Tag: silicon valley

Know Before You Board

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I encountered one woman on VTA’s 522 Rapid bus today. She was upset that the Palo Alto-bound bus did not stop at El Camino/Warburton in Santa Clara. She paid $2 for riding, and thought the bus was like the regular 22. She was surprised when I told her the bus would not stop until El Camino/Scott. It turned out she did not ask the bus driver if the 522 Rapid bus makes the stop she wanted (which it does not).

When in doubt, ask the bus driver first before boarding any bus. Part of his/her job is to know the bus stops for that route. Better yet, call VTA at (408)321-2300 (or visit their web site) before going on your bus/light rail trip. Knowing before going will save you the embarassment – and money – of missing your destination on transit.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Notes From Our Group Meeting Last Night

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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!

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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

Weekend Transit Update–7/30/2011

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This is your weekend update for public transit-accessible events for the weekend of July 30, 2011. Included are bus and rail access to events like the Gilroy Garlic Festival, Bank of the West women’s tennis at Stanford this weekend. In addition, we list VTA bus and Caltrain service to the San Jose Earthquakes match vs. DC United in Santa Clara Saturday night.

Note that the next blog update will have notes from our group meeting in San Jose on July 28.

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