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Perris Valley Line - Commuter Rail

by Steve
6/18/2008 10:30:00 AM

Perris Valley Line - Commuter Rail meetingI attended the Perris Valley Line public meeting last night. I posted the meeting notice here. Based on what I saw, this may or may not be a more efficient solution for commuters, depending on where you commute to.

The Metrolink line will start from Ethanac Rd, near the I-215 freeway, and run north to downtown Riverside. It won't open until 2011.

The reason why it stops at Ethanac Rd is because the Riverside County Transportation Commission didn't buy any of the rail south of that point. There's actually more rail that continues into Menifee, goes by Heritage Lake, then parallels Simpson Rd, and ends in San Jacinto. An RCTC representative said they might buy up this rail depending on the demand.

The RCTC has an agreement with Burlington Northern Santa Fe to allow cargo tranportation. The BNSF already ships lumber along this line.

While the RCTC bought the rail, they still haven't acquired all the land necessary to build the depots.

Choosing the First Depots

One of the reasons for having this meeting, is to hear from the public on what depots to build first. Even though they know what depots will eventually be built, they only plan to have one or two depots functional by 2011. It'll take until 2030 to get all the depots built.

I don't know how many people from Menifee were there, aside from myself, and at least one person I talked to, but I did put in my suggestion to build the southern-most station first, and extend the rail south into Menifee.

I'd say most of the people in attendance were from Perris.

Click this image to see the full size


A Viable Solution?

So, I wanted to know if this commuter rail plan was feasible for Menifee commuters travelling to Orange County. The representatives there didn't know what the fare would cost to ride from Perris to Riverside, and didn't know what the travel time would be.

Moreover, I asked what time would the first train leave Perris, assuming many commuters may need to get to work in Orange County between 6:00am and 7:00am. They didn't know that either.

However, the existing Metrolink schedule shows that they have a train leaving downtown Riverside at 5:11am, and arriving in Irvine at 6:20am. From there, commuters will board OCTD buses to take them closer to their jobs, and then walk to the office from there. If you worked in Irvine, that could get you to work by 7:00am.

Therefore, what would be needed is a train leaving Ethanac Rd by no later than 4:30am, in order to get someone to work in Irvine by 7:00am. That's 2 1/2 hours of one-way travel. I remember driving from Menifee to my office near John Wayne Airport in about 1 1/2 hours on average, leaving home at 5:30am. I'd get out of bed around 5:00am, and didn't return home until 6:30pm. I'd still have about 4 hours to spend at home, until I hit the sack.

If I took the Perris Valley Line, I'd have to get out of bed at 3:45am, just to catch the 4:30am train, and ultimately come back home around 7:00pm. That would leave me with about 1 hour to spend at home, until I had to hit the sack and get about 7 hours of sleep for the next day.

As far as the cost, the existing fare from downtown Riverside to Irvine is $233.00 a month, for roundtrip service. So let's assume it'll cost $400.00 a month to extend that route to Ethanac Rd. Earlier this month, I posted that it would cost about $450.00 a month to drive a car to commute to Irvine and back, and that's assuming the price of gas is $5.00 per gallon. Add to that about another $200 a month for toll road fees. Then service maintenance on your car is probably $1,200 a year (oil, tires, brake pads), or $100 a month. All in all, about $750 a month to commute to Irvine and back.

Therefore, it's looking like a commute to Orange County and back along this Perris Valley Line will save you close to $350.00 a month in expenses, but will add another 2-3 hours of commute, and pretty much take away your family time. But, you'll get to sleep on the train, get a little bit of walking exercise from the bus stop, and you'll make your environmentalist-wife a lot happier.

I used Irvine as an example. Depending on your destination, taking the Metrolink might be better or worse. It might also open up new job possibilities as far away as Ventura County, depending on that job's proximity to a train station.

Of course, by 2011 the price of gas may be $15.00 per gallon. But then again, Metrolink trains are diesel-electrics, and those fares will go up too.

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5 Comments:

  • The person I spoke with said the time of travel from the Ethanac station to Riverside would be about 40 minutes.

    My concern is that just a single line with sidings at several points will exist. Free-flowing two-way trains won’t be a reality and scheduling will be critical & problematic when more than one train needs to use the line. I foresee delays caused by trains needing to sit on a siding waiting for others to pass. A second line is planned if/when passenger demand grows.

    I asked about depots being coordinated with other existing or proposed facilities to make better use of land and decrease costs. For example, if the Ethanac station was co-located with something like the Home Depot/WINCO site, the parking lot could be shared. Except for a few major shopping days during the year, such lots are relatively empty during the day when commuter parking is needed. Stores at such places would benefit from commuters being at their place of business every day when going home.

    In this example, stop at WINCO to pick up things for dinner or Home Depot for that project. With a little planning, it’s a win-win. I would think that a shopping center developer might even help offset the cost of the depot for the benefit of such a captive customer base.

    By Anonymous JS, at June 18, 2008 3:16 PM  

  • Just an outsider comment from a Metrolink rider in OC: I don't forsee the single line being an issue since from what I read the main focus of this line will be commuter based. Therefore, most trains will be going one direction in the morning and vice versa in the afternoon. The frieght traffic will take place either during the day or at night. The IEOC line (SB/Dntwn Rivsd to OC) for example has 4 trains going to Orange County in morning with none going the opposite way until mid-morning once the peak hrs are up. Just a thought.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at June 18, 2008 4:06 PM  

  • Will rail service be on weekends? Service into Orange County on Saturday mornings to arrive 10 a.m. or shortly after and return by 2 p.m. to the Menifee area would be needed for me to use the system. Will there be evening service into OC and back after 10:30 at night?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at June 19, 2008 12:49 PM  

  • I for one look forward to being able to ride instead of drive on my many visits to Perris. I sure would like to see service before the planned 2011 proposed starting date. I also would like to know what the planned weekday and weekend service will be when the line starts service.

    On the map it shows the line going way north before it turns south for its forte to the Riverside station.

    Will this line use the original planned shorter and faster route over a short section of the UP tracks or is it now going much further north to Hghgrove before it turns south? This long detour will add more than 10 minutes to the run from Perris to Riverside. If the longer route was selected I would sure like to know the reasons for this poor decision.

    By Anonymous Alan Fishel, at June 19, 2008 3:47 PM  

  • The metrolink service is based on demand, so the more people that show up at these meetings and get vocal, the more they'll listen.
    I would like to start a grassroots movement to coordinate their Southwest Riverside services so that all money collected for transportation set some aside for alternative fuel and rail.
    The good news is that Southwest Riverside (Murrieta) is on the map
    for the proposed HIGH SPEED rail service from SAN to LAX to Sacramento.

    http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/map.htm

    In November, Californians will vote on a $9.95 billion bond measure that would help build the highspeed
    system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco via the San Joaquin Valley. The state still
    will require federal funding for one-third of the total project cost, according to the California High Speed Rail Authority.

    Thanks Steve for speaking out at the Perris Valley Line Meeting.

    By Anonymous Askmieke, at June 23, 2008 7:39 AM  

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