tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11021719.post2213886861096936026..comments2024-03-01T02:02:02.520-08:00Comments on VTA Watch: Around the Valley and beyondaccountablevtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14035365902584938185noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11021719.post-83249042307791563892009-06-15T22:14:53.366-07:002009-06-15T22:14:53.366-07:00Just because you might have missed it:
Published ...Just because you might have missed it:<br /><br />Published Monday, June 15, 2009, by the San Jose Mercury News<br /><br />Column<br /><br />A little rail line in jeopardy<br /><br />By Scott Herhold<br />Mercury News Columnist<br /><br />In Barbara Cooney's wonderful children's book, "The Year of the Perfect<br />Christmas Tree," a father returns to his Appalachian home from World War I<br />aboard the "Tweetsie Train," a short railroad line named for the tweet of its<br />engine whistle.<br /><br />When my kids were small, we enjoyed our own "Tweetsie Train," the 1.1-mile<br />Almaden branch of Santa Clara County's light rail system. It had the great<br />virtue of stopping near two meccas for children: Oakridge Mall and Golfland<br />miniature golf course.<br /><br />So when I read recently that several of the scenarios in a Valley Transportation<br />Authority light rail study call for ending the two-stop Almaden shuttle, I felt<br />a pang: It would abolish a small piece of my kids' childhood.<br /><br />It would also have symbolic significance in transit circles. According to the<br />National Association of Railroad Passengers, it would be the first light-rail<br />line built in the modern era (post-1980) to be abandoned.<br /><br />Which is not to say it should never happen. Even more than the light rail system<br />as a whole, the Almaden branch line has notoriously poor ridership, an average<br />of just more than 500 per day. With 67 round trips daily, that means the line<br />averages four passengers on each one-way run.<br /><br />And you may have read that the VTA is planning on fare hikes and service<br />reductions to close a $10.1 million budget deficit that could get even worse<br />next year.<br /><br />In this atmosphere, the Almaden shuttle, which takes four minutes to run between<br />the Ohlone-Chynoweth station in the north and the Almaden station in the south,<br />is like a toy railroad without the glitz of a Disneyland monorail.<br /><br />Costs<br /><br />The VTA people say it costs $505,000 a year to pay the drivers and provide power<br />for the Almaden line. But that's only part of the cost; it doesn't include<br />maintenance, security, insurance or depreciation.<br /><br />To check out the situation, I spent a half-hour riding the shuttle one recent<br />afternoon. It was mostly empty, though we had a brief moment of excitement when<br />eight people -- two couples, three teens and an old man -- got on at Oakridge<br />station.<br /><br />The problem with the shuttle reflects the problems with light rail generally.<br />The VTA hoped it would help create "transit villages" -- like the apartments<br />near Lake Almaden -- but the route is too slow to get many people out of their<br />cars.<br /><br />During last year's BART sales-tax campaign, opponents lambasted the VTA for<br />running the "least efficient" light rail system in the country. The farebox<br />recovery, the percentage of costs recouped by fares, is only around 13 percent.<br />San Jose doesn't have the central destinations or the transit-consciousness of<br />the more successful Portland and San Diego systems.<br /><br />Weighing options<br /><br />Michael Burns, chief of the transit agency, says any decision about the Almaden<br />shuttle will have to be weighed carefully. He points out the number 13 bus line<br />duplicates the run between the Almaden and Ohlone stations.<br /><br />"I don't have strong feelings on the shuttle," he told me by e-mail. "But<br />requiring a transfer for a two-station shuttle, and the interference with the<br />Santa Teresa service (the main light rail line), are clearly not ideal."<br /><br />Now, there are still options to save a piece of the shuttle. Kevin Connolly,<br />VTA's transportation planning manager, told me it might be possible to keep the<br />Almaden line operating on weekends for riders going to the mall.<br /><br />To me, that's better than nothing. After all, this is historic right-of-way.<br />Before the corridor became part of light rail, Southern Pacific railroad tracks<br />here transported sandstone from a quarry in Almaden to build Stanford<br />University.<br /><br />A weekend shuttle would keep tradition alive. It may not be worth the price, but<br />who knows? Maybe someday I'll read Barbara Cooney's book to my grandchildren and<br />take them on San Jose's Tweetsie Train.Winstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00043006960450523372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11021719.post-71206846082708365282009-06-11T06:58:01.636-07:002009-06-11T06:58:01.636-07:00The Gilligs have sharp steering. Since 2105 is a ...The Gilligs have sharp steering. Since 2105 is a 35 footer, the driver could maneuver the u-turn, similarily as driving an automobile. <br /><br />I think all buses are equipped with GPS and being off route could have alerted dispatch, who would notify supervision.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com