Although Silicon Valley is not known for its public transportation, about 40,000 people on the Peninsula ride the Caltrain to work. You’d think there’d be all types of people on the train, but really it’s just a bunch of predictable commuters.
CC BY 2.0 - Yukihiro Matsuda
Who are these blokes?
1. There’s the guy with the chrome messenger bag. Late in life he decided he’d be cool.
2. And the impossibly well-put-together Stanford grad who isn’t an engineer but likes startups and working with the guys, and was hired for her grooming and ability to speak in full sentences to the outside world. Who says a “useless” major isn’t worth something?
3. Then there’s the European newcomer. Better dressed than most, he’s knee-deep in CSS on a Macbook Air and jamming out to the latest Euro trance.
4. And always, the loud drunks with tattoos, who get on and off between Redwood City and Bayshore, except when there’s a Giants game, when they take the train all the way to 4th and King.
5. Don’t forget the past-his-prime hippe in the bike car, who wears a reflector vest and has “Out of Iraq now” stickers on his pack.
6. Perhaps more expected, there’s the khakis, loafers and polo-wearing business-type exuding Republican sympathies.
7. There’s the Stanford hipster who, too-cool-for-school, lives in the Mission and commutes to campus on Caltrain (with fixie).
8. Then there’s the older woman who claims not to speak English but manages to mumble her way out of paying for a ticket.
9. And always there’s that insouciant but soft guy, self-confident and wearing motorcycle jacket and carrying helmet, pleased that everyone now knows he’s a cool biker.
10. Then there’s me. Spilling coffee on my laptop and cursing when I forget to tag off.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments