Tag: Santa Clara County

Issues affecting all of Santa Clara County.

September VTA Meeting Summary…With a Feeling

Last month, I wanted to experiment with providing a brief summary of a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board Of Directors meeting.  Your feedback demanded more information be provided for such summaries.  So, in the future, more detail will be provided for such summaries.

That said, the September 7 VTA Board Of Directors Meeting and follow-up workshops revealed a potential conflict of interest in a formed sales tax measure watchdog group. They also confirmed routing for two bus lines, once the BART extension to Milpitas and Berryessa comes online.  Finally, conflict was revealed between VTA and BART over how a tunnel for BART in downtown San Jose should be built.

Detailed information on all of this (in chronological order) is below.

Next Group Meeting In October

Due to lack of interest, our next live group meeting will be in late October.  Please stay tuned for additional details.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

P.S. There is a revised update regarding the September VTA Board meeting that will be posted soon.  I am currently awaiting additional information.

We Meet This Thursday

Among what we will discuss at our upcoming meeting on Thursday at 6pm in San Jose:

  • How we can address VTA’s shortage of buses throughout the county
  • VTA’s street improvement projects on Bascom Ave., Tasman Dr. and Story/Keyes Avenues – and what we can push for

Have anything else transit-related that we should be fighting for? Please address it at our meeting, BEFORE the agenda items listed.  (Otherwise, you will have to wait until the end of the meeting to address your particular item.)  Be prepared to discuss how YOU would help make it happen.

We meet at the San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 48 S. 7th Street in San Jose. Transit and driving directions to the Peace and Justice Center are found here.

Note that if you plan on driving to our meeting, there is limited parking in the back.  Also, do not park in the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market parking lot across the street – you will be towed at your expense.

Can’t make it to our group meeting in San Jose? You can join us via dial-in at 5:55pm. Info is as follows:

  1. Call 1(415)655-0001
  2. When prompted for the “meeting pin number,” enter 190809846
  3. When told that “You have joined the Conference” and after hearing that this is the Silicon Valley Transit Users meeting, please give your name and where you live.

See you on Thursday. We have much to talk about and fight for.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

“Next Network” Next Year

Passengers boarding the VTA 181 express bus to Fremont BART station in downtown San Jose.

Bus and light rail restructuring throughout Santa Clara County has been put off until 2018.  The Silicon Valley Transit Users just received official word from VTA that the BART extension to Milpitas and Berryessa in San Jose has been moved until June 2018 due to “system integration and testing.”

The VTA Board of Directors received word of the BART extension delay from staff at the August 3 Board of Directors’ meeting in San Jose.  This means that the VTA “Next Network” transit restructuring has been moved until at least 2018.

More on this story follows…

Weekend Transit Update – July 28-30

This is a big summer weekend in Silicon Valley.  First, there’s the 2017 Gilroy Garlic Festival in South County happening this weekend.  Also, you have two concerts this Saturday and Sunday night at the SAP Center in downtown San Jose.  Finally, there is a San Jose Earthquakes soccer match vs. Colorado at Avaya Stadium in San Jose on Saturday afternoon at 4:45pm.

This transit guide will detail the bus and rail alternatives to traffic gridlock and parking hassles.