ACE Insider

October 18, 2007

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Tree Cutting at San Joaquin Stations
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Please be advised:

In order to allow for enhanced and clear visibility for the security
cameras, the trees at the following parking lots will be trimmed over
the next few weekends. To accomodate, vehicles must be removed from
the parking lots during the specified weekends; any remaining vehicles
in these lots may be towed at owners expense.

Stockton Parking Lots: The weekend of October 13

Lathrop/Manteca: The weekend of October 20

Tracy: The weekend of October 27



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Parking Enforcement at Livermore Garage - UPDATE
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The City of Livermore has asked ACE to remind passengers about the
following parking issues.  Passengers may now park their vehicle on
levels TWO AND THREE only; additionally, overnight parking is not
allowed at the garage. Signs are posted, and the City will now begin
enforcing these regulations.  Anyone not adhering to these regulations
may be cited by the City of Livermore, and vehicles left may be towed
at the owners expense.

Please contact the City of Livermore for questions or concerns.



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Great America Parking
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The City of Santa Clara has put up new signs on the street at Great
America. They will now allow parking again. The only exception is
12:01 AM Wednesday until 07:00 AM Wednesday morning. You will be
ticketed if you park on this day and time.





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Change Your Clocks...But Not Yet
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Daylight Savings Time ends on November 4th this year.



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Discount Sales Promotion Expires October 31, 2007
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The limited sales promotion which featured a fifty percent discount
letter to new riders who apply for the "Test Drive" voucher will end
on October 31, 2007.  Future changes to this Test Drive program will
allow for deeper partnerships with employers by offering one free
round-trip "discovery" tickets to employees.  This change will be
phased in after the first of the year.

Fifty percent discount letters that have been issued on or before the
October 31, 2007 end date will be honored for redemption until
February 15, 2008.




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Attention Bike Locker Patrons
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All passengers who have used, or have shown interest in obtaining, a
bike locker was recently sent a new bike locker registration form.  As
a reminder, these registration forms must be completed and received by
Susan Payan by October 29th.

For questions or comments, please contact Susan at susanp@...
or (209) 944-6277.


Click here to send an email to Susan
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?AltamontCommuterExpr/2b4fa19efc/760c7ef1b0/559c7e2eaa

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ACE Maintenance Facility Initial Study
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Gregg Baxter, Director of Operations for the ACE service, is
interested in your feedback on the Initial Study for the ACE
Maintenance Facility project.  This study, which outlines the project
objectives and goals, is now available on the ACE website for public
review.  Please take a moment and review the document; we welcome your
feedback.

This new maintenance facility will be a great asset to the agency and
will provide a more efficient operation of equipment upkeep and
movement.

Click here for the study on the ACE website
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?AltamontCommuterExpr/2b4fa19efc/760c7ef1b0/0e56629ffb

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Pleasanton Passengers - New Shuttle Updates
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Tests are currently underway to determine the feasibility of bringing
Wheels shuttles 53 and 54, and the County Connection shuttle right up
to the train platform. The operators of these buses will inform ACE
operations soon as to whether or not this enhanced service will be
available.  Stay tuned for more information -



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Free Monthly Pass!
**********************************************************************
Attention Monthly pass holders. Want to get a free December 2007
monthly pass? Here’s how!

1) Submit each original monthly ticket from January 2006 to October
2007.
2) Submit a copy of your November 2007 pass (both front and back).
3) Fill out a Loyalty Reward Application form and submit with your
tickets. The LRP application form is available from our website. For
your convenience, the link to the application form is provided below.
4) Send in your entry by November 15, 2007. For automatic renewal
passengers, application must be received prior to the 15th to avoid
being charged.

Mail to:

Loyalty Reward Program (LRP)- December 2007
949 E. Channel Street
Stockton, CA 95202

For further details on the Loyalty Reward Program please visit our
website at www.acerail.com

Have any questions or concerns? Call 1-800-411-7245 and ask for the
Ticketing department.




Click here for more information
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?AltamontCommuterExpr/2b4fa19efc/760c7ef1b0/5e1f9879bf

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Searching for a Signal
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About 18 months ago, the Altamont Commuter Express began investing in
a new and cutting edge technology designed to put high speed internet
on each of the ACE trains. Over these last 18 months CTS and Raysat –
the equipment and service providers – have learned a lot about what
does not work and, more importantly, what will work. After the most
recent round of testing, it has become increasingly clear that the
largest “hurdle” is the amount of bandwidth needed to make this work.


Fixing this problem is not as easy as it sounds.

There has been very limited bandwidth available on satellites with a
“look angle” appropriate for Northern California. Further, there has
been a huge increase in price for this already limited commodity. On
the trains, our consultants had to learn about the best way to channel
the WiFi signal throughout each car and keep the signal strong enough
for passenger usage.

There have been additional factors they have had to overcome, such as
the very high temperatures in the ceiling of each train. Those high
temperatures can affect and even damage the equipment the consultants
are using for this project.

WiFi A Challenge Across the Rails

The idea of having Internet access onboard many other California
trains have stalled.

Caltrain has announced that they have rejected several bids to build
out their WiFi service.  The agency could not afford one of the
bidder’s costs, which resulted in a necessary subsidy, and did not
want to deal with the other bidder’s complexity.

The Capitol Corridor has experienced similar disappointments in their
WiFi testing, stating that the initial bidders either pulled out or
offered impractical options.

As you can see, there are many factors and variables that make this
endeavor a challenging project, but one that we have worked hard to
make successful.

Not Giving Up

With all of this in mind here is what ACE and its vendors are planning
to do:

 Swap out the current antennas for the latest version. This
includes changing the internal modems but not the internal WiFi CPE.
 Change service providers. ACE’s new provider will be providing
service on a new satellite with an even better “look angle” and the
amount of bandwidth will be 6X downlink and 4X uplink speeds as the
previous provider. This additional bandwidth is significantly more
than what is actually required.
 Test this out on one train and then move to the three other
trains once this proves successful.

In addition to what we have planned for the next step, there may be
options that we have not considered yet.  It is entirely possible that
solutions to the WiFi woes are more achievable than anyone has
realized thus far.  We admit that we are not technology geniuses, but
we know that we have technology geniuses onboard the ACE trains who
may know how to rectify the challenges that we have faced with this
service.

Do you want to be part of the solution?  I, personally, welcome your
suggestions and ideas. If you believe that you may have a solution in
mind for the pioneering of this unique, one-of-a-kind feature for the
train, please contact me – if your plan works, I may just hire you to
finish the project!

Stacey

wifi@...




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