Caltrain device fixed: According to Christine Dunn, spokeswoman with the San Mateo County Transit District, Caltrain technicians check the stations' "validator" devices every other day. These are the machines that validate a rider's ticket before the rider boards a train. On Wednesday, ChronicleWatch reported the frustrations of Allison MacQueen Felder, who said the San Mateo station's validator has been on the fritz since December. That day, a Caltrain technician checked the validator and found it to be working, but "he replaced the validator as a precautionary measure," Dunn said. Bent tickets often don't work in Caltrain's validator devices because of the machines' "finicky cutting mechanisms," Dunn said. "To reduce these problems," she said, "Caltrain will introduce a new eight-ride ticket on March 2 (that) will only need to be time-stamped. This will allow us to disable the cutting mechanism in the validators." She said a 60-day transition period will be enacted to allow 10-ride tickets to be honored. Detailed information on the change will be posted at www.caltrain.com, she said.

This article appeared on page B - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle