Traveler’s Notes . . .

Business is booming on Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train. Ridership on the route between Los Angeles and Seattle was up 24% for fiscal year 1997, when nearly half a million people took the train. . . . Last week, tolls doubled from $1 to $2 on state-owned bridges, including the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tolls remained $3 on the Golden Gate Bridge. The money is financing $2.5 billion worth of work on five bridges.