Last night, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors approved a BART Project Labor Agreement (PLA) to govern work on the initial phase of bringing BART into Silicon Valley. The VTA Board also approved a labor agreement with its unions (SEIU and TACA) and also approved a land purchase near Eastridge Mall in San Jose. The goal of the Eastridge Mall land purchase was to rebuild and reconfigure the Eastridge Mall Transit Center to make it more user-friendly and more accessible for bus (and future light rail) riders going to the mall.

The most disturbing part of last night’s VTA Board meeting came during the “Public Presentations” portion at the beginning of the meeting. During “Public Presentations” two (2) black VTA bus drivers mentioned that 1 passenger had been making racial slurs at them on multiple occasions, and had requested VTA to take action against this passenger.

As a fellow VTA bus passenger who is also black, this disturbs me. It should also disturb other racial minorities as well. Not to be preachy or anything, but we have to learn to respect one another. At minimum, this passenger making these racial slurs must be identified ASAP, arrested by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, and charged with disturbing the peace. My greatest fear is that, left unchecked and unpunished, this passenger will resort to violence to express his (or her) racial hatred.

If you take any VTA bus or light rail train, and you see someone using racial slurs against another, call it out to them. If you are experiencing this as a bus driver or light rail operator, I would not only contact my line supervisor, but also I would directly call the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office (or VTA Protective Services) and have the offending passenger removed from the vehicle with proper legal charges filed.

If there is one thing that does NOT belong on public transportation, it is racism and disrespect toward others. It not only serves to destroy transit ridership, it also reflects poorly on our society.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Just in time for the college and professional football season, we will have a public transit guide to all San Francisco Bay Area college and professional football teams available this evening.

The page will include, amongst other things, information on express bus service between Silicon Valley and San Francisco 49ers home games at Candlestick Park. It will also include information on Caltrain service to and from California Golden Bears’ home games at AT&T Park this year, as California’s Memorial Stadium is undergoing significant renovations.

In addition, the pages for shopping malls in Silicon Valley will continue to be expanded to what was once there in the pre-blog format. This page will eventually have Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) bus and light rail options to select Fry’s Electronics locations throughout Silicon Valley.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Following information is from Chris Lepe at TransFORM.

Time: Monday, August 15 · 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Location United Way Building, Room 105, 1922 The Alameda, San Jose, California

More Info

Please join TransForm, Greenbelt Alliance, the Sierra Club, and other organizations and individuals for our second El Camino corridor community leader meeting! Learn about the proposed El Camino Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project and work with us to achieve a world-class BRT design that meets community needs such pedestrian and cyclist safety. If you know any community leaders or other individuals or organizations that may be interested in improving public transit, planning for more sustainable development, or designing streets around people, not just cars, please extend this invitation.

Agenda:

• Welcome & introductions – 6-6:10
• Discussion: City-level updates – General Plans, Individual Development projects, BRT– 6:10-6:30
• El Camino BRT presentation by VTA staff – 6:30-6:50
• Questions and feedback for VTA – 6:50-7:10
• Discussion: BRT education and advocacy – 7:10-7:40
• Discussion: Recap and next steps – 7:40-8:00

Please RSVP with Chris Lepe at CLepe@TransFormCA.org or (408) 406-8074

Snacks and refreshments provided.

Best,
Chris Lepe
TransForm