First day of express light rail

With little fanfare and limited press coverage (compared to Caltrain's Baby Bullet a few years ago), VTA rolled off its express light rail trips. The new trips go from Santa Teresa to Baypointe and do not stop between Ohlone/Chynoweth and Convention Center stations. The cars used for the express trips have special blue and orange wrap and also have free wifi.

VTA Boardmember Sam Liccardo and general manager Michael Burns were on the platform at Ohlone/Chynoweth waiting for the first train to arrive from Santa Teresa. Other VTA top brass were there as well. There were no speeches nor ribbon cutting. However some riders were treated with free Red Bulls and newspapers. Liccardo boarded the first northbound express train presumably heading to the City Hall.

When a northbound express train arrives, another one deadheads to Santa Teresa.

At other stations, signs are in place to warn others about express trains that won't stop.

VTA is not accepting Clipper... yet.

The express light rail is an experiment whether operational changes can bring in additional riders, similar to how the Baby Bullet has transformed Caltrain. MTC is conducting a regional study of transit sustainability and recently found that Caltrain has raised ridership and improved cost effectiveness compared to most transit agencies (including VTA) because of the Baby Bullet. Caltrain is now considering providing weekend Baby Bullet service, despite deficit, to draw more riders.

The light rail system however is very different from Caltrain, so the opportunities to speed up service are limited. Let's see whether skipping stops and having onboard wifi will help draw riders.

Express light rail coming this October

Following the recommendations of the light rail COA conducted last year, VTA staff is planning to implement weekday express light rail service from South San Jose effective October 4. The new trips will start from Santa Teresa to Baypointe and will run non-stop from Ohlone/Chynoweth to Convention Center stations. All other trips will remain unchanged.

The express trips are expected to save 5-6 minutes between Ohlone/Chynoweth and Convention Center, which is about 36% for those traveling between those two stations, or 12% for those traveling between Santa Teresa and Baypointe.

Northbound express trains leaving Santa Teresa: 7:16 a.m., 7:46 a.m., 8:16 a.m.

Southbound express trains leaving Baypointe: 4:07 p.m., 4:37 p.m., 5:07 p.m.

In addition, staff is also planning to extend some night trips (9:51 p.m. and 10:21 p.m.) departing from Winchester to Baypointe instead of Civic Center. This will help riders that need to connect with the late night light rail replacement bus leaving from Tasman to Mountain View.

SamTrans following suit on COA

Following the footsteps VTA took a few years ago, SamTrans is now working a COA. In addition to finding ways to improve the bus system, the agency is hoping the COA would help improve SamTrans' financial stability. Because of the economic crisis and reduction of state transit funding, SamTrans has already eliminated most express bus routes. SamTrans' trouble is also affecting Caltrain, as the agency plans to eliminate operating subsidies (the remaining San Mateo County subsidy would only come from the 2004 Measure A sales tax) the next fiscal year.

Although San Mateo County is located adjacent to Santa Clara County, SamTrans environment is vastly different from VTA. SamTrans primarily serves a narrow corridor centered on El Camino Real. Being a smaller county, SamTrans only collects a fraction of the sales tax revenue that VTA receives, yet SamTrans provides financial support for two regional rail systems.

One of the possibilities for SamTrans is to provide deviated fixed route service. Under ADA, transit agencies are required to provide door-to-door paratransit service for disabled riders who cannot use regular transit. With deviated fixed route service, the bus would stay on a regular route to serve all riders and go off route to pick up and drop off qualified disabled riders. It would help meet the ADA mandate without providing segregated service. The bus agency in San Joaquin County currently provides such service and it is helping the agency to control cost on disabled service.

Holiday gifts and more

SamTrans

SamTrans has two holiday gifts. The first is the new buses. The new buses are low floor and have a new paint scheme to match the BRT look. The buses are somewhat similar to what it bought in 2004 except it has more seats due to the new seat designs.

The other holiday gift is the service reduction effective on December 20. SamTrans will eliminate all express service to downtown SF except KX, and that KX will run hourly. Bus on El Camino will also have reduced frequency on the weekends.

Currently, SamTrans buses that serve El Camino leave Palo Alto every 15 minutes on weekdays and weekends. After December 20, some buses will leave 30 minutes apart on weekdays (because KX trips got cut), and on weekends, there will be 40 minute service gaps throughout the weekend (hourly KX will not fill the service gaps left by 40-minute 390). Because VTA will continue to run the 22 and 522 service every 15-minutes, expect a crowd in Palo Alto waiting to transfer from VTA to SamTrans.

