ACE reaches milestone

Source: The Record, Stockton, Calif.迷利倉Dec. 28--STOCKTON -- Passengers streamed out of an ACE train at the Stockton end-point Monday evening. Most were completing the daily commuting ritual while a few carried suitcases to spend time with Stockton family for the holiday.Gordon Guenterberg of Lodi pushed his bicycle out to his car so he'd be able to ride it over the holiday. He's been taking the train to his job in Livermore for at least five years."I love it. It's an easy ride," he said. If more people took a closer look at how much money they spend on their commutes, there would be more people on the train, he said, noting he's saved thousands of dollars by using the train. He said it's not surprising that it looks like more and more people have been getting on the train in recent months.He's right. More people have been climbing aboard the Altamont Corridor Express service between Stockton and San Jose.After ridership plummeted when Silicon Valley jobs evaporated during the Great Recession, riders have returned in greater numbers than before the economic slump.The rail service had its busiest year in 2013. It clocked 1 million trips for the year on Dec. 18, the first time the rail service has hit that milestone in the 15 years since it took its first passenger across the Altamont Pass.The million-rider mark is a measure of significance for a passenger rail service, said Stacey Mortensen, executive director of the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, which owns and operates the train."We've hovered around this threshold for years," she said. "It's a big milestone."The Silicon Valley resurgence has been a part of the recent uptick, but it is also true that rider numbers are continuing to grow when some other services are seeing rising numbers tapering off. "I actually think there's something about the Central Valley geography in that it keeps growing," she said.When ACE first started its service in October 1998, it was called the Altamont C迷你倉mmuter Express. In part of the lead-up to the 15th anniversary, rail officials have been re-branding the service as the Altamont Corridor Express to reflect other ways people can use the service. Four trains a day go from Stockton to the Silicon Valley, and four trains return in the afternoon.Last year, ACE added the fourth train, which leaves later in both directions. It's added some other kinds of riders, but it has also boosted commuter use, because workers know they have a backup plain if they miss an earlier train, officials said.And officials expect ridership to continue to grow. In the longer term, the ACE service figures into state high-speed rail plans as a connecting service. And plans are also in the works to stretch the existing route to Modesto, then Merced.Lodi City Councilman Bob Johnson said he's optimistic that the service will keep growing and taking more cars off the road, both now and when the service reaches Modesto. "It is not a lot of fun dealing with the rush hour on Highway 99."And for the passengers, themselves, the train has become more than just a ride to work, he said. In feedback, passengers describe their "extended family" of people the take the train with, he said.It is friendly on the train, said David Garcia, 56, of San Jose.He sings in a chorale group in San Jose, and on Monday, he met somebody on the train who recognized him from a performance. That couldn't have happened in a car, he noted.Garcia makes the trip out to Stockton about once a month to visit with family. He said he likes to surf the Internet or plug in his DVD player for the ride."It's very comfortable," he said. "You can't beat that."Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com. Follow him at .recordnet.com/johnsonblog and on Twitter @zacharykjohnson.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Record (Stockton, Calif.) Visit The Record (Stockton, Calif.) at .recordnet.com Distributed by MCT Information Services自存倉