Eugene B

Current Events

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newpriorityseatingsign

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.

First Group Meeting Of 2015 This Thursday

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Please join us at our first meeting of 2015 this Thursday, January 29 at 6pm in San Jose.  Meeting agenda is as follows:

  • Things YOU can do to make Bus Rapid Transit on El Camino Real between Palo Alto and San Jose happen
  • How YOU can help make VTA buses and light rail run more on time
  • Other Santa Clara County transit issues you want to discuss

The meeting is expected to be no more than one (1) hour.

Here are VTA bus, rail, and automobile directions on getting to the San Jose Peace & Justice Center. Be advised there is NO live video or audio streaming (yet) for our group meetings. The only way to know what’s going on and how YOU can make taking VTA better: BE THERE.

Bring a pencil or pen and paper (or smartphone/tablet notepad program) for our meeting. This is because information will be given to you during our meeting talks (see agenda above) which you need to make note of.

Please spread the word about our group meetings as needed. ALL ARE WELCOME! See on on Thursday.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

More Evening Buses Serving West Valley College

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Attend or work at West Valley College in Saratoga? Good news if you take one of the bus lines to and from Winchester light rail station in Campbell. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) just added new evening service on the 37 Community Bus line between West Valley College and Winchester.

The added bus service, which runs every hour on weekdays only, is as follows:

Buses depart Winchester light rail station for West Valley College at 7:37pm, 8:39pm and 9:39pm, arriving at West Valley College about 14 minutes later.

Buses depart West Valley College at 7:11pm, 7:57pm, 8:58pm and 9:58pm, arriving at Winchester about 14 minutes later.

What do you think about the added evening bus service to and from West Valley College? Please discuss in the Comments section.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Some Questions On El Camino Real BRT Draft Docs

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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.

Read more →

First VTA Board Meeting Of 2015 Tonight

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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