Altamont Corridor Express

They’re proposing to increase fares yet again! And what is the justification for these increases? I don’t see any new amenities. The trains seem to still always have delays. Service has not improved at all. In fact, it has gone WAY DOWNHILL. They lost most of their old crew who was always really friendly. The new crew needs a thorough course in customer service before ACE lets them interact with passengers. Communication from the head office about delays is absolutely horrendous. It’s as if they want to withhold information about the delays just long enough so that they can get you to stamp your ticket and then they finally tell you that you’re not getting home until 10 that night. I would appreciate it if they were more communicative so that I could pursue another means of transportation when there are huge delays.

terrible customer service. Add ace rail to the list of companies with terrible customer service.
I bought at month pass. the ticket seller failed to Inform me that it was only valid for the next month and that I would need a ticket for that day. So on my way home the ticket checker ‘caught’ me and tried to force me to buy a ticket. Ive never purchased a month pass before i had thought it was valid for a month from purchase. The checker still required that I buy a ticket despite already spending over $ 200 for the monthly pass. The checker was a good person and changed her mind and let me ride without buying the ticket for that day. That is good customer service but it came a little late and I was understandably upset.
I called ticket services as soon as I got off the train and of course they had gone home for the day already (it was only 6:30). When the ticket service person called back she was extremely rude to me. She talked to me like I was an idiot for not knowing what I wasn’t told. I made an honest mistake and good customer service should never be rude to a paying customer. Before today I would have happily paid $ 200 a month, $ 2400 a year to take ace. But I cannot in good conscience support a company that treats their customers so poorly.
If the ticket services person had been nice and apologized for failing to explain their policy I would have remained a customer.

This is a specific review on my experience yesterday Thursday the 21^st of 2016.
I needed to be on the 5:54am out of Lathrop Manteca. I parked my car at 5:49, started walking to the platform when the train arrived (5:51am?) the young thin lady was at the door in the first car I’m pretty sure she saw me walking to stamp my 20 pass ticket, as I am stamping it the doors closed, I yelled, WAIT! and she did not care! the train took off! at 5:53am!!! Every minute counts for us riders! When I brought it up to the attendant at the booth (tall gray haired man) and showed him the time, he said they have been getting in trouble for being late so that’s why they are in a hurry I said, but it is just now 5:54a.m. to what he said they go by some other time (pacific train something something…) This is ridiculous! I was not only LEFT on the platform stamping my ticket but I also now have that stamp on it for a ride I was not allowed to take! I ended driving to the bay area. Thanks a lot ACE train! Great job young lady train attendant!
I could have just jumped on the train without stamping my ticket BUT I HAVE SEEN THESE TRAIN ATTENDANTS SCOLDING THOSE PASSENGERS THAT DO NOT STAMP THEIR TICKETS! IT IS TERRORIZING! Now I don’t know what was worse, being LEFT for doing what I am supposed to be doing or being embarrassed and treated like a criminal in front of the other passengers for NOT stamping your ticket!
A very frustrated rider!

I’ve been riding ACE on and off, as my work schedule permits, since Day 1 way back in 1998. It’s no picnic but better than driving.
The fifth car of the first three trains each way only opens one-​half of one door at the Tri-​Valley stations. This creates a big delay as passengers unload/​load in a single file line. ACE seems to be okay with these delays. Yet they won’t wait 10 seconds beyond departure time in San Jose to wait for passengers transferring from a late Caltrain. This is irksome.
Passengers are an interesting mix. Various cliques have formed and occupy the same seats every day. Most passengers respect the code of conduct in the dim-​lit cars. But occasionally you’ll find yourself next to someone yammering away on their phone. And you will always — ALWAYS — encounter the junk food junkies, chomping away on their chips and candy and whatever else comes in cellophane bags. I actually saw someone eat a banana one day and thought I was on the wrong train.
The ticket validators are a joke. Expect them to not work half the time. The manufacturer is out of business (of course!) and spare parts don’t exist. ACE mentions waiting for a Clipper upgrade before they’ll take it, but who knows when that will happen. There’s also some other kind of eTicket option in the works. I’m not holding my breath for that either.

Just got done dropping my niece off at the ace station here in Stockton. I really like the new look of it. I remember when they were building this place to make it look nice and new. Wish there was a place for food though.

Used the trip advisor to plan my daily commute from San Joaquin to the Bay area and it was terrible. The time and selection of transfer to other services is not efficient and practical. I also applied for the trial and they failed to deliver.
Need to add additional trips and better coordination with other Bay area transport services to make this a better option than driving.

