I've never used BART/Caltrain so I can't say if it's that horrible, but most of the stuff you talk about sounds like totally normal train riding issues you'll find everywhere.
How to get there, what's their take on fares, how are the lines organized, how bad will the ticket machine suck, how to not miss my destination, how does entry/exit/transfer work, that's it. Nothing special or challenging for anyone who uses public transit on a semi regular basis.
I usually research the workings of the local public transport before i go somewhere. That's 20 minutes (on the plane/train) well spent, because all cities have a slightly different approach to the same problem. Someone should really make a website for this that boils all the facts of the world's transit systems down to a cheat sheet.
I've never used BART/Caltrain so I can't say if it's that horrible, but most of the stuff you talk about sounds like totally normal train riding issues you'll find everywhere.
How to get there, what's their take on fares, how are the lines organized, how bad will the ticket machine suck, how to not miss my destination, how does entry/exit/transfer work, that's it. Nothing special or challenging for anyone who uses public transit on a semi regular basis.
I usually research the workings of the local public transport before i go somewhere. That's 20 minutes (on the plane/train) well spent, because all cities have a slightly different approach to the same problem. Someone should really make a website for this that boils all the facts of the world's transit systems down to a cheat sheet.