Caltrain Station – Sunnyvale

No open bathrooms? Hardly any shade? God what an ordeal it is to wait an hour for the train here!

Sour ass people in this neighborhood makes me hate this train station. Like come on bitch, you aren’t vip, you’re on PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION for crying out loud.

Caltrain is great for travel between SJ and SF or anywhere in between, plus you can have beers on it! But yesterday ran into a train conductor with a serious power trip! We are getting on the train and the doors started to close, so I put my hand out to make sure they didn’t close on my wife. This young conductor says «I saw you stop the doors from closing, you are OFF the train» WHAAAAT??? Is there some sign that I’ve never seen, that says you’re ejected from the train for that?! I’ve never heard of such a thing, but he didn’t care, we were tossed off… Random rules that NO ONE knows, until they are kicked off a train? No warning, nothing? I ride BART more and people stop the doors from closing ALL the time, no foul. Whatever, that guy must really want to be a cop instead of a conductor, poor him with such measly «Power».

While I like Dirdon for my departure station, Sunnyvale is probably my personal favorite for arrival.
Dirdon bottlenecks on two sides of the platform. This means you have to fight the masses to get «out» of the station and it’s continually a cluster to get to the parking area, or even tap your card.
Sunnyvale has none of these issues because its an open station. You jump off and you’re free! After a long day, it makes more difference than you think. It’s also a positive that there’s a Philz streetside, but that’s just me.
It also recently seems to have no girl scouts selling cookies — unlike Mountain View, a sincere positive for my eardrums.
It’s my new fav on the SB Caltrain line!

The caltrain is necessary because it’s the only train that can take you home from San Francisco later in the night. However, the train is ridiculously slow compared to other trains (2 hours from San Francisco to San Jose?!). Also, the employees on the train aren’t the best and give you terrible attitudes at times. Moreover, the train itself can be dirty, especially the bathroom. Seriously, the train needs a bit of touching up and better maintenance overall. I am going to plan my trip to San Fran better next time so that I can avoid the Cal Train unless I hear it had improved.

Yes, the parking lot can be a nightmare during morning and afternoon rush hour, but the station itself is always clean and a pleasant experience. Great location by Murphy Ave. I also love the taxi drivers who whip out the board games on their picnic blanket in the shade — that’s the life!

This ststion is more compelling now that there’s a Philz nearby and the choice of eats in Murphy is evolving. Once the far side of the Town and Country area fills in with retwil even better. However not as many trains stop here during the commute-​express hours and getting in and out of the parking lot is ass. Go off hours for max sanity

Husband took the train to work for years. Never had a problem.

I take a daily 7:00 AM train to San Francisco. This station is close to where I stay and there is a lot of parking space available. I think there is a multilevel parking as well.

Wouldn’t let me play music from phone. No one complained. Real asshole. Who hires these people. Absolutely no customer service. What do you expect. One in the morning and these people expect to get paid and get raises. I wouldn’t.

Like most everyone else, I’ve run into trouble with parking here. Knowing that the parking lot is full by 8 is a good incentive to keep my on time for work though. I usually get to the station before 7:45 and can get parking on the ¾th floor. Prior to getting a monthly parking pass I parked in the neighborhood next to the station. that worked for a while until I got a ticket.
The good thing is that Sunnyvale is a high traffic stop so most trains will stop there.

Boo, Sunnyvale took away my stop at Mountain View, now I have to ride the local for an extra 20+ minutes. Way to improve service Caltrain!

This is an old station but is kept up well. Parking lot is larger than most but everyone local knows it and it will fill up. The mall near by is still in construction (10 years?) You can attempt to park there but you may get a ticket, I think 4 hour max. 2 Ticket machines means buy early it may be crowded and you can miss the train as I have seen many last minute runners, The Clipper card is taken now just swipe before you get on and off. The signs for N/​S trains are not indicated so the new people have to guess which side to stand. SJ or SF? see picture someone forgot the arrows!

A very easy station to access. Located right in the heart of Sunnyvale, it is big and there is ample parking. We were very rushed when we got there because by the amount of people that were waiting by the tracks, we could tell that the train was going to be leaving soon. We found parking easily & rushed to the pay station. The line was long but moved quickly due to the amount of pay machines that the station had. We were able to pay for both parking and our tickets at the same machine, which was very convenient. We got caught on the wrong side of the tracks once the train came but the train waited long enough for the gates to re-​open and for us to run to the other side & jump on. It didn’t seem to wait that long at other stations so this was a very nice perk. The station was clean and overall very easy to access.

