New fareboxes for VTA and SamTrans

Recently, VTA introduced new fareboxes on selected buses as part of the testing phase. Last year, VTA approved the replacement of fare boxes as the original fare boxes become obsolete.

As part of the transition to new fareboxes, VTA will also change the way it sells day passes onboard buses. For many years, VTA preprints day passes and distributes to the drivers daily. Riders using the day pass can just show the pass to the bus driver. After the transition to the new equipment, the new fareboxes will encode and print a "smart" day pass once the fare is paid. Riders using the new day pass will tag the pass on the sensor located on the farebox (pretty much like how riders using Clipper cards to pay the fare, except Clipper users tag on the Clipper reader, not the farebox).

When riding the light rail with the "smart" day pass, just present the "smart" pass to the inspector upon request. When riding the bus with the day pass purchased from a light rail ticket machine, just show the pass to the driver.

The new fareboxes will also feature a magnetic stripe reader. If you ride using a Highway 17 Express or MST passes, just slide the pass on the reader.

In the meantime, SamTrans also ordered new fareboxes from the same manufacturer, and will rollout the new fareboxes this summer just like VTA.

With the new fareboxes, SamTrans will provide two new features. The first is the change card, which is given to riders that put more money into the farebox than the fare itself. The riders can then use the change card for future rides on SamTrans. The second new feature is the long awaited day pass (to be introduced in 2012 after a fare study and public hearings).

Because getting change beforehand can be very difficult, the new change cards will certainly benefit cash riders and reduce boarding times. Rather than holding the bus and digging into the pocket for exact change, or ask fellow riders for change, the rider can just put a $20 bill in and knowing that he or she is not overpaying. The exact change requirement at many agency is a barrier for bus usage (whereas ticket machines at light rail, Caltrain, or BART can give change).

Unlike VTA, SamTrans is not planning to implement "smart" day pass. Riders with Summer Youth Pass or day pass will slide the pass by the magnetic stripe reader. Riders with change card will dip the card onto the top slot. Like VTA, Clipper users will tag the card on the Clipper reader located separately from the farebox.

The co-current introduction of new fareboxes and Clipper marks a dramatic transition of fare payment at both agencies. Eventually, preprinted passes would become history. As agencies and riders become more accustomed to new fare media, new features like fare cap and 31-day passes (instead of pass based on a calendar month) are becoming possible.

VTA revises bus change proposal

After a series of public meetings, VTA staff came up with a revised bus change proposal for this July and next January.

The key revisions from the original proposal are to maintain routes 101 and 104, postponement of adding a new route 105 (Fremont BART to Mountain View), and an extension of route 120 (Fremont BART to Lockheed) from Lockheed to Mountain view. On the other hand, under the revised plan, route 10 would have reduced service in the evening and all day on weekends because of funding cuts from the City of San Jose. Line 180 would also lose a late evening trip in favor of adding a Milpitas stop for line 181.

Also under the new plan, line 37 would have Saturday service between Winchester and Capitol LRT stations. Service span on lines 48 and 49 would remain the same.

The revised plan is certainly an improvement. At the community meetings, staff said that under the proposed biennial budget, there would be a 1% increase in service (considering that less than 2 years ago VTA reduced service by 8%.). While VTA was saying that there would be an increase in service, the original plan still proposed to discontinue some in-county express routes like line 104, which staff originally planned to cut the route back in 2007.

Cutting line 104 and starting 105 was not justified. Without line 104, residents from East San Jose and Milpitas would not have a viable transit option to the Palo Alto area. The next best alternative would require multiple transfers between light rail and bus, or travel all the way to Downtown San Jose to make a transfer. On the other hand, line 105 would primarily serve out of county commuters. Even without the extension of line 120, East Bay commuters can take ACE or Capitol Corridor train and transfer to an ACE Shuttle at Great America to Mountain View.

The VTA Transit Planning and Operations Committee will review the revised plan today at its regular meeting at 4:30pm. The committee meeting location is the VTA headquarters at 3331 North 1st Street (conference room B-104). If the committee supports the plan, the VTA Board will consider approving the plan at its meeting on June 2 at 6:00pm at the Board of Supervisors Chamber.

San Jose City Councilman, VTA Boardmember, Caltrain Boardmember Ash Kalra arrested on a DUI charge

Over the weekend, San Jose City Councilman Ask Kalra (also sits on VTA and Caltrain JPB) was arrested on a DUI charge. At 1:30am last Saturday, Kalra got pulled over in Downtown San Jose by CHP for a broken tail light. The officer detected an odor of alcohol coming from him.

After spending a few hours in jail, he was released. Later he told his colleagues and the media about the situation. He said that it was a terrible error in judgement and apologized.

One of the many reasons we need a well funded and well designed transit system is take people home when they're not suitable to drive. For the driver, being arrested for DUI can be traumatic. The fines, the cost of fighting the charge, and the subsequent increase in insurance premium are high. DUI can also hurt your career if driving is a part of the job. For the community, drunk drivers pose a hazard for all road users.

The police are cracking down hard on drunk drivers especially at nights and around certain holidays. It is more likely to get pulled over for the little things (like broken lights, or just speeding a little bit) than at other times so that the cops can check whether you're sober.

If you drank, you should avoid driving. If you don't have a sober friend to drive you home, a train ride, a bus ride, or a cab ride is worth it. Even if you have to pay $20-30 for a cab, it is still cheaper than a ride on a police car to jail after being caught.

VTA to hold meetings on future bus plans

VTA is planning to hold meetings early next month on bus change proposals that would be implemented this July as well as next year. The bus plan is a part of the VTA's proposal biennial budget.

Monday, May 2 at 6:00 p.m.

City of Mountain View

500 Castro Street, Mountain View, 94041

Tuesday, May 3 at 3:00 p.m.

County of Santa Clara, Isaac Newton Senter Auditorium

70 West Hedding Street, San Jose, 95110

Tuesday, May 3 at 6:00 p.m.

Dr. Roberto Cruz Public Library, Community Room

3090 Alum Rock Avenue, San Jose, 95127

Served by VTA Bus Lines 25, 45 and 71.

Wednesday, May 4 at 6:00 p.m.

City of Morgan Hill Community & Cultural Center Hiram Morgan Hill Room

17000 Monterey Street, Morgan Hill, 95037

Monday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m.

County of Santa Clara, Isaac Newton Senter Auditorium

70 West Hedding Street, San Jose, CA 95110

Tuesday, May 10 at 6:00 p.m.

Campbell Community Center, Mary Campbell Room

1 West Campbell Avenue, Campbell 95008

For full details click on the title.

For this July, VTA proposes minor changes for the following routes: 35, 47, 54, 65, 68, 82, 102, 181.

Line 102, which goes from Santa Teresa to Palo Alto is experiencing overcrowding and the staff is surveying riders for the preferred trip time as they plan to add another run.

On line 181, the staff plans to add short trips between Milpitas and Fremont to make a 20 minute headway, but the frequency between Milpitas and Downtown San Jose will remain the same.

For January 2012, VTA plans the following:

Minor changes (involve some trip eliminations, shortening of some trips) - 10, 13, 18, 22, 25, 31, 35, 39, 46, 51, 55, 60, 64, 66, 68, 73, 77

Major changes

16 - Midday service would be eliminated.

23 - Weekday frequency would be improved to every 10 minutes.

26 - Short trips would be added between Lockheed and El Camino during commute hours.

45 - Saturday service would be eliminated. Weekday service would be shortened an hour early.

48, 49 - Weekday and weekend service all have reduced service hours.

57, 58 - Reduction in frequency

61, 62 - Slight reduction in frequency and service hours.

81 - Sunday service would be eliminated

101 - Service would be eliminated because it doesn't meet ridership standard.

102 - Stops in San Jose will be reduced to the Santa Teresa, Snell, and Ohlone light rail stations, and the line would also use new "premium express" buses.

103 - This line would use new premium buses and one more round trip would be added.

104 - This line would be eliminated. (VTA tried to get rid of it as early as 2007)

105 - This would be new line from Fremont BART to the Shoreline area (Google HQ) in Mountain View. This line would use the new premium bus and would have four round trips.

120, 121 - This line would use new premium buses.

122 - This line would use new premium buses, stops would be reduced, and one more round trip would be added. (Back in 2007 VTA staff recommended to cut the route)

180 - Some trips would be eliminated.

182 - One of the two round trips would be eliminated and stops would be reduced.

183 - This would be a new line from the Evergreen area to Fremont BART (Dave Cortese's pet route). This line would use new premium buses and would have 3 round trips.

328, 330 - One more round trip would be added.

For July 2012, VTA proposes the following:

11, 17, 34 - Ridership is still below standard and these lines are slated for elimination in 2012 unless ridership improves. Another public meetings would be held in early 2012. Line 11 and 34 have had ridership problems in the past, but because they go by senior facilities, a lot of people don't want these routes cut.

522 - VTA plans to extend service hours on weekdays from about 7:30pm to about 10:30pm. Saturday service would also be expanded and there would be service on Sundays.

VTA accepts Clipper

VTA today formally accepts Clipper for payment.

Some Clipper tips:

E-cash and monthly passes can be loaded onto Clipper cards. With e-cash you pay one way fares. There's no day pass option at this point. If you want to ride light rail or the bus all day you should buy the light rail excursion pass or day pass with cash.

Transfer privileges automatically apply when transferring to VTA from AC Transit, BART, Caltrain, or SamTrans. There's no transfer privileges with Highway 17 Express or MST if you pay with Clipper.

To ride the bus you basically place the card on top of the blue logo on the Clipper reader. The reader is located in front of the bus to the right of the fare box.

To ride light rail you place the card on top of the blue logo on the Clipper reader at the light rail station. Once your card is approved (green light), you can ride light rail for the next 2 hours.

If you transfer between light rail you don't need to "tag" your card again. If you do so you will pay another fare, even if you have paid for light rail less than 2 hours ago.

The Clipper readers at light rail stations are generally located next to the ticket machines. That means that they are located on the platform at street level stops, and located at the station entrances for Hwy 87 stations. Some ticket machines will not have the Clipper reader next to them.

At the downtown San Jose light rail stops, only one Clipper reader is available on each street for each station. The reader is located at the front end of the station (north end on 1st St, south end on 2nd St) between the raised platform and the ticket machine.

What is not clear at this point is whether you must tag (that means if you don't you get a citation) before you board the light rail if your card has a monthly pass. The FAQs on VTA and Clipper sites say that you need to. On the other hand, you don't need to do that on Caltrain. Because of the number and placement of the Clipper readers at the light rail stations, having tag on every time with a monthly pass is a problem. If you ride, say the 82 to the light rail station on 2nd Street and the light rail pulls in, you won't have time to walk to the front of the front car to tag the card and get on.

The Clipper readers for light rail and Caltrain all look the same, which can be confusing at some intermodal stations especially San Jose Diridon. At that station, Clipper for light rail is located on the light rail platforms only. Readers located anywhere else (inside tunnel, inside station building) at that station are for Caltrain only. At Tamien, light rail readers are located next to VTA machines. Caltrain reader is located next to the Caltrain machines.

You need a youth or senior Clipper card to pay for any youth or senior fare. Standard cards are restricted to pay for adult fares only. Getting one of these cards is not convenient, you basically need to bring a proof of eligibility to a VTA office and apply in person, and wait to receive the card in the mail.

If you have a RTC Discount Card, which is necessary to buy a VTA senior/disabled monthly sticker, you already have a senior/disabled Clipper card. You can call Clipper 877-878-8883 to activate the Clipper account and start loading money or pass. The older RTC card with Translink logo also works on Clipper (Translink and Clipper is basically the same, just a change in name).

If you choose to pay online you may need to wait 5 days for you new purchase to be loaded. If you pay at the VTA office or Walgreens your card is loaded immediately. The reason for the delay is that, unlike credit cards, the reader does not immediately link to the network to validate your card. The readers get your payment information only by downloading at the end of each day through a wireless network at the bus yards. Once your card is validated then you're good for subsequent transactions.

Caltrain proposes drastic cuts

Last week, the Caltrain JPB approved a set of meetings on drastic service cuts which includes elimination of all off peak service, weekend service, Giants service, Gilroy service, and service at some stops like Burlingame, San Antonio, Lawrence, College Park, and Santa Clara stations.

If these cuts go forward, the crown jewel of Peninsula and South Bay transit would basically become another Altamont Commuter Express. The service Caltrain proposes is a giant step backward compared to the service Southern Pacific provided in the late 70s and early 80s, the time when SP proposed to eliminate passenger service and the state (with Jerry Brown as governor) rescued the service from extinction.

What we lack here is a political leadership to get Caltrain out of the crisis. The Caltrain's $30 million deficit is primarily caused by SamTrans' (which manages Caltrain) structural deficit. While the SamTrans/Caltrain management doesn't want to see drastic cuts on Caltrain, yet the same folks on their SamTrans role expressed nothing but hopelessness in preventing and addressing the situation. VTA, which has been cold to Caltrain for many years, have at least proposed ideas to address the problem. Could SamTrans and Caltrain be in a better financial shape if the agency were to tackle its financial problem more aggressively like VTA did several years ago?

Caltrain, which is funded by the three county trifecta, is very weak in financial stability yet delivers service better than the agencies themselves. Caltrain's farebox recovery is dramatically better than the local agencies. Over the last ten years, Caltrain ridership has gone up while some bus systems like SamTrans has declined. Also, none of the stations on the VTA light rail system has higher boardings than Palo Alto, Mountain View, or San Jose Diridon Caltrain stations. College Park station, a Caltrain stop with only 4 trains per day, has a higher boarding count than the Bayshore/NASA light rail stop, which is served by many more trains 7 days a week. Santa Clara station, which is included on the Caltrain chopping block, has more boarding than the average of all VTA light rail stations. Unfortunately it appears that productivity is not a deciding factor for transit funding.

The success of Caltrain is not just the speed of the trains and the locations of the stations, but the fact that the same trains travel through the three counties serving different ridership markets. For instance, some people boarding in San Jose get off in Palo Alto and others get off in San Francisco. If somehow SamTrans has to cut funding and Caltrain has to reduce service north of Palo Alto, then the remaining trains will not be as productive.

Fixing Caltrain in the long run requires us to change the way our transit institutions work, and get rid of the trifecta that threatens the existence of otherwise a productive transit route. Taxpayers don't win under any service cut scenarios Caltrain is proposing.

The Caltrain summits

A lot of attention is focusing on Caltrain given the budget situation and the possibility that most of the train service could be eliminated.

SVLG held a summit last Friday at Stanford mostly attended by representatives from businesses and governments. This Saturday, "Friends of Caltrain" will host a "grassroots" summit in San Carlos. The goals of both summit are to find solutions to the Caltrain funding problem and to the rally support.

The Caltrain situation is bring together political factions that have been at odds. SVLG, as we know, is behind the BART project and also supports high speed rail. On the other hand, cities like Palo Alto and Burlingame are lending support to preserve Caltrain service as they fight against the High Speed Rail Authority.

Regardless of their true intentions, it is clear that cities and businesses will hurt if Caltrain service were to be eliminated or curtailed significantly. The high tech businesses in the valley rely on Caltrain to bring employees that prefer to live in San Francisco. The cities up and down the Peninsula take advantage of Caltrain to promote downtowns and transit oriented developments. Employers like Stanford University depend on Caltrain to reduce traffic and cut down the parking spaces that otherwise would be required.

Some people, perhaps blinded by their pure hatred against high speed rail, think that Caltrain should be eliminated to kill any chance for high speed rail. At the same time, some high speed rail supporters suggest that high speed rail could be completed sooner if Caltrain were eliminated. But as history shows (Caltrain was closed on weekends from 2002-2004), there's no transit that can truly substitute Caltrain. There's also no room to add lanes on 101 without tearing down homes.

Given Caltrain's performance and potential, Caltrain needs and deserves a strong regional coalition in order to survive the financial crisis. If done right, Caltrain could be a catalyst for a more integrated and efficient regional transit system. If groups on both sides of the high speed rail issue can work together to save Caltrain, it is possible that they could agree on a high speed rail scenario that is integrated, achievable, and does not create unnecessary fear.

Friends of Caltrain summit

Location: SamTrans Auditorium,

1250 San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos (near Caltrain)

Date: Saturday, January 29, 2011 Time: 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.

Clipper, Caltrain, and VTA

At yesterday's Caltrain JPB meeting, staff announced that Caltrain will stop selling paper 8 ride tickets at the end of this month and paper monthly passes at the end of February. Caltrain delayed the mandatory transition for monthly passes because VTA has yet to accept Clipper but is expected to do sometime next month.

For VTA, only monthly passes and e-cash for one way fares will be offered on Clipper. Day passes and annual passes will not be available for now. The only realistic solution for day passes on Clipper is the implementation of a daily fare cap. Otherwise all other alternatives are inconvenient (either putting cash at the farebox to activate day pass on Clipper, which is a process already implemented on LA's bus system, or use Clipper e-cash to buy a paper day pass).

The current transfer policies with Santa Cruz Metro and MST, which are outside MTC's jurisdiction, present a problem with the mandatory Clipper transition for Caltrain and VTA. On Highway 17 Express, the cost of a day pass is $4.00 with a VTA day pass or a Caltrain monthly pass. Also, riders with a VTA express monthly pass or a Caltrain monthly pass with 3 zones or more can ride MST free. Highway 17 Express and the MST 55 line are partially funded by VTA.

Currently the other agencies cannot read Clipper cards for valid passes and honor the transfer discounts. Until something's changed, a transition to Clipper only tickets would mean a de facto fare increase (and a substantial one) for people who rely on these inter-agency transfers.

Is it feasible to stop the mandatory transition? At this point MTC does not have a plan to transition all bus agencies to Clipper within its jurisdiction. There's no Clipper version of BART Plus ticket (which can be used as a bus pass with a number of local transit agencies, except AC Transit) available, even through BART and Muni fully accept Clipper. On one hand, it is possible that sales of paper passes be continued on a limited basis for those who intend to transfer to H17 or MST. On the other hand, people who bought passes on Clipper but suddenly want to ride H17 or MST would find themselves having to pay more.

Besides H17 and MST, VTA also has transfer policies with AC Transit and SamTrans. Under the existing policies, VTA and AC Transit honor each others monthly passes at shared transfer points (including DB bus for local credit). Between SamTrans and VTA, either passes (also include VTA's day pass) are valid anywhere in Menlo Park and Palo Alto. With Clipper, transfers to VTA will be free within 2 hours after boarding another agency's bus with Clipper (no e-cash deducted).

SamTrans quietly launches Clipper

No fanfare, no web site announcement, no whatever, SamTrans quietly accepts Clipper card for payment by uncovering the Clipper readers, which has been installed on buses for several months.

For now, only e-cash (without discount) and monthly passes are available on Clipper for SamTrans. Occasional SamTrans riders will still need to buy bus tokens from retailers like Safeway in order to receive a 20% discount. Ironically, Muni offers a 10-ride "ticket book" on Clipper, which costs $20 and provides no discounts from cash. AC Transit also had 10-ride paper tickets which provided no discounts. These tickets were eliminated when the agency fully transitioned all passes to Clipper.

