This was a big week for my 15-year-old son Paul. He rode
CalTrain (the commuter
train that runs from Gilroy to San Francisco on the Peninsula) and San
Francisco’s city trams and buses to his grandmother’s house by himself, twice. Paul
and his older sister Jessica are working on a summer project taking photos of some
of my mother’s folk art collection. Usually, they travel together but two
days this week Paul had to start from San Jose later. The San Francisco
Bay Area is made up of
nine counties and about 100 big and little communities. San Jose and San Francisco
are about fifty miles apart.
Jessica is independent and has been riding the train by herself since she was
11. She started riding CalTrain to San Francisco regularly in 2005 (when she was
17). This summer while she is home from college, she has been giving Paul lessons in
public transit – showing him where and how to buy tickets, where the bus stops
are, and how to work out transfers and connections.
Once you know how public transit works, it seems easy. I grew up riding San
Francisco buses but I didn’t ride the train by myself until I was about Paul’s
age. There was a boy in Jessica’s class who waited until college to learn. I hope
Paul will take advantage of his new knowledge to explore more of the Bay Area.
CalTrain engine 920
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CalTrain station engine decoration
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Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson
