Around the Valley this summer

An upgraded TVM has been spotted at Gish Station, that is supposed to take ATM and credit cards soon.

MST now has MCI coaches.

Late night service will be coming back on line 63 on a trial basis. If this trip carries sufficient riders, it can continue on a permanent basis.

...

New bus stop locations at San Jose Diridon Station effective next week.

Caltrain is rebuilding the Santa Clara Station partly to accommodate ACE and Amtrak trains. ACE used to stop at the Santa Clara Station from 2001 to 2005, when Caltrain decided to kick ACE trains out of the station to make room for more Baby Bullet trains (Southbound ACE trains used to stop on the northbound platform). San Francisco County Transportation Authority is a funding partner on this project (see the TA logo above the VTA logo).

More around the Bay

BART labor action

Any transit strike is going to be frustrating for transit riders. The last known strike affecting South Bay transit riders is the Santa Cruz Metro strike in 2005, which interrupted the Highway 17 Express bus service operating between Santa Cruz and San Jose. That strike was supposedly averted but then began when negotiation suddenly broke down. That strike lasted about a month. During that strike, getting over the hill was difficult and the only service is the overcrowded Greyhound buses that ran a few trips a day.

While it is possible that the strike could be averted in the last minute, it is nonetheless a good idea to be prepared in case it happens.

If BART workers go in strike next Monday, VTA express buses in Fremont would stop temporarily outside the BART property, so that its drivers would not cross the picket line (since VTA drivers are represented by another chapter of the ATU). In Fremont, AC Transit bus line 99 continues north to Bay Fair and stopping at every BART station in between. At Bay Fair, AC Transit bus 1R continues to Oakland and Berkeley.

In addition, Amtrak Capitol Corridor service operates between San Jose and Sacramento via Fremont.

On the Peninsula, Caltrain would continue to provide regular service, but SamTrans service would stop outside BART property and route KX would serve Millbrae station to connect Caltrain riders with SFO.

Monterey bus fare cut

Because of an infusion from the Stimulus fund, MST plans to reduce the fares it raised in January. In January, the agency raised it fares by 25% from $2 per zone to $2.50 per zone. From September 5, the fares will go down from $2.50 to $2.25 per zone. Fares for seniors, disabled, and children will go down by 15 cents. That fare cut will last until the next Memorial Day in 2010.

Money for new service

At a time when most transit agencies are cutting service and/or raising fares, the Monterey-Salinas Transit is adding new service next Monday.

The new service is designed to serve the Presidio of Monterey, an active military installation located between Monterey and Pacific Grove. MST is able to provide these new bus lines with funding from the Army. The Army approached MST to provide additional transit service as a way to relieve traffic problems at the Presidio.

The new Presidio service consists of 9 new weekday routes, with one route from San Jose. Most of these routes will run during the morning and afternoon commute hours. The annual cost to provide the new service is over $1 million. Active duty service members and Presidio employees are eligible for free monthly passes for the new service.

All the buses are open to the rest of the public at regular fares, but only military personnel with IDs can ride into the Presidio. Buses however will make a stop in downtown Monterey for other non-military riders.

The new service means MST will run a second line to San Jose. The new line 79 will make a stop at the San Jose Diridon station, the Santa Teresa light rail station, and Gilroy Caltrain station. Because it is designed for commuters coming into Monterey, the bus will leave San Jose earlier and leave Monterey later than the current line 55, which is primarily designed to carry Monterey residents to San Jose. A side benefit to this new line is that it will provide an even earlier trip into San Jose and a late trip leaving San Jose, as buses have to make its way from Monterey to pick up riders.

Currently, the last 55 leaves Monterey at about 3:18pm, which is too early if you want to have an extended day trip in Monterey. For those in Gilroy, this new line will offer a late option from San Jose in case if you miss the last 168, 55, or Caltrain.

Caltrain's ugly choices

Caltrain has scheduled three public meetings on possible service cuts and fare hikes:

• -Increase one way fares by 25 cents base and/or per zone (the last time they raised fares was in January). Other fares will go up by the same proportion
  
• -Increase Go Pass fees significantly (now is same as a two zone monthly pass. Caltrain proposes to be the same as a three zone pass).
• -Increase parking fees
• -Cut weekend service
• -Cut midday service to hourly
• -Cut Gilroy service

The meetings will take place at 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 27 at the following locations:

• -San Francisco: 25 Van Ness Avenue, Lower Level Conference Room
• -San Carlos: Caltrain Headquarters, Auditorium, 1250 San Carlos Ave.
• -San Jose: VTA Administrative Offices, Auditorium. 3331 North First Street

Cutting weekend service is the worst because there's no equivalent transit service for most cities. The prospect of having to travel on local buses like the 22 and the 390 is a very ugly one. For most people, weekend service is the way how they're introduced to Caltrain.