VTA

Tomorrow VTA will hold a board workshop to address the agency's "structural deficit," which was caused partly by further declines in sales tax revenue and elimination of state funds (also suffered by most transit agencies in California), as well as VTA's mismangement and dishonesty in regards to its financial projections.

Among the recommendations, the VTA board is asked to direct $25 million in 2000 Measure A funds from future bus purchases to operations and to establish an ad-hoc committee (similar to what VTA did in 2003) to develop future recommendations. Those recommendations could involve changes in healthcare and pension benefits, new funding sources, and alternative service delivery models (contract operation?).

Translink

After years of planning and development, the Translink smart card payment system is coming to VTA and SamTrans sometime next year. Earlier this year, Translink has been implemented on BART and Caltrain. The eventual goal for Translink is to replace most of the current fare media, which means when it is fully implemented, monthly passes for VTA and Caltrain would be available on Translink only, and that paper passes would be discontinued. AC Transit already took the lead by converting transbay bus passes to Translink only.

However, when it is implemented at SamTrans and VTA, Translink might no longer be called Translink. MTC is recommending changing its name to "Clipper," to evoke a historic connection between Clipper ships and the development of San Francisco.

VTA light rail COA

If you missed the meeting in Mountain View, a VTA staff recorded the meeting and it is available for your information.

Light rail, Altamont Pass, etc

Light Rail COA

BayRail Alliance will be hosting a meeting next week on the COA for the VTA light rail system. VTA's Kevin Connolly will be presenting. As reported here earlier, VTA is conducting a COA for the light rail to outline future system improvements and proposed operation scenarios to boost light rail ridership. Ridership on the VTA's light rail is lagging behind other similar systems in Portland, Sacramento, and San Diego.

November 19, 2009
7:00pm
City of Mountain View, Council Chambers
500 Castro Street, Mountain View (by Mercy Street)

Meal option will not be provided for this meeting.

Altamont Pass

ACE, FRA, and CHSRA are hosting a series of meeting today and next week to start the environmental planning process for the Altamont Corridor. Although Altamont did not make the cut to be the high speed corridor between Central Valley and the Bay Area, Sacramento nonetheless included Altamont as a complementary corridor in Proposition 1A.

The good part is that the corridor could be transformed into a near-HSR route with high quality passenger service. The bad part is that there's no funding available to build it, since it is secondary to the main HSR route, which is more likely to receive whatever HSR money that will be made available.

Even if there's no money associated with it for now, a parallel planning effort would make the Altamont a strong back up option if the Pacheco Pass option proves to be infeasible. As we already know, CHSRA does not have an agreement with UP, and not until the passage of Prop 1A, that the Pacheco Pass has generated local opposition in San Jose because of its alignment south of the Diridon station (and some of the proposed solutions proved to be sillier and more expensive). A well designed Altamont corridor could avoid impacts local neighborhoods and provide service in area with high TOD potential (North 1st Street).

All meeting will be held from 3:00–8:00pm in drop-in open house format:

* Tuesday: Robert Livermore Community Center, 4444 East Ave., Livermore.

* Thursday: San Joaquin Council of Governments, 555 E. Weber Ave., Stockton.

* Nov. 17: Fremont Teen Center, 39770 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont.

* Nov. 18: Le Petit Trianon Theatre, 72 N. Fifth St., San Jose.

Speeding up the light rail?

Today's Mercury article outlined some strategies under consideration by VTA that would speed up the light rail, which involve running express trains south of downtown San Jose, grade separation at Montague Expressway on 1st Street, double tracking of 1st Street through downtown San Jose (which would somehow increase speed from 10 to 20 mph), and extension from to San Jose State.

While Gary Richards correctly notes that the VTA light rail system is less productive compared to cities such as Portland and Sacramento, it is not certain that whether these improvements would yield significant reduction in travel time.

Some online Mercury readers blamed VTA for not putting the light rail underground, similar to Muni in San Francisco. However, that's not the problem here. Although light rail could operate faster underground, the current light rail alignment serve Downtown San Jose relatively well. If you look at cities like Portland, Sacramento, and San Diego, you will find that light rail in those cities also operate at grade. Part of the reason light rail was chosen is that it blends well with the pedestrian environment and without forcing passengers to walk up and down or use escalators. If downtown is supposed to be a major destination, convenient access by light rail at grade would be an asset.

