There is a free shuttle from points in the campus to the Palo Alto train Station. There is another station in Palo Alto (California Street), but you want the main PA station. Buy a ticket at the machine on the northbound track (SF direction) to Milbrae station. This should be a 2-zone ticket costing $4, or $8 for an all-day or round trip. Important, you MUST buy a ticket before boarding or they will throw you off if they catch you, which they probably won't. The Milbrae station is the only point where you can directly change from train to BART. At Milbrae buy a BART ticket to Lake Merritt at the machine and enter BART. This will cost $4.25 or $8.50 R/T. At the Milbrae station try to get a Fremont train and you can ride it to Lake Merritt. There are also trains going to Richmond, and you will have to transfer to the Fremont train somewhere along the line. In the dark you may want to catch a cab from the sation to JLS.

There is a Caltrain departure at 5:06 PM that arrives at Millbrae at 5:25. BART (Richmond train) leaves the Millbrae station at 5:33 and arrives at Oakland/12th Street at 6:17.

From the Millbrae station, only BART trains to Richmond stop here prior to 7 PM. After 7 PM, only Dublin/Pleasanton trains stop here. The Richmond trains stop at Oakland/12th Street, and the Dublin/Pleasanton trains stop at Lake Merritt. Both stop are approximately the same distance from Jack London Square. The Oakland/12th Street stop is closer to the shopping area, and the Lake Merritt stop is closer to the Amtrak station.

If your friend is trying to catch an Amtrak train towards Bakersfield or Sacramento, do not go to the Oakland station. Instead, ride BART all the way to Richmond and catch Amtrak here. The Richmond station is shared between BART and Amtrak.

If your friend is trying to catch an Amtrak train towards San Jose, do not take Caltrain or BART or any of that. Instead, take AC Transit Route U (picks up on the Stanford campus) directly to the Fremont Amtrak Station.

More info:

http://www.caltrain.com

http://www.bart.gov

http://www.actransit.org

P.S. If your friend does not want to walk between the Oakland/12th Street Station and Jack London Square, s/he can take AC Transit Routes 72 or 72M. These routes serve the shopping area and the Amtrak station. There is a slight discount for the bus if s/he takes a transfer ticket before exiting the BART station.

Thanks so much. They arrived safely and were amazed at how easy and fast it was. Gotta love mass transit!