stuff like suicides (until you get gated platforms to stop people from jumping in front of Baby Bullets) and vehicles stopped on tracks are hard to predict. Likewise they are a victim of their own success-standing room only trains make boarding and unboarding longer than they have to be. Of course, Caltrain has put off el…
I can't help but feel that if there was a BART line where the Caltrain currently runs, things would be about a hundred times better than they currently are, on all fronts. Alas...
Electrified Caltrain is infinitely preferable to BART.
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be (grudgingly) fair to Caltrain, a lot of things are perhaps indirectly out of their control-stuff like suicides (until you get gated platforms to stop people from jumping in front of Baby Bullets) and vehicles stopped on tracks are hard to predict. Likewise they are a victim of their own success-standing room only trains make boarding and unboarding longer than they have to be. Of course, Caltrain has put off el…
I can't help but feel that if there was a BART line where the Caltrain currently runs, things would be about a hundred times better than they currently are, on all fronts. Alas...
BART should've taken over SP's Peninsula Commute in the 70s, when SP really wanted to get rid of it. Even better would be if BART ran standard gauge and overhead wire.
Re: Analyzing Caltrain Delays
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't help but feel that if there was a BART line where the Caltrain currently runs, things would be about a hundred times better than they currently are, on all fronts. Alas...
Electrified Caltrain is infinitely preferable to BART.
Why electrified vs normal caltrain? Will that decrease the variance or door to door time of using caltrain?