However, Downtown San Jose does not have the employment concentration as in Downtown Portland, Sacramento, and San Diego. Unlike other cities, VTA's light rail trains run up and down 1st Street and along Tasman Drive to serve low density office parks, where workers have an abundance of free parking.

Some blamed VTA for not building the light rail system to the San Jose Airport, which is obviously unfortunate. Portland already runs its light rail to the Portland airport and Sacramento is planning a light rail extension to its airport. VTA's light rail is not that far away from the San Jose Airport (a little over 1/2 mile as the crow flies). However, instead of a light rail spur from First Street, or a new parallel alignment along Highway 87, the best the City and VTA could come up with is a "Peoplemover" that would not connect with High Speed Rail and neither intends to actually fund.

Regardless of which option VTA prefers, a question remains how these upgrades be funded. Most of those proposals are not included in the 2000 Measure A, which VTA has decided to unquestionably follow despite the fact that it was poorly conceived. The present financial situation is also putting more pressure on VTA. VTA is now conducting EIS study (the federal environmental document) for the Eastridge light rail extension, which for many years, VTA has planned to fund the project entirely with state and local funds. The lack of federal clearance for that project made it ineligible for the Stimulus funds, which otherwise would be very competitive considering the project was nearly shovel-ready.

At the end, VTA's poor light rail performance is a result of poor urban planning, development greed, and the continual neglect of transit riders' needs. Unfortunately, these attitude still exists at the agency and most voters and environmentalists are not aware of that. If the light rail couldn't turn around Downtown San Jose and make the system more viable, building another rail system (like BART) in Downtown San Jose most likely won't help turn it around either (look at Downtown Oakland).

Of course, VTA does not have money for a subway in downtown. However, a BART line that it could fund (to Berryessa) won't bring commuters directly to where the jobs are. Rather, VTA expects commuters to transfer to light rail in Milpitas. Don't be surprise if the BART project turns out to be a massive failure too.

Painful cuts on the way

Bus cuts meeting dates:

Campbell
Monday, August 10, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Campbell Community Center, Roosevelt Community Room
1 West Campbell Avenue, Campbell

San Jose
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
County Government Center, Isaac Newton Senter Auditorium
70 West Hedding Street, San Jose

Mountain View
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.
City of Mountain View, Council Chambers
500 Castro Street, Mountain View

San Jose
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.
San Jose Public Library, Almaden Branch
6445 Camden Avenue, San Jose

San Jose
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.
Dr. Roberto Cruz - Alum Rock Branch Public Library
3090 Alum Rock Avenue, San Jose

Milpitas
Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Milpitas Public Library, Room A
160 N. Main Street, Milpitas

The following is the quick summary of the proposed service reductions:

Route discontinuation: 34, 43, 76, 101, River Oaks shuttle

Weekend service cut: 11, 13, 42 (Sunday only), 45, 46 (Sunday only), 81 (weekend service operate only between Cupertino Square and Santa Clara Caltrain)

Drop in frequency from 15 to 20 mins:

- Midday: 66, 68, 72, 73, 77

- Weekend: 25 (30 to 40 minutes west of Valley Med), 70

Drop in frequency from 15 to 30 mins: 10 (early morning), 13, 26 (cut midday short trips), 31, 60 (midday)

Drop in frequency from 30 mins to 40-45 mins:

- Midday: 14, 17, 18, 19, 27, 63

- Saturday: 40, 54, 82 (hourly Sunday), 180

- Sunday: 60, 47, 54, 71, 72, 73, 180

Drop in frequency from 30 mins to hourly:

- Midday: 37 (between Capitol and Winchester), 46, 48, 49

- All day: 39

- Saturday: 27, 31, 35

- Sunday: 57

Route change: 47 - combined with line 33 via Calaveras.

Light Rail: Mountain View service would end at 10:30pm. Two night bus trips would replace light rail from Tasman to Fair Oaks serving all LRT stops and run non-stop to Mountain View.

Nearly all bus lines will have some trips deleted and service hours reduced during early mornings and evenings. Line 22 would also have overnight service eliminated. Along with the proposed cut of SamTrans' overnight service, there would no longer be any overnight transit option available along the Caltrain corridor.

These proposed cuts are a strong reminiscent of the bus cuts VTA made in 2002 and 2003. During that time, VTA reduced service on many routes from 15-30 minute headways into odd headways of 20-45 minutes. Only during the COA process when service was added back on some routes by diverting resources from elsewhere in the system. This time, the same service is getting threatened again.

