browngeek

CalTrain is catering to a niche market, the commuters who rather save the frustration of traffic than the money spent on the commute. Sort of like the Mac users- rather spend the few extra $$ than to deal with Windoze’s “blue screen of death”

CalTrain is operating in red and recently hiked the fare prices by about 20% to ameliorate the losses. 20%? thats steep! Will this move force the regulars to drive rather than caltrain (note the casual use of of CalTrain as a verb)? I don’t suppose so. Let me explain why.

I just completed the book, The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell. In it, Gladwell talks about a certain group of individuals called the Mavens. They are the early adopters of any new innovation or technology. Businesses cater to them at the nascent stages of the product release, to fuel a word-of-mouth epidemic about the product. This is the Tipping Point where the product crosses the chasm from the early adopters to the early majority . The Mavens, in other words, can make or break a product. Of course, if the product itself is not good, the Mavens will move on to another alternative. This is, according to Gladwell, the Stickiness Factor. An attribute of the product itself. Market a “sticky” product to the Mavens- the Tipping Point can be reached.

I believe that the loyal commuters of CalTrain are the Mavens. They might not be the “early” adopters but they see the potential for it. Then why is there no CalTrain “epidemic”? Thats because the Stickiness Factor is lacking. Sure, you can sitback and relax in the train rather than deal with that man on the highway, driving an empty pickup, who is eating a donut in one hand and shaving with the other, or that woman who has lipstick in one hand and a starbux latte in the other, driving an empty SUV. But this is not a sticky message. Most people say they would rather get to work a little soon (although CalTrain is accused of being slow, the time saved by driving is only a few minutes) and then *relax* at work!

The Stickiness Factor CalTrain needs is…are you ready?…Wireless Internet access! Duh!
Seems like an obvious idea, then why the hell don’t they still have it. Geez, we are after all, in the *silicon valley*, the high-tech Holy Grail. CalTrain should promote the concept of “Train Office” (yes, similar to home office). That should make the message sticky and we Mavens will gladly start the word-of-mouth epidemic.

CalTrain has the potential to become mainstream. Its Tipping point is Wi-Fi access.