Service changes in July

VTA will implemented service changes on July 12:

Schedule changes: 10, 12, 13, 16, 22, 23, 25, 26, 35, 39, 42, 47, 51, 54, 55, 57, 58, 60, 64, 66, 70, 71, 72, 73, 81, 88, 102, 103, 104, 140, 330

Major route changes as discussed in previous posts: 11, 34

VTA will also change the routing for line 64 at San Jose Diridon Station. Currently, southbound buses to Almaden turn right from San Fernando to Autumn Street, turn left from Autumn to Santa Clara, and turn left from Santa Clara to Cahill. Buses that terminate at the train station (along with parallel lines like 63, 64, and DASH) go straight on San Fernando to Cahill.

The extra routing along Autumn and Santa Clara adds travel time because of the two left turns in the area. Also, drivers on that route sometimes forgot to make the proper turn. With that minor change to route 64, the bus will stop at a different location at the train station.

Last day of line 76

Tomorrow is the last day of line 76, which goes from Downtown Los Gatos to the Santa Cruz Mountain area by Summit Road. Although VTA has tried to cut this route for many years, it did not do so because of Los Gatos High School students who live in the mountain area. For the next school year, those students will have to find a new way to get to school.

This site has an interesting review of line 76.

Line 76 is the only route that serves the mountain area. Although Highway 17 Express also travels over the hill, it does not have stops either at the summit nor in Los Gatos.

Translink being rebranded to Clipper

Translink is being rebranded to Clipper, which will be formally "introduced" to the public on June 16.

Old Translink branded reader for Caltrain. This reader should've been rebranded by now.

New Clipper branded reader for light rail, but not activated yet.

When VTA comes on line with Clipper, whoever's in charge needs to distinguish which reader belongs to which system at inter-modal transfer points. Other than being located on the VTA platform, there's no difference in appearance between the reader for VTA and Caltrain. Perhaps someone in a hurry, or don't know the station well, would tap his or her Translink/Clipper card at the wrong reader, which would result in overcharge (when a VTA rider mistakenly tap on the Caltrain rider) and/or citation.

HSR tunnel insanity finally comes to an end

Earlier today the High Speed Rail Authority voted to put off all but one alignment option south of the San Jose Diridon Station. The current Caltrain alignment (to appease the neighbors) and all of the underground alignments will no longer pursued by the Authority. The only alternative remain on the table is an elevated alignment along Highway 87 and 280, and the station at San Jose Diridon will be elevated as well.

The freeway alignment is not perfect, but is reasonable. The underground options are simply unbuildable, and they don't need to spend all the time to figure that out.