Some of the frequency cuts may look minor, but the odd headways proposed for many routes make transfers difficult. For example, lines 68 and light rail operate on the same headway and passengers have timed transfers at the Santa Teresa Station 4 times an hour. Under this proposal, timed transfer would only be available once an hour midday.

The more important question is whether VTA would restore the service once the economy recovers. After the cuts in 2002 and 2003, VTA did not significantly increase service levels and failed to meet the 2000 Measure A promise to increase bus service over the year 2000 level. Last fall, Michael Burns claimed that Measure B was necessary because bus service could not be decimated to fund the BART project. Right now, bus service is being decimated. If Burns does not agree to restore service to at least January 2008 level as soon as funding becomes available, then he is breaking his promise and therefore should not deserve any federal funds for a rail line to the Flea Market.

Tomorrow, VTA Riders' Union will hold a protest and a press conference ast 6:00pm at the San Jose Diridon Station over the proposed fare hikes and service cuts by not only VTA, but also by Caltrain and other transit agencies. Earlier in the day, Transform will hold an event in Downtown Oakland urging federal lawmakers to provide more assistance to transit agencies for operations.

Finally, the so-call no tax-hike state budget is nothing but a Republican scam to protect the rich and deceive the middle class. Through some budget manuvers to shift money from one pot to another, many local governments would be ending up with a larger budget shortfall, forcing them to cut service and raise taxes and fees beyond what they have already done. Under this settlement, AC Transit would lose an additional $6 million with their local taxes being "borrowed" by the state. AC Transit is already losing $26 million through the cuts in State Transit Assistance alone, which was diverted to cover the general fund shortfall.

East Bay taxpayers have been generous to AC Transit by overwhelmingly approving tax increases to protect bus operations and hold fares stable. At the end, it appears that their generosity have been exploited by Sacramento politicians.

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Update: Click here for details of the bus cut proposal

January meetings on transit changes

Pretending that VTA can provide the same level of service as before, VTA has scheduled a series of meetings on transit changes. Essentially, most of these changes involved reduction of trips on many routes to boost frequency for lines 66 and 68.

Slight service reduction (at most a few trips) on these routes:
10, 13, 18, 27, 33, 46, 48, 55, 57, 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 73, 77, 81, 82, DASH

Significant service reduction on these routes:
31, 45, 63, 64, 88

Slight service increase (at most a few trips) on these routes:
25, 26, 52, 58

New Saturday service:
37 (evening service would be reduced in return)

Line proposed to be discontinued:
15

Route changes:
14, 17, 49

Schedule changes:
22, 23, 26

Conversion to regular bus from community bus:
89

Significant increase in service:
66, 68

Prior to January 2008, Line 66 and 68 operate every 15 minutes only during rush hours. Today, 66 runs every 15 minutes in the middle of the day between Milpitas and Downtown San Jose. Line 68 runs every 15 minutes during rush hours between Downtown San Jose and Santa Teresa LRT, but mostly every half hour between Santa Teresa and Gilroy. VTA is proposing to increase service for both lines to every 15 minutes throughout the day for the entire routes.

For lines 180 and 181, VTA is proposing to run 181 all day except for the evening, and reduce 180 to every 30 minutes between Fremont and Milpitas (today it runs every 15 minutes). VTA is also proposing to realign the service off Mission Blvd and I-680 and onto Mowry or Stevenson. The realignement would certainly avoid the congestion on 680 and would take advantage of the new HOV lanes opened on the 880, but VTA needs to identify a park and ride lot somewhere along the route in Fremont. Many of the riders live in Fremont (and thus don't need to take BART) but these riders can't park at the BART station.

Meeting dates and locations:

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
2:00 p.m.
Alum Rock Youth Center
Community Room
137 N. White Road, San Jose
This location is served by VTA Bus Lines 25, 45 and 71.

Monday, January 26, 2009
4:00 p.m.
Lucie Stern Community Center
Community Room
1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
This location is served by VTA Bus Line 35.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
2:00 p.m.
Campbell Community Center
Roosevelt Community Room
1 West Campbell Avenue, Campbell
This location is served by VTA Bus Lines 26 and 60.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Fremont Community Center
Teen Center
39770 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont
This location is served by AC Transit Lines 214 and 218.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
County of Santa Clara Issac Newton Senter Auditorium
70 West Hedding Street, San Jose
This location is served by VTA Light Rail and Bus Lines 61, 62, 66, 180 and 181.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
4:00 p.m.
Morgan Hill Community & Cultural Center
Hiram Morgan Hill Room
17000 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill
This location is served by VTA Bus Line 68.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Gilroy City Hall
Council Chambers
7351 Rosanna Street, Gilroy
This location is served by VTA Bus Line 19.

