Eugene B

TAKE ACTION! How YOU Can Support VTA’s Service Increase Proposal

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Several people are seated aboard a VTA bus moving within the City of San Jose. Seats have grey backs. Camera faces front of bus.
Several people are seated aboard a VTA bus.

Yes, you read that correctly. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has just formalized a proposal to radically increase bus and light rail service in Santa Clara County. That proposal will start to go thru various committees at VTA starting this week.

Fellow public transit advocate Monica Mallon informs us that VTA’s “Visionary Network” proposal envisions an 83% increase in bus and light rail service throughout Santa Clara County. This would take place over the next few years, should the proposal be approved by the VTA’s Board of Directors at their June 1 meeting. Read Monica’s blog for details.

Here’s more on VTA’s service increase proposal, how transit riders will benefit, and how YOU can help make it happen.

Read more →

April Showers (Of Service Increases)

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Passengers boarding a white and blue VTA 68 bus heading to Gilroy, in downtown San Jose.
People boarding VTA’s 68 bus in downtown San Jose.

On April 24, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) made several service changes to increase bus and light rail service throughout Santa Clara County. Read more about these changes here.

Key notes on the April 24 service changes:

  • Going to the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill? The 568 Rapid bus no longer serves the Morgan Hill Caltrain station. Instead the bus will stay on Monterey Hwy. thru downtown Morgan Hill. The stop now shares the 68’s bus stop on Monterey/3rd, a 10 minute walk to the Courthouse on 301 Diana Ave.
  • On weekends, the 27 bus no longer serves downtown Los Gatos due to area traffic and resulting delays. Those normally taking the bus to downtown Los Gatos. Bus stops for downtown Los Gatos on weekends will be Santa Cruz/Los Gatos-Saratoga (EB to Kaiser SJ), and Los Gatos-Saratoga/University (WB to Winchester LRT station).
  • Also, VTA still does not have enough light rail operators to run light rail at 15-minute frequencies on weekends. This will change as bus drivers apply to become light rail operators throughout the year. VTA is still hiring bus operators; here’s how to apply for a bus operator job.

What are your thoughts and feelings on today’s service increases? Please comment and suggest below.

More later this week. Meanwhile, have a nice day and stay safe.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Happy Earth Day 2023

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"EARTH DAY" and "EVERY DAY" written in capital letters written in a leaf-colorful background.
Author: Linnaea Mallette Source: publicdomainpictures.net

On behalf of the Silicon Valley Transit Users, I want to wish everyone Happy Earth Day today.

To help celebrate Earth Day, we’ve learned that the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will offer FREE fare on all buses and light rail lines from 5am today until 3am Sunday morning. VTA also notes Earth Day events in San Jose, Cupertino, and Morgan Hill you can get to by bus.

This weekend, follow @svtransitupdts on Twitter for public transit updates information and public transit tips for Santa Clara County. For more information on VTA bus and light rail service, call VTA Customer Service at (408)321-2300, or visit their web site.

Enjoy Earth Day and stay safe.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Catching Up On Things

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Hello. This is Eugene Bradley, Founder of the Silicon Valley Transit Users.

I’ve had several emergencies come up on my day job over the last few months requiring my attention. This is why you haven’t seen any updates here recently, beyond public transit outages.

Now that those emergencies have subsided, here are some stories I’m working on right now:

  • How some transit agencies in the Bay Area – and nationwide – will soon run out of money to run buses and trains. This story will also include how YOU can help make things better for these agencies, at the California state level.
  • How some San Jose-area public transit projects received money from the state and federal government recently. This will also include local transit projects not talked about in the local press.
  • How the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) wants input from YOU to help improve bus stops throughout Santa Clara County. This also includes some ideas I personally have on how this can be done.
  • What our group – and others – have done recently to help further improve public transit in Santa Clara County.

Stay tuned for these articles – and more as needed – in the coming weeks.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

ACE Trains Back In Service

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From 2001: ACE train arriving at Santa Clara Train Station. Double-decker train has a white roof, with large purple and blue stripes, separated by a small white stripe,
ACE Train drops off passengers in Santa Clara.

Commuter rail service between Stockton and San Jose returned to service today. This after mudslides in the Niles Canyon area forced the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) to cancel all rail service between Stockton and San Jose in both directions last Wednesday.

More from ACE on how train service returned today:

ACE will resume normal operating service on all morning and evening trains on Monday, January 23, 2023. In addition, Union Pacific will operate ahead of all ACE trains for track inspection.

https://twitter.com/ACE_train/status/1617279654678900736

One other result of last week’s ACE service cancellations, unadvertised: business shuttle buses serving job sites from the Great America ACE station in Santa Clara were also cancelled. That shuttle bus service also returns today.

Follow @svtransitupdts on Twitter for the latest Santa Clara County public transit updates and tips. Here’s how YOU can help update us and others on any transit service delays on Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) buses, ACE, or Caltrain you encounter.

More later today…

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users