You can buy a monthly pass between San Jose and San Francisco for $225.25. A discounted pass is 50% of that. If you commuted every day for a month it works out to $5.65 and change per ride. an old fart like me could do it for $2.85 if I had the energy to work everyday. You could probably not bicycle that trip that cheaply (yeah, I know it's a tad far for a two wheeler -- sake of argument, pls).

According to the Chron: 40,000 riders a day. If my back-of-the-envelope math is correct they could cover the $30,000,000 short fall by adding $3 and change to the average ticket. While I know lower income people commute this way, we're talking about some of the best-healed riders in the world. (CF: CapCorridor rider avg annual income is $71,000.)

It's got to be related to the "entitlement mentality" that CalTrain can't cover their costs by jumping the farebox price - the old 60s' slogan "Grass, ass, or gas. Nobody rides for free!" (Yes, I'm aware of the recent bust of a CalTrain conductor but am discounting my sympathy for that argument for now.)