This train service advises it meets is service level agreements for passenger pick up but it doesn’t. It’s frequently late and that’s inexcusable. 4 ride services westbound and eastbound and they can’t deliver. Simply horrible.

Four trains leaving from Stockton on weekdays! They added the 7:05am.
Also, easiest and cost efficient way to San Jose airport. Take train to Santa Clara ($ 13.75 one way as of date of this review), station is next to Caltrain station, then take free shuttle (10) to SJC, which comes q10mins.

I am a regular commuter on the ACE train from Stockton to Pleasanton (and BART to SF) and back. Wifi is available in most cars, but it is not very reliable. It’ll work in downtown Stockton but thereafter, it’s touch and go. Sometimes even connecting to the wifi is slow and failure-​prone. You’re better off tethering to your phone or getting a mifi if you need to work online while on the train.
If you want to rest and/​or don’t want to hear the obnoxious card-​playing loud-​conversation morning people who board at Lathrop and thereafter, go to rear car trains for a dimmed quiet car. Just remember when getting off at your stop to move to the middle cars as some stations aren’t big enough to allow doors in the rear trains to open (e.g. Pleasanton).
Parking at Stockton Station is found in two smallish lots that are walking distance to the station. By the 6:40 train, it’s starting to get to the point where you wonder if you’ll get a parking spot. The trains themselves are not packed, but most of the time you’ll be sitting next to someone over the course of the trip.
The conductors are fairly strict about where you place your bags, so always stow them or put them in your lap. They also thoroughly check your ticket validation.
Despite these points, the train service is great. Very rarely have they been delayed, and if so, only a by minutes going back home. Overall, it’s a smooth pleasant ride. They go slowly through the Altamont, which is also the region where your cell and wifi will fail.
The ride itself is only slightly faster than an equivalent drive to Pleasanton BART, with the added advantage of not sitting in morning traffic and hunting for BART parking.
I wish they’d improve their wifi service and have food available on the trains.

Definitely a life saver and less stress than navigating traffic. The crew are surprising well groomed, very nice, and attractive to boot! Christina the conductor is a cutie!

After riding ACE on an almost daily basis for the past 6 months now, my opinion of ACE has soured quite a bit. ACE has begun requiring passengers to remove all bags from unoccupied seats effective immediately. Apparently, there is zero discretion afforded to the staff in regard to enforcing this rule, which leads to staff waking up passengers trying to rest in order to have them remove bags when there are entire quadrants of open seats right across the isle. I completely understand the need to have bags removed from the seats when the train is rather full, but waking up passengers when there are plenty of open seats is absolutely ridiculous. Be reasonable.
The other morning, my wife was running late getting to the train and didn’t have time to punch her ticket since the train was arriving as she was pulling into the parking lot in Tracy. She got on the train and asked the fare inspector to sign of her ticket like I have seen dozens of other passengers do over the course of the past several months riding the train without incident. Instead of just signing off the ticket, the inspector sits down and demands to see my wife’s ID. He threatened to fine her and said she would definitely be fined if he caught her doing this again. This was the first time she had ever done this, which could easily be verified by looking at the handful of used 20-​ride tickets that were inside the plastic display sleeve behind her current ticket. Again, be reasonable. ACE is a COMMUTER train service. People run late and life happens. Treat your passengers like customers instead of petty criminals. Don’t embarrass one of your regular passengers by demanding to see ID at 6am because one of your fare inspectors is on a power trip. I figured ACE would more sensitive to this sort of plight seeing how ACE does not exactly have a stellar record of on-​time success itself. I didn’t bust anybody’s balls because the train made me 30 minutes late to work last week, so why don’t you extend the same courtesy to your passengers as well. A better solution would be to stop using 1980’s technology for your ticket validation system. The dot matrix ticket validators are terrible and don’t work half the time either. Caltrain and the rest of the public transit agencies in the Bay Area use the Clipper Card system except for ACE and I’m not sure why.
Once you add a roughly 5% fare increase on top of this lack of service, you can see why my perception of ACE has changed significantly since I started riding last spring. This isn’t enough to make me stop riding since my only other alternative is to drive (which sucks), but I’ll probably start riding my motorcycle more often in the spring and summer months instead of taking the train.