After these meetings, the VTA Board is set to approve this plan sometime in the Spring and implement it in July.

A cover for bus cuts?

On the December issue of VTA Take One newsletter (apparently it is not available online, but available on the bus), there's a short article about VTA's "Annual Transit Service Plan":

VTA will present its proposed Annual Transit Service Plan to the public in January 2009 at several public meetings throughout Santa Clara County. The purpose of these meetings is to introduce our initial transit service proposal to our riders as well as to obtain public input to ensure that we develop and implement the best service plan possible.

The transit service plan is developed to improve future efficiencies and ensure VTA meets service demands. From January through March 2009, VTA staff will host public meetings and gather recommendations and comments from the public. The revised plan, based on service analysis and public input will be presented to VTA committees and the board of directors. If approved, the proposed Transit Service Plan will be implemented in July 2009.

By law, VTA is required to obtain public input when it proposes significant changes to the bus system. For the past few years, other than the COA, VTA only held public meetings on route changes when it planned for opening of new light rail lines and when it planned for service cuts.

As we all know, there's nothing on the pipe in terms of new rail lines opening. However, there are strong indications that VTA will receive less revenue from local taxes and from the state next year. Unfortunately Measure B only makes the situation worse.

Although VTA has seen ridership increases throughout this year, it is still not clear how much of the ridership increases came from the new service plan or just because of high gas prices. We should have a better picture soon since gas prices have come down tremendously. Despite the ridership increases, there's a report that the farebox recovery rate has actually worsened. VTA spent two years in developing the COA before the plan was released to the public last year. VTA should not have to make major changes again if COA actually fulfilled its original promise.

Proposing major bus changes soon is not a good sign for transit riders in any way. It is likely that areas with less service today will get even less service. Given the tight budgetary situation and misguided VTA priorities, will service be "reinvested" in other areas, or just be eliminated altogether?

Does VTA deserve an award for COA?

Tomorrow, MTC will present an award to VTA for the COA service plan that got implemented in January. Does VTA really deserve an award?

It is important to note that the COA was a reallocation of resources, not to restore the service got cut a few years prior. At every COA related meetings, VTA staff always reminded the audience that any service improvement added to one line would require service reduction on another line. While the ridership growth may look above average, many transit dependent riders either left stranded by the plan or left with a much longer trip requiring multiple transfers (which actually helped boost VTA's ridership count since a trip with a transfer is considered two boardings).

VTA may want to take all the credit, but it was the everyday riders who demanded changes to the original proposal. For instance, under the original plan, West Valley and Foothill college would lose all the bus service except one line for each campus. VTA also proposed to eliminate express bus service like line 104 from Milpitas to Palo Alto and line 122 from South San Jose to Sunnyvale. The staff originally recommended these riders to take the light rail, which would take at least twice if not three times as long.

Nonetheless, some of the useful service got cut anyway. Line 85, for instance, connected Valley Medical Center with downtown San Jose. Line 22 also used to serve Menlo Park.

VTA should only get an award when its bus service is no longer at risk due to its misguided priorities.

VTA to study express buses

VTA is currently looking to hire a consultant to study express buses in the Valley. VTA call it "highway-based BRT" to differentiate with the other type of BRT (bus rapid transit) that operates on main thoroughfare like the 522. The study will be an addition to the work, such as market analysis, already performed for the COA.

An outcome of the study is to provide a list of improvements that can be completed for the next 10 years. After that, VTA assumes that BART would be extended and that somehow everything about the transit market would be different.

Unlike other cities, Santa Clara County is different when it comes to express bus service. In most cities, express bus service focuses on bring people from the suburbs to downtown. Just in San Francisco, express buses operated by various agencies take riders from the East Bay, the North Bay, and San Mateo County to downtown.

Until recently, the only express service to Downtown San Jose was line 180 from Fremont. In January, VTA added another express bus route (168) to downtown from Gilroy and Morgan Hill. The rest of the express bus routes take commuters from Fremont and other parts of the county to major office parks on the north and west side of the county, such as Lockheed Martin/Moffett Park and Stanford Industrial Park.

