Tag: Santa Clara County

Issues affecting all of Santa Clara County.

October Transit Schedule and Fare Changes

by Eugene B • October 9, 2017

Changes to Silicon Valley bus and rail schedules are being made this month. As regular service is being operated today (October 9), the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) made changes to several bus line schedules in Santa Clara County. Some of the schedule changes enable better connections with the Caltrain commuter rail service. Read up on the service changes here and learn how YOU will be affected by these changes.

Speaking of Caltrain: several fare changes were made on October 1:

The price of a monthly Caltrain parking pass was raised from $55.00 to $82.50. This is because Caltrain changed their basis of a “month” to 15 days from 10 days.
Caltrain riders will pay an additional 25 cents per zone they travel
Caltrain 8-ride tickets are no longer available for purchase. Current 8-ride tickets will no longer be valid after October 31.

This is in addition to the changes Caltrain made to its Monday thru Friday schedule, to increase “operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.” These changes were approved by Caltrain’s Joint Powers Board back in August.

What are your thoughts on the schedule and fare changes at VTA and Caltrain? Please discuss them in comments below.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

September VTA Meeting Summary…With a Feeling

by Eugene B • October 4, 2017

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.

by Eugene B • September 27, 2017

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

by Eugene B • August 28, 2017

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:

Call 1(415)655-0001
When prompted for the “meeting pin number,” enter 190809846
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

by Eugene B • August 10, 2017

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.