Take any Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) express bus like the 101 (Camden/Hwy 85-Palo Alto) or limited stop bus like the 330 (Almaden/Camden to Tasman Drive)? This evening, VTA has made several surveys for service expansion on the following Limited Stop and Express Bus lines. More info and perspective at the jump.
The surveys VTA made available on its web site today are for the following limited stop and express bus lines:
The goal of these surveys, according to VTA, is to “attract new ridership” on these express bus lines. Also, according to VTA, the surveys were created using SurveyMonkey as the tool.
Perspective
From 1990 until about 2002, VTA had 14 “super express” buses made by Flxible Corporation. These buses had high-back (non-reclining) seats, overhead luggage racks, and individual reading lights. (Here’s an OLD roster of these buses courtesy of The Archive. Anyone who has photos of VTA express buses with fleet number 9020-9034, please let us know!) Some of these buses were sold to New Century Transportation of San Jose for use as employee shuttles.
Aside from the 180 and 181 express buses, I’ve learned that one likely reason why VTA’s express bus ridership has been historically low: they only run a few times in one direction for the morning rush hour, with the same few times in the opposite direction at the evening rush hour. No midday, late night or weekend service. Given that Silicon Valley is a 24-hour economy – with data centers and offices that need staffing 24 hours a day – it surprises me that VTA’s express bus model remains the same 9-5 grind. Given our current stagnant economy, that will require a radical shift in local transit spending priorities – that’s another conversation.
Silicon Valley companies like Google and Genentech have been ahead of the express bus game locally for years, via its own private shuttle buses – some of which are run by Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation of San Francisco. Hopefully, the results of these surveys will provide the necessary beginning for VTA’s express buses to become more useful in Silicon Valley.