Unlike Downtown San Jose, these office parks provide ample free parking, and offer few if any outside amenities within walking distance. In these environments, some commuters would want to bring their cars just so that they can run errands during lunch time.

Also, some of the major Santa Clara County employers provide their own shuttle service. The most prominent one is Google, which some said its shuttles from San Francisco is influencing the real estate prices there. Besides Google, Apple, Yahoo, and VM Ware hire charter bus operators to shuttle their employees. Part of the study will ask whether VTA is providing the service that these employers are looking for, and whether VTA could fulfill their needs.

Finally, VTA does not have its own fleet for express buses. Agencies like AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit operate MCI coaches that provide more comfortable rides. Regular buses with high back commuter seats are used on Dumbarton Express and Highway 17 Express. On the other hand, VTA uses regular buses, often filthy and sometimes without padded seats, on all of its express routes. VTA once operated commuter buses in the past, but these buses were retired in 2003 without replacement. The study will consider providing better passenger amenities, including onboard wi-fi internet access.

Light rail COA

According to various sources, VTA is embarking on a COA for the light rail system. VTA is trying to boost ridership on the light rail just like what the agency tried to do for the bus network last January.

With fixed infrastructure and the lack of funds to improve them, it is not clear how large of a scope the light rail COA will be. It is also not clear whether that COA will effectively address some of the chief criticisms such as:

- Light rail operates too slow through downtown San Jose.
- Light rail is too slow to get to Mountain View from South San Jose.
- Light rail is too aroundabout to get to downtown from East San Jose.
- Transfer is required from Milpitas to Mountain View and from Almaden to basically everywhere.

Some believe that light rail should've skipped downtown and head straight on the freeway to the airport. A lot of people think the Almaden light rail shuttle is a joke and should be discontinued, which VTA actually considered as a part of a 21% service reduction proposed in 2003.

Despite criticisms, light rail does work for some people. Light rail is popular for folks in South San Jose and Campbell to get to downtown, as it is the only market where light rail is actually competitive with automobiles. However, most of the jobs are not in downtown.

It is hard to imagine major operational improvements to the light rail without having significant price tags. For instance, the Mountain View-Winchester line has several single track sections that may need to be double tracked for scheduling flexibility. Also, an extra track or two may be required to provide express light rail service, an idea which VTA General Manager Michael Burns once expressed an interest in. VTA's already in a hole when it comes to money for projects, where will the money come from to expand the tracks?

It is interesting that the same group of delusionals, such as Rod Diridon, who created the light rail system are also advocates for the BART extension.

First post COA ridership report card comes in

Attached with the May Transit Planning and Operations Committee agenda is the 2008 FYTD third quarter transit operation performance report. It basically covers the ridership trend from July last year until the end of March of this year.

Key numbers:

Bus ridership - 4.2% increase over the same time period last year.
- For the last half of 2007, bus ridership increased 3.5% over the same period from last year.
- Since the implementation of the new routes on January 14, bus ridership increased 4.6% over the same period from last year.

Light rail ridership - 1.4% increase over the same time period last year.

Farebox recovery - 13.9%, 0.2% point more than last year, despite fare reduction on day passes and monthly passes for youth and seniors/disabled that was implemented last September.

In the back of the report are weekday ridership numbers and boardings for revenue hours on each bus and light rail route.

Extra buses on route 168

According to an onboard take-one card, VTA has added extra buses on line 168 to meet passenger demand. These buses will supplement the 6:24 am and 6:54 am departures from Morgan Hill to Downtown San Jose.

The ridership on this line has increased steadily over the last few months as commuters are becoming familiar with the service and because of rising gas prices. Even so, some riders are still confused between the 168 and the regular 68. It is not unusual to see someone boarding the express bus even though they actually want the local bus.

VTA April updates and more

Finally Suzanne Gifford, VTA's General Counsel, is retiring. The VTA board is scheduled at its meeting next Thursday to appoint one of her deputies, Kevin Allmand, to become the acting General Counsel until a permenant replacement is hired.

Gifford's record at VTA wasn't spectacular. One of her biggest failures at VTA is losing a $2.1 million lawsuit filed by a scooter-bound VTA rider who got injured inside the bus. Even Dave Cortese, a VTA board member, thought that Gifford should've settled early on. Because of that lawsuit, VTA instituted a policy in 2007 to require wheelchair passengers to be secured inside the bus. Although its intent is to improve passenger safety, some disabled riders argued against the policy because it would increase the time needed to board and exit wheelchair passengers.

