I would ride the train everywhere if there was a car waiting for me when I got there.
Unfortunately most Amtrak stations I've seen are out in the middle of nowhere, with none of the surrounding services to support travelers (hotel, restaurant, car rental) such as you'd see at an airport. You'd be lucky to find a vending machine, and good luck calling a cab. You don't want to disembark at such a place at 2:00 a.m.
West Oakland used to be a transit hub, but the train station is a decrepit shell closed by the '89 quake, which also crushed the freeway and caused the rail lines to be routed away. In olden times that Southern Pacific rail depot was surrounded by hotels and restaurants. No more.