In 1998, our founder Doras Briggs initiated forming an organization for Station Hosts to serve rail passengers in Northern California. Doras had retired from serving as an assistant to the vice president at the University of California, Berkeley and was a member of the Amtrak Customer

Advisory Committee and a Director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), now the Rail Passengers Association.

Consulting with similar programs in North Carolina and Olympia, Washington, at the age of 83; she formally created a Station Host program in 2001 at the Emeryville Amtrak station. At the end of 2001 hosts were serving at the Emeryville, Martinez and Oakland-Jack London stations.

Several of the first-year volunteers from 2001 continue to serve rail customers today. Seventeen years later after Doras’s hard work, with a developing partnership with Amtrak, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, and San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority the association provides Hosts at 11 stations.

Our Station Host volunteers help passengers at stations from Sacramento south to Bakersfield and to San Luis Obispo. Annually our members volunteer a total of approximately 7,000 hours.

Visit the Become A Volunteer page for more information about becoming a Station Host volunteer.

OUR HISTORY