“Our Coaster service is extremely popular, and I'd like to believe it's more than $4 (a gallon) gas,” Lane Fernandes, who manages the Coaster, told North County Transit District board members yesterday.

“We're just under 1.7 million (passengers) for the year, which is far and away a record,” he said. “We've got full trains out there.”

That's 8 percent more riders than last year, Fernandes said.

The train has become so popular that the transit district has added a car to two of the four weekday trains, stretching them to six cars. That's an additional 130 seats on about half of the Coaster's 11 weekday round trips. The additional cars will cost about $65,000 a year.

District spokesman Tom Kelleher said the agency had already added cars during some Padres promotions – the transit district operates Coasters for the baseball team's home games.

But problems at the Old Town station prevented the district from adding a car to its regular trains until this week.

Kelleher said the district moved a ramp that enables riders in wheelchairs to board the train at Old Town, allowing the Coaster to stop farther south along the tracks.

That means the locomotive engine will no longer block Taylor Street when the train stops at Old Town, he said.

The district has a smaller problem at the Sorrento Valley station, which is too short for the longer train.

At that station, Fernandes said, the district will not permit passengers to get on or off through the two northernmost doors of the six-car train.

“It's not a necessity, but there's no margin for error,” Fernandes said.

The district is planning to expand the Sorrento Valley station by early next year, said Tom Lichterman, director of rail services.

The district has cut bus routes and raised bus and train fares to make up for state budget cuts. In addition, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System instituted a $1 fare for a shuttle service at Sorrento Valley. That shuttle had been free.

Transit board member Dave Druker said talks are under way to re-institute free or reduced-rate shuttle service at Sorrento Valley, one of the busiest stops on the Coaster route.

“Basically, there's a group of people MTS and NCTD is meeting with to figure out how to provide that service through a public-private partnership,” Druker said in an interview.

Some employers already operate their own shuttles, so they may benefit by teaming with other employers and the transit districts, Druker said.

Some riders who use the Sorrento Valley station had said the combination of fare increases and the shuttle charge make the Coaster less attractive.

Coaster fares range from $4.50 to $6 one way, depending on distance traveled, and from $129 to $168 for a regular monthly pass. Youths, seniors and disabled passengers pay less.

Druker said with people paying $70 to fill their gas tanks, a monthly Coaster pass is a bargain.

“If a person's buying a pass at $140 a month, there's a payback on that very fast,” Druker said.

Michael Burge: (760) 476-8230; michael.burge@uniontrib.com