VTA working with groups to address the Hotel 22 problem

About 30 volunteers from Victory Outreach Church and Tzu Chi Foundation will ride the Hotel 22 tonight to provide homeless riders with information on community resources and housing. A small gift bag will be given to interested homeless riders.

VTA to restore some 68 peak hour service in the South County

On April 7, VTA will restore 3 peak hour trips each way (northbound in the morning and southbound in the afternoon) on line 68 between Santa Teresa light rail and Gilroy. As part of the January service change, VTA eliminated 15-minute service on line 68 south of Santa Teresa, which led to numerous compliants about overcrowding on buses.

A minor community bus problem



In the photo above, there's a yellow strip located right under the window frame. That's the stop request strip designed to be used by wheelchair passengers. Apparently, a lot of regular passengers who sat in the front accidentially triggered stop request by simply leaning their bodies on to the strip. Some drivers tell these passengers to keep away from the strip. Some drivers decided not to bother the passengers and instead reset the visual messaging board that shows the stop request.

Proposed VTA Board reform rejected by the CAC

On its March 12 Citizen's Advisory Committee meeting, VTA staff presented the board reform proposal for the committee to consider. Although many members believed the proposed reform is a good first step, it is not enough to address VTA's governance problems. Moreover, many believed that additional public input is needed on this matter. At the end, the CAC voted not to recommend the proposal and requested the board to "take a holistic and strategic approach on the whole issue of governance and begin an interactive process with all appropriate community stakeholders."

Muni's TEP vs. VTA's COA

After months of extensive data collection and research, Muni in San Francisco released its draft route change proposal yesterday.

In many ways, Muni's Transit Effectiveness Project is following VTA's footsteps, from the initial research to recommendations. Muni and VTA hired the same consultant to conduct their service evaluations (compare VTA's 22 to Muni's 14). Some elements of Muni's route change proposal are strikingly similar to VTA's COA, such as elimination of less popular routes that closely parallel to major routes.

However, Muni and VTA are vastly different systems. Muni's plan maintains its 1/4 mile transit coverage in most of San Francisco, and only proposes to eliminate service in the Presidio, which is already served by its own shuttle system, the PresidiGo. On the other hand, VTA initially recommended to cut service in much of the outlaying suburbs, as well as to the community colleges located there. Passenger complaints forced the VTA staff to keep some of the service in these areas.

Another difference between Muni and VTA is their implementation process. Given San Francisco's politics, it is not inconceivable that some necessary changes to speed service will be vetoed because of some individuals' desire to maintain a bus stop on every block. In addition, some of the changes will require infrastructure changes, because much of its bus network is consisted of trolley buses running under overhead wires. Don't anticipate such a major service change to happen overnight like what VTA had last month.

Around the Valley

Yesterday, a low floor bus on line 68 was spotted in Morgan Hill at Main and Hale transit center. That bus was crowded and was running late.

According to the A-frames placed at the station, Palo Alto bus transit center will be closed from 10:30am to 4:30pm this Sunday due to the Amgen California bike tour. VTA line 22 and SamTrans KX and 390 will make a detour and stop in the west side of the train station on Quarry Road. VTA line 35 and SamTrans 280 and 281 will stop in the east side of the train station on Lytton Avenue. Service to Stanford Shopping Center on these lines will be canceled on that day.


For the next few months, VTA will continue to operate on a single track between Tamien and Virginia stations as Tamien is undergoing platform retrofit. VTA personnel are located at the crossovers (south of Tamien and north of Virginia) to oversee the single track operations. Along with the personnel is a light rail car at each crossover. These cars act as a place to rest and as a way to transport the crew to and from the crossover.


At San Jose Diridon Station, both MST line 55 and VTA line 168 provide express service to Gilroy. MST is partnering with a vineyard to develop locally grown bio-diesel by planting two kinds of mustard seeds.

Recently, passengers with luggage were spotted waiting on Cahill Street south of San Jose Diridon Station at about 5:00pm. For the last six months, passengers have been waiting at the same spot in the morning to board a Megabus to Los Angeles. Apparently, Megabus adjusted its bus schedule and has added an afternoon stop in San Jose for a bus to Los Angeles.

However, the Megabus website still shows the old schedule in the schedule section. The new trip time is visible only by using the "Search and buy" box. Not a good business practice for a company that wants to compete in a market where people tend to either fly or drive.