This place is easy to get in and out. It’s less crowded than mountain view cal train. I hate going to mountain view cal train.

This is my home caltrain station now. I bike from Cupertino to this station almost every weekday morning to catch the 6:13am Baby Bullet. Read the schedule online! It helps to know when the trains are coming, as they are fairly on time.
BIKERS:
There are usually 2 cars that allow bikes. I don’t have issue going up to SF, (as my car always has the same people, who I’ve now become friends with), but going south, people need to learn to stack their bikes. If there are there is a bike going to SJ, and you’re going to SJ… stack your bike on top! Don’t take up an extra one. If there is a bike going to SF, and you’re going to milbrae, its okay to stack your bike on top since you’ll be getting off first (though still preferred to stack on similar stops)
NON BIKERS:
Please avoid the Bike Cars on the Old Trains (where the seats are on the second floor). Caltrain rules are that bikers need to be near their bikes at all times. Thus, bikers prefer to sit in the bike car. When non-​bikers take up all the seats in those cars, bikers are forced to stand as we shouldn’t be going to other cars. This usually isn’t an issue on the newer trains.
This place is kept pretty clean, and they have people who wash the sidewalks late night.
+ I can’t comment on parking since I don’t drive here.
+ Murphy Ave is in walking distance, where you can grab food and drinks.
Finally, caltrain has been fairly unreliable, which is sometimes their fault, sometimes not. They handle the suicides fairly well, which I can appreciate, but just yesterday, I took the 6:33pm baby bullet home (which should take 45 – 50 minutes). The train in front of us broke down, and we passed it. After we passed the train, our train became a local train and made EVERY stop, which meant it ended up taking an extra 40 minutes. I had dinner plans, and needless to say, I was late. I hate being late.

I am tired of the f’in city of Sunnyvale and this caltrain stop, it’s a f’in joke. The caltrain parking WILL always fill up by 8am no matter what unless it’s a holiday or the weekend. So that means the rest of us who take the 8 13 train are constantly screwed. Fine caltrain ridership has gone up, great for the city great for the community great for the environment, but why the heck does the city constantly have to ticket us for parking outside and around the station area? I’ve gotten three tickets in a month parking in various places around downtown. I’ve already paid for a monthly caltrain parking there are noooooo spots. Why is the city exploiting the riders who clearly have paid for parking but cannot find a spot? I’m already late to work since I missed the 8 13 train because I drove up the parking lot and it was full and half these nerds don’t know how to turn their cars around and head back down without 5 rotations — it’s simple look back, back up, turn around.
Anyways you can’t park in the local neighborhood, don’t ask how they know who Is who. You can’t park in the EMPTY Macy’s parking since it’s the worst Macy’s in California and nobody goes to it. Yet the parking lot stays empty and it’s not available for commuter use. You can’t park by the local businesses on the side roads, don’t ask how they know the different between employees and others.
City of Sunnyvale is unprofessional and does not appreciate or respect locals who are trying to do their best and take advantage of local transportation.
No wonder the rest of the world laughs at our public system, our city discourages us from riding public transportation.
Who does that.

Restroom in the parking lot. Doesn’t have key code as it might lead you to believe. Free parking lot on the north side of the station (well kept secret — usually fills up by 7.45 AM)
Buying a monthly parking pass is probably a good idea if you are a frequent traveler. You break even at 10 trips and don’t have to stand in lines. It’s great.
If you are a bullet train commuter and you actually prefer to work on the train, it might actually make sense to skip the bullet train in favor of the slower trains so that you can work. For e.g. the 8:00 AM and the 8:18AM although about 15mins slower than the 8:13 bullet does have ample seating space. Its even a bit more convenient to nap-​off.
And a rant and a few tips on parking. It’s frustrating that, even when there is clear evidence of under capacity for parking, caltrain is not adding another few floors of parking on top of the building they have.
Anyways, on Monday — Thursday, the parking lot building usually fills up by 8:08. So if you are trying to make the 8:13 train, that’s when you need to make sure you’re there.
It also makes sense to check with drivers exiting the parking lot at around 8:08 if they are leaving the lot because it’s full. That way you can hit the road towards Mountain View and still make it on time for the 8:37 train. Not that Mountain View is any better for parking but sometimes there are South Bound trains that stop between 8:13 and 8:37 that free up some parking spots in Mountain View.