I have been riding for nearly 10 years now, and for the most part I am pleased. However, recently they started this asinine policy of no bags on the adjacent seat. This morning, I was the only individual within 20 empty seats and I was asked to remove my bag from the seat next to me. This zero tolerance and zero intellegence approach is harassment of passengers, despite their incompetence of ordering trains without luggage racks. The problem they are trying to solve is when the train is over half full and people tend to be rude and not remove their bags to allow someone to sit down and to that concern I am sympathetic. They take another approach and announce failure to remove bags when asked to allow a passenger to sit down is a citable offense. This all or nothing approach is alienating long-​term customers.
In addition, their cost of living /​inflation adjustment approach to raising fares is discouraging. The passengers have not received any improvement in service.

I have been riding the ACE train for 2 years now. The rates are increasing this month and this is the 2^nd rate increase since I have been riding. The trains and equipment break down on a regular basis but they dont seem to be using any of this money for repairs. I was givin a warning that I would get a citation for not validating my ticket even though their equipment dont work properly. I spoke with John at ACE who was extremely rude. He made me feel like a criminal and said that maybe the attendants think I am like other people who try to get away without paying their fare. I pay my fare everytime I ride and am disapointed that they treat people this way.

Used to be much better and more open with their communications. The fares are going up again. The train has had no wifi for over 2 weeks.
Stuck on a broken train now also…
Getting very crowded now so very hot in summer.
The only saving grace is the professionalism of their staff working on the actual trains.
There is a reason they removed the public comments board from their website…

Thank goodness for ACE. I thought I was going to lose my mind commuting in the Bay Area freeway cesspool. The train has given me a large chunk of my life back to sleep, read, or do a little more work. My back aches less and I don’t have a bad attitude from dealing with Bay Area drivers when I get home.
Very safe and clean trains that run on time for for most part. Fares are comparable to what you’d spend on gas but you can’t put a price tag on your sanity. The time I save in the morning isn’t much but the payoff is in the evening.
Thanks ACE I expect our relationship to last a long time.

Started taking the train a few months ago and I can tell you that it’s certainly reduced my stress level from sitting in traffic. I get to sit in a CLEAN (unlike BART) train car in clean seats and each car has some tables available as well. The staff is warm and friendly and so far I’ve left two items on the train and both were found, turned in and returned to me.
There is WIFI available and I can also use my hotspot to get work done while commuting.
It’s cheaper than paying for gas in your car to come down and no wear and tear!
Only drawback is that it occasionally can run a bit late but again, when you compare it to commuting down 680 it’s great.

Shhhh. It’s getting pretty full so don’t tell anyone about this any more. I’ts saving my sanity. And the darn people who work on the train are actually personable and nice. Don’t spoil it by filling it up with too many people.

I usually just pick up family from this station but a month ago also had a chance to ride the ACE. It’s pretty nice and CLEAN! It does get crowded early on but since Stockton is the last stop it’s nice to enjoy a row on my own and stretch out. Scenery is pretty nice in some parts of the ride. Will have to ride it again.

I have been riding for over half a year now, and it has generally been a good experience. I do have concerns with the service. The communication of the status of the service is inconsistent. There is a website, a text notification, a Facebook page and twitter. I subscribe to or follow all of these, but typically only the website has the correct and up to date info. The Facebook and twitter updates are sporadic at best. The text notifications are not reliable. For long delays, after a an hour or two the updates just stop, especially late in the evening.
Another concern is communication between the buses that serve the train and ACE. On two occasions that I know of personally, buses have arrived late at the station, and the train departed, leaving passengers stranded for an hour. The most recent occurrence was at Pleasanton, the CCCTA 92x bus passengers literally ran off the bus headed to the train which was sitting at the platform, but the train shut the doors and rolled away, with the passengers running across the parking lot! This is not acceptable service, in my opinion.

I love ace! It is cheap. It is clean. There are not many strange people! What more can u ask for from a train station in downtown Stockton! I always feel safe and I usually take the 5 or 6 trains! I really hope ace becomes huge. I literally recommend this train to everyone I know.
The one bad thing about it is that it only runs in the morning and at night and it’s east and westbound depending on the time of day you are traveling.

This station is definitely better than the other one in Stockton… that one is ridiculously ghetto. Both are in pretty crappy areas of Stockton, but this one is definitely newer (looks almost brand new), and is a tad bit safer than the other one. It’s really well lit (unlike the other location which is just a big dump), and isn’t trashed and dirty like the other station.
One thing I do not like is the parking area. It’s a really small parking lot, and you can only enter or exit one way. I got annoyed last time I went to pick up someone here because the person in the car in front of me was apparently still waiting for whoever they were picking up. It was impossible for me to get around the person’s car because the parking lot is so small that there’s no way to pass around cars. I think it’s designed more to be a quick drop off/​pick up area, but people are stupid and decide to park in the lane instead, causing everyone else behind them to get blocked in with no escape.