Capital Corridor Offers Students New Options

New train route runs throughout Northern California

Capitol Corridor’s Stride Onboard program has now partnered with Santa Clara to provide students with a means of transportation to and from any city within San Jose and Auburn, while offering various discounts and rewards.

Michael Alves, the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Capitol Corridor says the Capital Corridor is a fast, reliable and affordable passenger train.  Alves also says that their 170-mile train route is expanded by a network of bus connections from Mendocino in the north to Santa Barbara in the south.

This service is an intercity passenger heavy rail train with about 18 stations in eight Northern California counties: Placer, Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara. The service runs throughout most of the day and provides a convenient alternative to traveling along the congested I-80, I-680 and I-880 freeways. 

There is a booking engine on Capitol Corridor’s website that will take the students to Amtrak, which will be handling the tickets. The company has also partnered with Chinook Book, which is an app that provides students with an access code for different discounts and rewards. 

Some of these include a 15 percent all day everyday discount of regular fares and the six ride multi-ride discount. If a student purchases six rides per route, they will receive a one way trip where each route will be a 25 percent discount. The coupons could also be used for any stores or restaurants along the route.

Mika Philips is the at-large senator for commuter and transfer students. She is excited at the prospect of having discounted transportation options specifically for students.

“I think it would be really great to have discounts because I have friends in Davis and I enjoy taking the Amtrak rather than driving, but a round trip from here to Davis and then back is $70 total,” Philips said. “As a college student, it would be much more affordable.”

The Stride on Board program hopes to make travel more comfortable for the students as well. Onboard, there is free wifi, reusable straws, and a Café Car, which accepts discounts from Chinook Book.

“Our train provides service to dozens of schools in California, and we’re excited to introduce this money-saving ticket option along with the perks of a student-focused and eco-friendly rewards program,” Rebecca Saltzman, chair of the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority’s Board of Directors, said in a press release.