Category: Transit Alerts

Happy Birthday, Dr. King, Jr.

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Dr. King against USA Flag

Source: chatcentralgateway.com

Today, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. He was born on January 15, 1929.

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), BART and SamTrans are running their regular weekday schedule today.  Caltrain is running a special, modified schedule today as well.  By regular weekday schedule, it means the modified service hours for each agency due to the ongoing global pandemic.

Here’s Dr. King’s famous speech from the March On Washington For Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.

Some of our goals in 2021 – including an action item for an upcoming VTA Workshop this Friday morning – will be in our next two posts.  This and other information on the site will be updated throughout the week to reflect local transit leadership in 2021.

Overall, we still have work to do to help achieve Dr. King’s dream. Let’s get to it.

Eugene Bradley
Founder & CEO, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Happy New Year 2021

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Even in a global pandemic, one New Year’s Eve public transit tradition continues.  Transit agencies like Caltrain, SamTrans, and VTA will have free fares for their bus & rail service starting around 8pm.  This despite Santa Clara County’s “shelter in place” health orders in effect until further notice.

Pandemic protection rules such as social distancing and mask wearing on board will still apply.  Per health department directives, avoid crowds to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

Read on for a summary of who’s offering what services on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and when.

Read more →

Happy Birthday, Dr. King, Jr

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As we celebrate the birthday of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today, this federal holiday will affect public transit in Silicon Valley today.  In particular:

During our celebration of the late Dr. King, Jr. today, listen to this once-lost speech he made at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom in 1967.

More transit news later this week.  Note that the transit guides are being modified to reflect the new VTA schedule and service that took effect back on December 28.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Transit Options For the Niners’ Really Big Game

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Championship Sunday will be in Silicon Valley today.  The San Francisco 49ers host the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in the NFC Championship game, with kickoff at 3:40pm.  The winner of the game will go to Miami to play in Super Bowl LIV.  It is the first time Levi’s Stadium will host the NFC Championship game.

Auto traffic will be very heavy for this vital game.  Fortunately, to help you beat the traffic and parking woes, several local transit agencies will provide extra service to and from today’s game.  In particular, extra service from Caltrain, Capitol Corridor, and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will be available for football fans for today’s game.

Never rode public transit before in Silicon Valley? Here’s a guide that shows you how.

Because up to 70,000 fans are expected for today’s game, expect standing-room only (SRO) conditions on VTA light rail (especially on the new Orange line) for today’s game.  Such SRO conditions are expected to last until about 7pm, when the game is expected to end.

Read more →

Major Transit Service Changes Coming

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Major changes to your bus and light rail service in Silicon Valley are coming.  On December 28, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will make major changes to its bus and light rail service, adding new bus lines, closing down the Almaden light rail spur, and eliminating some bus lines.

Learn how YOU will be affected by these changes.

Meanwhile, let us know how VTA’s service changes will affect you thru any of these methods:

More on these transit service changes, and how you will be affected, will be in a separate post.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users