Category: Watchdog

Our efforts in monitoring the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with reports on where transit funding comes from and where it (doesn’t) go.

Oops, VTA FAIL Again at Levi’s

Crowds waited for as long as 2 hours for VTA light rail trains after last night's Stadium Series game in Santa Clara. Source:

Crowds waited as long as 2 hours for VTA light rail after last night’s Stadium Series game. Source: @techiewinmom

Last night, transit in the South Bay proved it still has much work to do to handle large event crowds. After last night’s Stadium Series hockey game between the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks at Levi’s Stadium, we received reports that many fans had trouble getting home on Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail after the game.

Current Events

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New VTA priority seating sign, soon to be on all buses and light rail trains.

This evening’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors’ meeting in San Jose:

  • discussed on new signs reminding riders to give up front seats near bus and train doors for the elderly and disabled (pictured above)
  • introduced a new, employee-only hotline where fraud, waste, and abuse can be anonymously reported to a third party “ethics hotline”
  • initial discussion reminding citizens of the VTA biennial budget – how your money will be spent on transportation for the next two (2) years – with public meetings in may.

Towards the end of the Board of Directors’ meeting, Board Member Dave Whittum of Sunnyvale passed on some findings on how more bus service can be provided in Santa Clara County at the lowest cost. All attempts will be made to obtain a copy of this report, which will be featured here.

Also, now that the web site issues have been fixed, this weekend will feature updated VTA Board Member and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) contact information for 2015.

Thank you for your patience, and have a nice weekend.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

One more note: all web site issues have now been resolved as of this morning.

Some Questions On El Camino Real BRT Draft Docs

The idea of having dedicated bus lanes or even bus queue jumping lanes along El Camino Real sounds great. This has raised some questions, however.

On January 14, I wrote a letter on behalf of our group to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) providing input on its Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for their El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. Input for the letter was obtained from members on our Yahoo! Group email list.

First VTA Board Meeting Of 2015 Tonight

This evening, the very first Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors meeting of 2015 will take place.

Amongst the items the Board will vote on, according to their meeting agenda (Adobe PDF Document):

  • Initial remarks from Perry Woodward of Gilroy, who will chair the VTA Board this year
  • Approving or rejecting an initial study for a new parking structure at the Tamien Light Rail Station area
  • Approve or reject spending $11.7 million of your money on a construction contract to construct Phase II of the Mountain View Light Rail double-tracking program.

The meeting site is the County Supervisors’ Chambers at the County Government Offices 70 W. Hedding Street (at North First Street) in San Jose.  The County Government Offices are one block north of the Civic Center light rail station and the bus stop for VTA’s 61, 62, 66 and 181 express bus lines. Plan on driving to the VTA Board Meeting? There’s free on-street parking in front of and across Hedding Street from the County Government Offices, starting right at 5:30pm.

Want to speak at tonight’s VTA Board of Directors meeting? Here are some rules and procedures you need to follow to get your voice properly heard.

See you this evening!

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Not Yet Ready For Prime Time

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Bus and light rail service to and from Levi’s Stadium was received with mixed reviews. On August 2, the first sporting event at Levi’s Stadium took place with a soccer match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the visiting Seattle Sounders. While the Earthquakes won the match 1-0, some fans took several hours to get home from the game. I was personally there to observe getting there to – and from – this historic event.