Next Network “Phase II” From VTA

by  • 

One week after Measure B’s passage, more bus service reductions in Santa Clara County are being discussed.  At a workshop today in San Jose, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will propose to staff “an “85/15 balance between ridership-purposed and coverage-purposed services.”  What this could potentially mean:

If VTA pursues a more ridership-purposed transit network, routes that would be leading candidates to be decreased or discontinued are coverage-purposed routes located in the low density areas of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and the Almaden Valley, East Hills and Evergreen areas of San Jose. Some of the riders in these areas depend on VTA for transportation and VTA is exploring alternatives to retain their mobility while lowering the per-ride subsidy that VTA currently pays, which generally ranges from double to triple the system-wide average per-ride subsidy.

Where VTA’s “Next Network” workshop will be held:

TIME & DATE: November 18 at 2:00pm
PLACE: VTA Auditorium at VTA’s River Oaks headquarters, 3331 N. First Street, San Jose
GETTING THERE: VTA’s headquarters is across the street from River Oaks light rail station.  It is also served bh the 58 bus line.

Special thanks to @CALHSR on Twitter for informing our group of this news item.

More information on VTA’s proposal will be posted this weekend.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Improving Story/Keyes in San Jose

by  • 

Live, work, or do business along Story Road and Willow Street between Capitol Expressway and Highway 87? The City of San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) want to hear from YOU.  The goal of these street improvements, according to VTA:

The study will investigate ways to make this corridor safer and easier to use for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders while still serving drivers. We are currently evaluating the challenges, needs and opportunities for the study, which will be developed in 2017.

Tonight will be the first of three (3) community meetings to obtain public input on street improvements in the area.

DATE & TIME: November 17, 2016 from 6pm-8pm
PLACE: Leininger Center, Okayama Room, 1300 Senter Road, San Jose (1/2 block south of Story Road)
GETTING THERE: VTA’s 25 and 73 bus lines stop within a short walk of the Center, located near Happy Hollow Park and Zoo.

Want a better street in the area to travel by bicycle, bus, or automobile?  Be there.  Information on the other two public meetings will be available as soon as possible.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

 

NO.

by  • 

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
–Albert Einstein

no-2016-vta-measure-b

Here we go again.  On November 8, Santa Clara County voters will once again decide a transportation sales tax measure for Santa Clara County’s Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

Remember the slogans of prior transportation sales tax measures in Santa Clara County?  “A + B = Traffic Relief” (1996) and “Traffic Relief NOW” (2000) are some examples.  Ask yourself: is access, speed, and reliability of public transit better than what it was when I was asked to approve a transit sales tax measure?  Is traffic more or less than what it was the last time I was asked to approve a transportation sales tax?

Read on for information that supplements what’s already out there on why you need to vote NO on Measure B November 8.

Read more →