Our (and other) transit advocacy efforts in Silicon Valley.
The stage is set for Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII. Can’t make it to the rematch of the Big Game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs? There are local parties at bars, clubs, and restaurants throughout Santa Clara County – and beyond. Read on for more details.
Diane Solomon, host and producer at KKUP-FM in San Jose, informed us of an opportunity for you to help make public transit better in San Jose. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is still looking for someone who lives or works in San Jose to serve as a voice for public transit on its Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC).
As a BPAC member, you will have the ear of key decision-makers at VTA at staff level.
You would representing the City of San Jose as a public transit rider, as a member of VTA’s BPAC. The city committee’s next meeting to discuss this is this coming Monday at 6pm. More details on what is required for you to be a representative on this committee, follow.
Current status of public transit in Governor Gavin Newsom’s state budget proposal: not good. Unfortunately, the most recent budget proposals voted on by the legislature currently do not provide nearly enough funding to meet the need to prevent transit cuts and regrow ridership. This would force transit agencies like Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Caltrain to choose between preventing service cuts and important capital priorities, and would abandon $6 billion ($6,000,000,000) in federal matching funds.
Senator Scott Wiener is working hard to address this situation. Here’s more from Senator Wiener:
Read our prior article on this situation for further background.
Next, read more on what YOU can do between now and Monday to help Senator Wiener and others change that.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest state budget proposal cuts funding for public transit. If passed into law in June, it would result in fare hikes and service reductions for many transit agencies throughout California. This as several key Bay Area transit agencies like Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Caltrain struggle to regain pre-COVID pandemic ridership. This also occurs as many public transit agencies are running out of federal COVID relief funding to run their buses and trains.
Our group is part of a coalition to have the California State Legislature pass “gap” funding in the State Budget until public transit agencies pass their own operations funding means.
Read more on what’s going on, and how YOU can get involved.
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.