The Gilroy service, on the other hand, does have equivalent service through the Monterey-Salinas Transit's 55 and VTA's line 168. While it is not clear of what the current ridership trend is for the Gilroy train service, the ridership has been drastically reduced from the peak in 2000 with the first dot-com bust and the 101 freeway widening.

Around the valley

Palo Alto Caltrain station

The station reconstruction at Palo Alto has been completed. Part of reconstruction was to create an ADA-compliant pedestrian underpass. Prior to the reconstruction, the station had an at-grade crossing to allow crossing by the disabled because the ramps for the existing tunnels were too steep.

Caltrain essentially upgraded one of the existing pedestrian tunnels. That tunnel pictured was dark and smelly before the reconstruction. The renovated tunnel now has skylights and fluorescent lighting. The urine-odor also disappeared as well.

Highway 17 Express

Santa Cruz Metro, the agency that operates the Highway 17 Express, placed new low floor buses in service on the Highway 17 route. It is interesting because low floor buses generally have lower capacity than high floor buses. Besides the loss of seats, these buses do not have underfloor luggage area like the older buses.

Ridership on the Highway 17 Express has grown continuously when the service was merged with the Amtrak connector in 2004. The farebox recovery for the route is now over 50%, compared to about 15% for the entire VTA system. At times the buses are packed with UC Santa Cruz students heading home for the weekends and long holidays. One has to wonder why Santa Cruz Metro did not opt to increase capacity by using larger buses and instead purchase buses with lower capacity.

State funding cuts

The loss of state funding for many transit operators has now translated into fare increase and/or service reductions. Monterey-Salinas Transit has recently instituted a large 25% fare increase! The one way trip on the 55 from San Jose to Monterey has gone up from $8 to $10. San Benito County Transit, which connects with VTA in Gilroy, has eliminated bus service from 10 am to 2 pm in Hollister. AC Transit is also considering a fare increase even though voters approved a parcel tax to provide more funding for AC Transit's operation in the East Bay.

May tidbits: BART and more

BART - Transit system of the 60s

Last Thursday, with all the good reasons to use public transportation (Bike to Work Day and Spare the Air Day), BART failed to deliver with systemwide delays of 45 minutes. BART blamed the delay on old equipment that couldn't stand the heat. The delay wasn't limited to the original system built over 35 years ago. It also impacted the overpriced SFO extension which was opened five years ago. Should VTA spend billions on a transit system that can't stand the heat?

AC Transit joins Google Transit

With AC Transit on the Google Transit, along with VTA, Caltrain, BART and Muni, you could plan a trip on transit from West Valley College in Saratoga to Ohlone College in Fremont. Unfortunately it takes several transfers to complete the trip.

Megabus leaving California

Citing that ridership didn't grow as fast as anticipated, Megabus will discontinue service on California in June. The company, however, is expanding service to the East Coast, which is a very competitive market with a number of large and small intercity bus operators.

With less than a year in operation, Megabus has yet establish familiarity despite the fact that it received a lot of positive reviews from its riders. Perhaps Megabus simply doesn't have the patience to develop the California market. Other services such as Capitol Corridor and Highway 17 Express has seen ridership increases year after year partly because of their willingness to sustain the service and establish the identity, rather than quitting when riders in California don't come in as fast as they do in New York.

Because of that, public operators had to come in to fill the gap left by private operators in certain corridors. Before the establishment of Monterey-Salinas Transit line 55 in 2006, which goes from downtown Monterey to downtown San Jose, there was no Greyhound or Amtrak feeder bus service between these two cities for over a year. A new law was required for MST to provide the service with funding from the state (for Amtrak feeder service). The private operators fought tooth and nail against it, even though they were unwilling to provide a service that MST wanted to do.

There are still options for bus travel between the South Bay and Southern California without Megabus:
Greyhound - Depot in downtown San Jose
USAsia - Cupertino to Monterey Park
Xe Do Hoang - San Jose to LA

What will be missing is the $1 fare on some seats.

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.