The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train will offer a third daily round trip from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo beginning May 4.
The new train will arrive in San Luis Obispo at 10:53 a.m. and depart at 12:12 p.m., according to Alyssa Dowdalls, the marketing & communications manager for Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency. It will arrive in Los Angeles at 5:50 p.m.
The new schedule will increase trips from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo from two to three and trips to Goleta from five to six.
Cal Poly students, like Layla James, a business administration freshman from Bakersfield, without cars often take the train to and from San Luis Obispo between quarters.
“My roommates both live in LA, and I know that they have more difficulty finding a good time to leave school to go back home,” James said.
Olivia Dang, a city and regional planning freshman, took the Amtrak home over spring break but expressed concerns toward the convenience of taking the train.
“The drive to San Jose is like three hours,” Dang said. “But the train took like five or six, and there were so many delays and stops.”
Iza Maselko, a statistics freshman, took the Pacific Surfliner from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles before her flight home to Spokane, Washington.
“The timing was odd for me because I had to take a flight out of LAX the next morning,” Maselko said.
She hopes that with more train times, she will not need to spend the night at the airport in the future.
The new train ride was announced Monday in a LOSSAN press release, which is collaborating with Santa Barbara County Association of Governments and Ventura County Transportation Commission to expand services.
Measure A, a half-cent sales tax in Santa Barbara County, allows for the additional round trip, according to SBCAG Executive Director Marjie Kirn. 79% of voters in the county approved the measure in 2008, which funds 30 years of transportation projects.
“I think it’ll benefit Cal Poly students that want to go have fun somewhere else or just visit home,” said Kaleb Nguyen, an English freshman. “And it’ll make it easier for them to get to where they want to go, and then also get back to school in time.”
“It’s another opportunity, which is good,” Dang said. “I’m just concerned about how long of a train ride that would be.”
The Pacific Surfliner stops at 29 stations across the 351 miles from San Diego County to San Luis Obispo County. Travelers can view the current schedule and book train rides ahead of time.
The Pacific Surfliner is the second-busiest intercity passenger rail route in the United States, according to the Amtrak website. The site boasts comfortable seating, free Wi-Fi, power outlets and scenic coastal views.
Students can also earn 15% off train rides if they are 25 years or younger.