COA growing pains

Happy Lunar New Year

As reported on the VTA Riders' Union message list earlier, VTA is reviewing some of the changes implemented last month. In particular is line 68 south of Santa Teresa light rail station. On January 14, the peak hour frequency on line 68 south of Santa Teresa was reduced from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes, resulting in overcrowded buses with some passengers standing between Santa Teresa and Morgan Hill. VTA is considering possible service changes to address complaints about the overcrowding.

Some of the line 68 resources were reallocated to the new line 168, which operates every 30 minutes in peak directions. However, it is not a complete substitute for the 50% reduction in local service, especially in the reverse commute direction (morning to Gilroy) where no express service is provided.

On the other hand, the ridership on the express service appears promising, with some buses carrying 20 passengers.

In addition, VTA realigned line 54 last weekend to avoid the unnecessary loop south of De Anza College and clarified the timepoints in the area.

San Jose State back in session

Today, San Jose State is back in session. It is a major test of the new operating plan VTA implemented last week. As students came to campus early to add classes they need to graduate, many buses got more crowded and, to handle the additional riders, three car trains ran on the Santa Teresa line.

Unlike most of industrial parks and community colleges in the South Bay, San Jose State is centrally located and well served by transit. Students can ride free with their student ID card and the sticker they get every semester. With rising cost of driving and education, along with limited parking, more students are turning to transit to save time and money.

The new bus operating plan benefit some students and hurt others. For instance, the new line 181 provides faster travel time and smoother rides for San Jose State students coming from Fremont. (A VTA staffer in yellow vest was at the Fremont BART station directing passengers this morning) However, some students that once depended on line 180 between Milpitas and downtown San Jose complained because they now have to take light rail (which was supposed to be preferable to buses) for a slower ride.

While students from Gilroy can look forward to the new line 168, other students heading from San Jose State to City College have to walk further to get to line 65 that has less service. Line 85, which was another route from downtown to City College, has been eliminated.

The second day of line 168

Line 168 is the only new express bus line that does not have an existing ridership base (unlike 181, which replaced 180 in Downtown SJ). It is a commuter route from the south county to Downtown San Jose.


People are boarding a short turn 68 bus that ends at Santa Teresa Light Rail Station. As a part of the bus changes, the frequency of line 68 has been reduced from 15 minutes to 30 minutes during peak hours south of Santa Teresa.


People are boarding the line 168 bus leaving at 4:36pm on 2nd Street. Two passenger have a regular day pass and is asked to pay a $1.75 upgrade per person to ride this bus. There is five passengers onboard.


The bus enters CA-87 from the Delmas onramp. From there the bus enters the HOV lane and is bypassing the usual slowdown at the I-280 interchange.


The bus stays on the HOV lane on CA-87, CA-85, and then on 101. There's a direct HOV lane to HOV lane connection at the 85-101 interchange.


The HOV lane the bus is running on was opened in 2003 along with a regular lane to the right, which doubled the width of the freeway.


The HOV lane ends at Cochrane and the traffic backup begins. That's where the bus exits the freeway. The bus arrives at Morgan Hill Caltrain station 10 minutes ahead of schedule.


Unconstrained by timepoints after leaving downtown San Jose, the bus arrives in Gilroy 15 minutes ahead of schedule. This bus now has almost half an hour layover before departing northbound as a regular 68. Other 168 buses that arrive later appear to be right on schedule.


Gilroy Transit Center is a transfer point to San Benito buses to Hollister.


The first afternoon Caltrain arrives in Gilroy six minutes after the arrival of the 168 bus. This train is scheduled to depart from San Jose nine minutes after the departure of the same 168 bus.


The Caltrain ridership in Gilroy has gone down significantly since the 2003 widening of 101, along with a 60% fare increase also implemented in 2003. The next Gilroy train won't come for another 90 minutes, while the next 168 bus will arrive in about half an hour.

Historically, the south county does not have the kind of express bus service to downtown San Jose similar to line 168. Before the opening of the Caltrain extension in 1992, VTA ran line 160 from Gilroy to North 1st Street and Tasman. The line ran every 30 minutes but did not run on freeways during any part of its trip. Another line, the 502 operated from Gilroy to San Jose Civic Center area via freeways, but only has one roundtrip each day.

Caltrain was later considered the primary connection besides line 68. Despite VTA's effort to add an extra track, VTA's effort to add freeway lanes undermined Caltrain. In 2006, with partial funding from VTA, Monterey Salinas Transit added a new bus route between San Jose and Monterey via Gilroy, adding another (abeit limited) alternative to Caltrain and line 68.