SamTrans: Asleep at the wheel

April 4, 2026

This is not another April Fool’s prank post. On April Fool’s Day, SamTrans figured out they should do something to avoid delays on El Camino during the Little Big Dig. Per the DJ

In response, during an April 1 SamTrans board meeting, staff recommended a detour along California Drive for the project’s duration, as well as splitting the ECR line at Millbrae into a northern segment running to the Daly City BART station and a southern segment running down to Palo Alto, according to the presentation.

One has to wonder exactly where the SamTrans board and operations managers have been for the last year or two? There has been a steadily increasing drumbeat of alerts, reroute maps, Caltrans emails and news reports, but these people don’t figure out they need to do something different until three and a half months after the ground-breaking ceremony?

Maybe they should get out and actually take the bus once in a while or ask a driver or two. Drivers would have told them about scenes like this that I took three weeks ago.

Posted in SamTrans-Caltrain, Streets of Burlingame

One response to “SamTrans: Asleep at the wheel”

Joe

May 6, 2026

Well it took another month to actually do anything new per the DJ:

Buses that typically run along the Burlingame stretch of El Camino Real are being rerouted to California Drive due to a major construction project on the road, which includes tree removal and replanting and road and sidewalk fixes.

The detours began April 30 and will take place until at least the June service change, when Bay Area transit agencies coordinate their schedules, SamTrans Public Information Officer Randol White said. Affected stops include both northbound and southbound service between Rosedale Avenue and East Bellevue Avenue.

Affected bus lines include the ECR route and the 397, which typically runs along El Camino Real at nighttime.

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