Sigh, I have a monthly pass, I tag once per month, then I don't worry any more.
One could go to turnstiles like bart where you have to 'ticket in' and 'ticket out', it will probably come to that.
One solution would be to have RFID readers scan for your card coming off the train but that opens up other issues.
If you are a gadget person, having an app on your phone which geo-fenced your ticket usage would be another option. Harder to do the verify on the train step if its too easily forged/spoofed.
Aren't those turnstiles exactly the solution? In London I used an Oyster card and it worked exactly that way. Scan it once to get in and scan it once to get back out. Works brilliantly.
Yes and no, CalTrain has really open stations, unlike something that was designed to be a commuter rail they are a hold over from the time when it was a traditional passenger railroad (with stations, tickets purchased on board, etc). So in order to achieve this you'd need a lot of work at all the stations and that is money that CalTrain doesn't have.
They are getting funds to 'upgrade' as part of the high speed rail project (same right of way) and that may allow them to do something more organized.
Oyster works in 99% of these scenarios. We use it in London for:
Buses - Single Tap / Single Fare
Tube, Light Rail, Tram, High Speed Rail - Tap in and Out
This is either PAYG with fare calculated by zones traveled in or travel cards per zone. Personally I have a zone 2-3 travel card and PAYG credit which gets used when I travel into other zones at a discount.
User education is key as same as Caltrain some stations no not have ticket gates but usually swipe points by entrances.
User education is NOT the key. As a user I just want a train to get me from A to B, without a hassle.
User education only works in complex systems, think nuclear power plant; that's because without education you could potentially blow up the whole planet.
Now, when it comes to trains, there has to be 0 education. Things need to function intuitively, even to someone who's never been aboard a train.
I live at a station without automated barriers. If I don't tap in or tap out I get charged the maximum fare automatically. This is a good enough reason to tap correctly.
Oyster has the same problems as Caltrain, they just ignore it by making buses "single tap", and not bothering with pro rata charges.
Caltrain has made the business decision to model fares like those of the London tube system, but without the access control to automatically enforce the zones.
One could go to turnstiles like bart where you have to 'ticket in' and 'ticket out', it will probably come to that.
One solution would be to have RFID readers scan for your card coming off the train but that opens up other issues.
If you are a gadget person, having an app on your phone which geo-fenced your ticket usage would be another option. Harder to do the verify on the train step if its too easily forged/spoofed.