Tag: San Jose

Preview-Last VTA Board Meeting Of 2011

December 8 (Thursday) at 8:30am the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will have its last Board of Directors meeting for 2011. Here’s a roster of who sat on the VTA Board of Directors in 2011.

The meeting will be held at the County Supervisors’ Chambers at the County Government Center at 70 West Hedding Street in San Jose. The Government Center is 1 block north of Civic Center light rail station. Also, VTA’s 61, 62, 66, and 181 express bus lines stop nearby at the Civic Center light rail station on N. First Street. Also, there’s a VTA bus stop for the 61 or the 62 bus line service to Sierra & Piedmont in eastern San Jose, only 50 yards from the Government Center’s main front entrance.

More on the last VTA Board Meeting of 2011 after the jump…

Notes From Our Group Meeting Last Night

About 6 people attended the Silicon Valley Transit Users’ meeting last night. Some notes from that meeting:

Judy P. informed us that our partner, the San Jose Peace & Justice Center, will have a Peace Fair on December 3 in San Jose. We’ll have a small table there.

Chris L. of TransFORM informed us on status on the Valley Transportation Authority’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project along El Camino, Stevens Creek and Alum Rock Ave. While the Alum Rock Ave. portion is 2 years ahead, there are numerous flaws. One flaw along Alum Rock Ave.’s BRT project: sidewalk space is sacrificed for the dedicated bus lane along Alum Rock Ave. in eastern San Jose. There is still time to give input on the Stevens Creek BRT project. He proposed helping us get transit riders in Silicon Valley more involved with the BRT projects.

Megan F. from San Jose Cool Cities echoed Chris L.’s comments and suggestions. She reminded us that Sunnyvale is

We also suggested taking photos inside crowded VTA buses and light rail. This will help counter many of the claims in transit news comment areas that the buses and trains are empty.

Our group is strongly considering support for VTA’s BRT project but will need to correct many of their flaws. More on what BRT is – and what VTA can do to better promote it – are in an upcoming blog post.

Meeting started at 6:15pm and ended at 6:45pm.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

We Meet This Thursday in San Jose!

Our group’s next meeting takes place this Thursday at 6pm.

WHERE: San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 49 S. 7th St. (Off E. Santa Clara St.), San Jose.
GETTING THERE: VTA’s 22, 23, 64 and 522 Rapid bus lines stop 50 yards from the Center. It’s 1/2 block frm San Jose State University and the 72, 73 and Highway 17 Express bus lines.

Agenda:
We will discuss the following at Thursday’s meeting:

  • VTA bus rapid transit (BRT) projects for El Camino Real & Alum Rock
  • The current status of transportation reauthorization in Congress

Any other concerns you have can and must be brought up first.

See you this Thursday!

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Tranit Users

Caltrain & VTA Service Update

As of 2pm, all Caltran service to and from San Francisco has been restored. Service was suspeded due to time overruns from a bridge replacement in San Francisco.

At 2:45pm, VTA paged us that service on the 26 bus line in San Jose on Curtner between Highway 87 and Monterey Highway is affected by a street closure. Passengers need to board the 26 at either Monterey/Curtner or Curtner light rail station.

Finally, service on VTA’s 35 bus line in downtown Mountain View is running 10 minutes late due to street repaving on Vila Street.

Weekend Update-Sept. 16, 2011

This is your Silicon Valley transit update for the weekend of September 16, 2011. This guide will cover Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) bus, light rail, and Caltrain service to the following events this weekend:

  • California Home & Garden Show in San Mateo
  • Football games for the San Jose State Spartans, Cal Bears and San Francisco 49ers
  • San Jose Sharks training sessions at Sharks Ice @ San Jose
  • American Indian Powwow & Market in San Jose