Improve your EPA travel

Improve your EPA travel via bus, bike, carpool, vanpool, or guaranteed-ride-home. Learn more about :

  • Bus routes and free bus tickets
  • Earning $100 for cycling or carpooling
  • Cycling tips encompassing: bike to work, bike to school, biking on SamTrans/Caltrain, parking/lockers, crossing the Dumbarton Bridge, maps, trails, and maintenance
  • Saving $6,000 per year on vanpooling.
1. Free tickets to try SamTrans bus service

Commuters or students traveling to or from East Palo Alto are eligible for free tickets to try SamTrans and Caltrain. Details: https://commute.org/rewards/#try-transit.  

SamTrans Route 296. Route 296 provides service between the Redwood City Transit Center and the Ravenswood 101 retail center at 20-minute intervals during the weekday hours of 5:15 AM to 10:45 PM. Within East Palo Alto, Route 296 operates on Clarke Avenue, Bay Road, and northern Pulgas Avenue. 

SamTrans Route 280. Route 280 operates between the Purdue Ave / Fordham Street intersection and the Stanford Mall via University Avenue and Pulgas Avenue with 60-minute intervals during the weekday hours of 5:30 AM to 9:11 PM

SamTrans Route 81. Route 81 is a school-oriented route that provides service between various neighborhoods in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton. There is one westbound run at the Pulgas/Weeks stop in the morning and one eastbound run in the afternoon. 

Clipper START — 50% discount for low-income residents on SamTrans, Caltrain, Muni, and others; 20% discount on AC Transit, BART, and others.

SamTrans and Caltrain Trip Planning:

  • Google Maps - Google has collaborated with SamTrans and Caltrain to provide transit directions and schedules.
  • SamTrans Mobile - The SamTrans mobile app is a valuable resource for riding SamTrans. Use this app to pay bus fares, buy and activate tickets, and see SamTrans departures, timetables, and routes. 
2. $100 to Bike or E-Bike

Earn up to $100 to bike to work or school to/from EPA. Use the Strava mobile app to report your bike trips to Commute.org’s STAR system. Details: https://commute.org/rewards/#bicycle 

Bicycling can be a fun, dependable and virtually free mode of transportation. Bicycling also burns 500 calories an hour, so you can travel and stay fit at the same time. The Bay Area’s https://511.org/biking provides tips on: biking to work, biking to school, biking on SamTrans/Caltrain, parking/lockers, crossing the Dumbarton Bridge, maps, trails, and maintenance. 

Heading to EPA from Mountain View or Sunnyvale? Consider a traffic-free route along the breathtaking Bay Trail. See: Interactive Bay Trail Map.  

Slough to slough traffic-free cycling from Sunnyvale to EPA 

3. $100 to carpool

Save time and money by sharing the ride – and you can get up to $100. Details: https://commute.org/rewards/#carpool 

4. Save $6,000 per year on vanpooling

With vanpools, seven to 15 people commute together. The Bay Area Vanpool Program provides vanpools $500 off the monthly cost of a vanpool. The Program also helps commuters find vanpool seats, start vanpools, get free bridge tolls, and get discounted parking. Details: https://511.org/vanpool. Additional vanpool benefits are available from Commute.org. 

5. Zero-cost-to-you Guaranteed Ride Home (GRH)

If there’s an emergency and you need to leave work early, your ride is on us. When you commute using a sustainable mode and an illness or emergency occurs, we’ll cover the cost of getting you home. Our GRH program reimburses the cost of your ride home using any form of transportation, including SamTrans, Caltrain, Uber, Lyft, and taxis. Details: https://commute.org/rewards/#GRH. 

 

Best wishes for sustainable and hassle-free travel, 

Steve Raney, City of East Palo Alto green travel alternatives point of contact, Public Works’ Transportation Demand Management Program, tdmprogram@cityofeastpaloalto.org

 

 

 

 

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