This is my home station! I’ve taken Caltrain from here to get to work for 2+ years and it’s usually a relatively smooth experience unless someone happens to get run over in one of the other stations (usually Burlingame or Palo Alto). Sunnyvale is clean and safe, and there’s even a restroom in the parking garage, what more can you ask for for public transit?
A few tips for the newbies:
1. GET THERE EARLY IF YOU’RE BUYING A TICKET at the station! There are only 2 machines, and there’s always a line during morning rush hour. You don’t want to miss your train just because you didn’t have time to get your ticket! Sometimes, one of the machines are down for maintenance too, which makes things even slower.
2. REMEMBER YOUR PARKING SPACE # before going down the stairs to buy a parking pass! Buy your parking pass at the same machines that you buy your paper tickets from — under the parking garage on the side with the awning and benches. No need to put the receipt in your car, you’re good as long as you punched in the right space #.
3. The side across the tracks from the parking garage goes NORTH. The tracks on the same side as the parking garage goes SOUTH.
4. Parking garage fills up by 8:30AM. If that’s the case, circle around the residential neighborhoods 3 – 4 blocks away and there should still be some (free) parking around there. The residential parking fills up around 9:00. BE CAREFUL NOT TO PARK IN THE 3 HR LIMIT SPOTS downtown! Go a few blocks out where there are no time limits.
5. Sunnyvale meter maids are notoriously nit picky. Never leave any part of your car sticking out into anyone’s driveway or you’ll be faced with at $ 40 parking ticket for sure! They’ll get ya!
6. REMEMBER TO TAG ON AND TAG OFF! Clipper card is a total scam and will only refund you twice for forgetting to tag off (they charge you all the way down south to San Jose if you don’t tag off at your correct stop). Certain conductors are not nice and will write you a ticket for $ 300+ for getting on the train without tagging on first! So remember to do so, Clipper card users!
There’s a lot of things I can say about improving the experience of using Clipper card, but I digress. The Clipper tagging stations at Sunnyvale are in the middle of the station, and all the way at the parking lot end of the station, it’s easy to miss at night because they’re not lit up, so don’t forget!
Good luck, safe travels!

The station is pretty well kept.
Huge parking garage that hardly anyone ever parks in… Not sure why.
Parking lot can be a bit of a cluster during rush hours. Don’t forget that there is an exit out of the lot on the north end if you’re in a pinch.

All Aboard! First time going to this Caltrain station, and with it being late by 2 minutes, my girlfriends and I were able to make it just in time!!! I’ve never taken Bart before, so can’t compare the two, but my two friends who never rode Caltrain (and one had taken Bart before) thought it was clean and cozy, loving the second floor as well. If you sit in the 4 seater (2 seats facing 2 seats) it’s cozy, but a bit tight, even for smaller girls like us. Knees grazing one another. Parking is also free at this location after 6 PM!

Parking can be a b! tch! By that I mean, it gets really crowded, really fast. If you come early enough, there is a parking area right next to the station (if you exit the Caltrain station and turn right and drive toward the corner of Evelyn and Mary, you’ll see it). If all parking is full, well… you’re gonna have to park in a residential area. Be careful, though. Some jack@$$ had the audacity to leave an angry note in my windshield one day after I had repeatedly parked on a street in a residential area. Hey jack@$$, if you’re reading this, read carefully. It’s not my fault that the station runs out of parking spaces by the time I get there. If that’s the case, then I have no choice but to park on your street. As long as I’m not blocking your driveway, and as long as I haven’t parked my car in a manner that causes it to be a road hazard, then STFU and deal with it. You chose to live across the street from a train station. Don’t blame me for that. Blame yourself.
Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest. There are ticket machines both by the parking structure and by the northbound train platform. If you’re gonna be taking the train on a monthly basis, you can save a lot of money by buying a Clipper card monthly pass from Walgreens.
Overall, I give it 4 stars. The station is kept relatively clean. And if your train is delayed or doesn’t arrive for a while, there are lots of shopping options nearby since the station is located right next to downtown Sunnyvale.
4 stars

My first trip taking Caltrain to the city was a success! Had a great time sitting on the 2^nd level and zooming by all the cities. Makes you appreciate the view when you don’t have to drive!
Paid $ 13.50 for a day pass from Sunnyvale to SF. Great deal considering you save gas and mileage by taking public transportation. Its also a smooth and usually peaceful ride. Be sure to keep your ticket handy… The security man makes sure you’ve paid your fare!

If I’m looking for a quick day trip to the city, I need drive no further than the Sunnyvale Caltrain, park the car and drop a quick $ 12 on a day pass. Convenient, comfortable and quick.
Also worthy of note is that the lot is open to the public after 6PM. It’s a good spot to park if you plan on hitting up Murphy St. for the evening.
The Caltrain and I are going to get to know each other very well.