Trains In The Southland

I went to Ventura yesterday to give a talk at a meeting. When I was figuring out how to get to Ventura, situated on the Oxnard Plain between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, far away from major airports, I came up with a novel plan: fly to Burbank, and take the train! It couldn’t have been easier, actually. Hop on the 50 minute flight on Southwest from Sacramento to Burbank, walk one block south to the train station at the airport, then take the train west to Ventura ($13 each way), the stop there being several blocks from the conference hotel.

This isn’t supposed to be like this: convenient public transportation in Southern California. Burbank is a good airport to fly into as well, not the out-of-the way zoo that LAX is. On my return trip this morning, there was even a group of sports fans taking the train 75 miles to go to a game. These were USC fans headed to the big game against Cal (alas, Cal lost, but they kept it pretty close): I think they got on the train at Santa Barbara.

One person in my dinner party last night was wondering if somebody would be able to give her a ride to the Burbank Airport today. I told her about the train—she was happy for the tip, since she loves train travel. So do I.