Peninsula Moves!

By Will Reisman, @WillReisman

Celebration Train to Roll for MLK Jr. Day: Since he made his historic 54-mile march from Montgomery to Selma, Ala. in 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy has been honored by Freedom Trains that have operated throughout the country on MLK Jr. Day, including the Bay Area version operated by Caltrain. For more than 30 years, the railway hosted a Freedom Train chartered by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley. The last remaining service of its kind, Caltrain’s Freedom Train has been rebranded as the Celebration Train, and is now managed by the Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation (NorCalMLK). The Celebration Train is free for all passengers and set to ride again on MLK Jr. Day, next Monday. To ride on the train, all passengers must register to receive a commemorative ticket, which can be found here. The train will depart from the San Jose Diridon Station at 9:45 a.m. on January 18, and will make stops in Palo Alto at 10:05 a.m. and San Mateo at 10:22 a.m. before arriving in San Francisco by 10:55 a.m.

VTA Launches New On-Demand Transit Service: Starting today, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will feature a new on-demand transit service for its passengers. The service, called FLEX, allows passengers to request a ride through the use of a smartphone app. For now, the FLEX program is only available within a three-mile radius of the North Tasman Light Rail Station. Passengers in that area who want to use the service can download the app on their iPhone and Android. Fares on the FLEX service will be $2 during the off-peak times of the midday and $3 during commute periods in the morning and evening. VTA will evaluate the project and consider expanding the pilot program area. Customers are encouraged to provide feedback on the FLEX service by emailing customer.service@VTA.org.

San Francisco Hosts FOG Design Festival: For the third straight year, San Francisco will host the FOG Design and Art Festival. The event will feature more than 40 prominent art dealers from around the Bay Area and will also include a series of panel discussions, film screenings and artistic demonstration courses. Proceeds from the festival will help benefit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The multi-day event starts on Wednesday and runs through Sunday and will take place at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. Event attendees coming from the Peninsula can take Caltrain to the San Francisco station and transfer to Muni’s 30-Stockton bus line for a trip to the festival site.