Peninsula Moves!

Football’s biggest game is less than two weeks away, but the festivities and hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl will arrive in the Bay Area even sooner. To help prepare public transportation passengers for the heavy crowds and service changes that will coincide with the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium, Caltrain has posted a brochure on its website.

The brochure, which can be accessed HERE (PDF), details the service and scheduling enhancements that Caltrain will implement to address the increased demands brought on by the 1 million visitors expected to arrive in the Bay Area for Super Bowl 50.

Starting on January 30, San Francisco will host two separate football attraction sites that are expected to draw thousands of visitors each day. Caltrain’s schedule includes extra trains to accommodate crowds for those exhibits, which are located at Justin Herman Plaza and the Moscone Center, respectively.

Along with detailing those changes, the brochure includes information on Caltrain’s game day service, which includes three special trains that will be leaving San Francisco prior to the game. Those trains will take passengers to the Mountain View Caltrain Station, where they can transfer to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s light-rail lines for a direct trip to the stadium.

To travel to the Super Bowl, passengers must purchase a joint-pass fare that will enable them to ride on Caltrain and VTA. Details on this special ticket are available in the brochure. Additionally, the brochure contains information on the NFL’s security policy—which states that fans can only carry clear plastic or vinyl bags of no more than 12” x 6” x 12” into the Super Bowl. Public transit passengers should be prepared for those security conditions.

The Super Bowl brochure also covers instructions on how to pay for fares, information on parking frees at Caltrain stations and reminders about the agency’s onboard alcohol policy.

The Super Bowl is one of the most preeminent sporting events in the globe, and that kind of attention will result in changes for commuters using public transportation. Regular customers should expect crowded conditions on the train, and be mindful that these new passengers are unfamiliar with the Caltrain system and potentially with public transit in general. If possible, Caltrain passengers should try and switch up their commuting schedules to avoid the heavy crowds.

Caltrain is committed to ensuring that service runs as smoothly as possible for the Super Bowl and the week leading up to the game. The Super Bowl brochure posted on the website is an important customer-based resource toward accomplishing that goal.