For Clipper, SamTrans instituted a policy on line KX that require SF-bound riders who use Clipper to tag the card when boarding and again exiting in SF. Because line KX is a mixed local and express service, riders only pay the express fares if they ride north of SFO. The second tag in SF is basically to charge the card from local (when they board south of SFO) to express fare. It is possible for someone to evade the express fare northbound by exiting quickly (or through the back door) and not tagging the second time. It would be interesting to find out how will that policy be actually executed on the buses.

On Golden Gate Transit and Caltrain, the highest possible fare is deducted on the first tag, so any passenger who ride for a shorter distance has an incentive to tag the second time to get a refund.

Meanwhile, SamTrans will be introducing new fare boxes in the next few months. The new fare boxes will be able to accept and issue magnetic strip cards. One of the features planned is to provide change on a card for riders who feeds larger bills into the fare box. The rider can use the card to pay for fares in the future or possibly redeem the card for cash at the transit office.

Another feature also planned with the introduction of new fare boxes is day pass. Day pass, already available on VTA, Santa Cruz Metro, MST, and countless other agencies, is a convenient way for occasional riders and visitors to pay and use the system. Day pass also reduces transfer penalties.

While SamTrans staff recognizes the benefits of day pass. They have been hesitant on implementing the pass until they first introduce the new fare boxes, which can issue day passes automatically. What they don't want is to follow VTA's footsteps in making and distributing preprinted day passes.

The day pass is planned to cost $6, exactly the same as VTA. However, the pass is expected to be available for local fares only. Riders will need to pay an upgrade for higher fare routes. Staff is planning to introduce the pass by the end of next year, after they roll out new fare boxes and conduct public meetings and "analysis" for something that will obviously benefits riders.

What will also be helpful is to have the day pass be introduced on Clipper as a form of a fare cap. So if someone who has paid $6 on SamTrans rides in a day, all SamTrans rides will be free for the rest of day. Another thing SamTrans could do is to make all e-cash fares $1.60 for Clipper riders.

VTA January 2011 bus changes and Caltrain weekend Baby Bullet

On January 10, 2011, VTA will implement a number of bus service changes:

Schedule changes: 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25, 27, 32, 34, 35, 42, 46, 48, 49, 51, 57, 60, 61, 62, 66, 68, 71, 81, 88, 103, 120, 330, 522, DASH

11 - Frequency will be adjusted to every 35 minutes. VTA says the actual travel time is longer than previously estimated.

64 - Bus will run on 13th and Julian streets in both directions between Santa Clara Street and McKee Road. The City of San Jose is converting both Julian and St. James Streets from one-way couplets to two-way streets.

180 and 181 - Line 180 will become a weekday only service between Fremont and Milpitas. Line 181 will provide service on weekends with a stop at the Great Mall. There will be no weekend VTA service along Mission Blvd in Fremont. Riders along Mission Blvd can take AC Transit local bus 217 to Great Mall.

VTA says the 181 routing along 880 and Stevenson is faster than the 180 along 680 and Mission. Switching the routes on weekends will help keep buses on time.

63 - Last July VTA added a southbound trip at night due to rider request. However, ridership numbers are not meeting minimum ridership standards (9 riders during SJSU session. Standards call for 15 riders). VTA is planning to cut that trip next July if ridership does not improve.

On January 1, Caltrain will reduce weekday service (4 late morning/early afternoon trains) and raise fares. At the same time Caltrain will add 4 weekend Baby Bullet trains on a trial basis until March. The new weekend trips will cut the travel time between San Jose to San Francisco by more than 30 minutes compared to local service. Trains will also stop at Millbrae, San Mateo, Hillsdale, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale.

If Caltrain's partners (which includes Muni, SamTrans, and VTA) decide not to further cut funding next year, the weekend express service may continue if weekend ridership grows by 10%. See schedule below: