On Tuesday morning, when travelling to work, Tim and I ran a little experiment.  Or maybe you could call it a race.  I needed to visit the south bay in the evening, so I had to drive.  I offered Tim a ride, but he responded "nah, I'd rather take the train, it's faster."

Now I've always thought of Caltrain as being much slower than a car.  Most of my Caltrain experiences have been travelling from Sunnyvale or Mountain View to 4th and King SF and back on the weekend, a tediously long hour or hour and a half ride.  By car, the same weekend trip is about 45 minutes.  So I figured a claim that Caltrain could be faster than a car needed to be challenged.

I dropped Tim off at 8:10am.  The train was at 8:16am, giving me a 6 minute head start.  The Potrero to Palo Alto drive has previously taken me 35 minutes (+8:10 = 8:45) , and the 8:16 Baby Bullet schedule said it would hit Palo Alto at 8:48, plus ~5 min walking time.  I said to Tim, "Hmm, with that much extra time, maybe I'll stop at Peet's for coffee and then meet you at the office."

Fast forward to 9:25am... I finally got to the office, feeling grouchy and tired after start/stop traffic on the 101 (see icon).  Tim was happily sitting at his desk, working, with a newspaper next to him (that he probably read on the train)  Having arrived at 8:48 (those Baby Bullets are punctual!), he said "Yeah, I went to Peet's to meet you, but you didn't show up so I came here."  I had never made it to Peet's.

I took Caltrain on Wednesday.