Last week featured a lot of meetings, mishaps, and calls for action in the quest to improve public transit in Silicon Valley. All in a quest to make Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) buses and light rail a more viable alternative to driving. From community meetings in the Alum Rock section of San Jose, to a city council meeting in Sunnyvale, to our own group meeting in San Jose, here are details on what happened last week as “catch-up” material.
Saturday, February 21: The Stadium Series Transit Debacle
The last blog post documented everything VTA did right – and wrong – at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara for the Sharks/Kings Stadium Series hockey game.
After the game, VTA warned passengers that they are experiencing double the transit riders at Levi’s Stadium than at a San Francisco 49ers game. While VTA did offer an apology for being overwhelmed, there are still unanswered questions. Chief amongst them:
- How many light rail cars were available system-wide that Saturday evening? That it took some game attendees as much as three hours to go home on light rail suggests VTA did not have the number of light rail cars and personnel necessary to handle the crowds.
- Why did VTA wait until Monday at 5:30pm – nearly 48 hours later – before issuing a formal public apology for the poor service?
- What ultimately happened to the 255 pre-game Express Bus from Bascom and Camden in San Jose last Saturday? Why was that late or no-show 255 Express Bus not mentioned in the public apology?
- When was VTA made aware that the game was sold out? Levi’s Stadium announced the day before the game that it was a sellout.
These suggest VTA has problems with capacity (especially for big events), lack of flexibility and maintaining its bus and light rail fleet in Santa Clara County. Worse, failing to mention a late or no-show express bus that was advertised suggests VTA does not count express buses to Levi’s Stadium like it does light rail. Given upcoming huge events at Levi’s Stadium like WrestleMania on March 29, this is not good.
Were you affected by VTA’s horrible post-game service last Saturday night? Let VTA management know face-to-face at their upcoming Board of Directors’ meeting this Thursday at 5:30pm. The VTA Board of Directors’ meeting is in the County Building at the County Supervisors’ Chambers, 70 W. Hedding Street in San Jose. The Building and Chambers are one block north of Civic Center light rail station, and near several VTA bus lines like the 61, 62, 66, and 181 express from Milpitas and Fremont.
Before you go, read up on the transit and driving directions to the County Building. Also, read up on how to be properly heard by VTA Board of Directors’ members and staff at their Board meeting. Remember: VTA and its staff work for YOU.
Sunnyvale City Council Rejects Dedicated Bus Lanes
Last Tuesday evening, Sunnyvale’s City Council voted 4-3 to have the VTA’s 522 Rapid bus line continue to run in “mixed flow” lanes on El Camino Real (State Highway 82) in Sunnyvale. VTA Board member Dave Whittum (who sits on Sunnyvale’s City Council) cast one of the “mixed flow” votes. Sunnyvale City Council rejected the idea of having dedicated bus and bicycle lanes to further support Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale.
Here are some of Dave Whittum’s thoughts on the transit situation in Sunnyvale. Two things stand out from his thoughts. First of which is concern about VTA’s “North-South” bus routes like the 26, 53, 54 and 55:
These north-south lines each meet the VTA standard for “core” service of [more than] 27.6 BRH, even though only two of them are designated as “core” (26, 55) with the result that, for north-south commuters, speed and headways are generally poorer by comparison, with ½ hour or more headways typical between buses.
[…] That high ridership persists despite nominal service is a strong indicator of demand, supplementing anecdotal information reflecting long commutes and full buses.
Whittum them goes on to mention some history behind “North-South” transit history in Sunnyvale:
It is not surprising that there is large demand for north-south service, as this is anticipated in Sunnyvale’s long term plans for development. Sunnyvale’s Downtown Specific Plan was built around Sunnyvale-Cupertino light-rail, which circa 2005, VTA downgraded to BRT over Sunnyvale’s objection, in favor of the Vasona Light Rail extension to Los Gatos. In 2009, Sunnyvale-Cupertino BRT was then downgraded to unfunded and unscheduled in the VTA BRT Strategic Plan. The authors characterized the corridor as follows:
“The Sunnyvale-Cupertino Corridor from De Anza College to Lockheed Transit Center, is an extremely auto-oriented and affluent area with low-density housing/employment. Current transit demand is low, with few boardings in the middle of the corridor. Productivity is low. Few transit-dependent areas or regional destinations exist along the corridor (outside of De Anza College and the Apple and Lockheed campuses).”
In 2014 this conclusion is jarring, in light of actual boarding and ridership statistics, and dense job and residential centers aligned north-south. AWR for our four north-south lines (26, 53, 54, 55) each meet the criteria for core service individually, and provide a combined AWR of 8.5k — higher than all but two bus lines in the County. And this high usage occurs with generally poor service—long headways and long travel times. The total of boardings per revenue hour comes to 119 BRH, higher than the total of the #1 and #2 bus lines in the County.
In contrast, the Vasona corridor, prioritized for one of two future light rail line extensions in the County, sees only light usage, the #37 with 0.7k AWR and 17BRH, and the #48 with 0.4k AWR and 19 BRH.
These concerns were further expressed in a letter I received from Whittum regarding dedicated bus and bicycle lanes along El Camino Real:
Meanwhile, Sunnyvale’s planning, and the 90k jobs it provides to the region was premised on north-south (Sunnyvale-Cupertino) transit seeing improvements that in fact never materialized. The entire region is living with the consequences of that today on our north-south arterials as well as Lawrence and 85. We need better transit service from homes in the south to jobs in the north, by the Bay, and offering viable commute choices on that corridor may well reduce the congestion experienced by commuters throughout the region.
While “North-South” transit improvements need to be considered as , Whittum did note two avenue of hope for dedicated bus and bicycle lanes along El Camino Real:
In answer to one question that has been asked, it is probably true that VTA would have the authority to pursue dedicated lanes without City Council support, from a legal point of view. However, their funding might be impacted by a lack of local support. Also, VTA would need Caltrans agreement, if it is still a state highway at that time.
[…]Also, for a project approved by the Board, VTA has eminent domain authority. This was a prominent feature of the Alum Rock BRT project. VTA’s Right of Way Process is available as a pdf of the same name, via google search. VTA conducts “resolution of necessity” hearings as needed; eminent domain is a routine part of business for Alum Rock BRT and BART. This is part of providing right-of-ways for public projects, and it is an important authority for VTA to have in pursuing the role accorded it by the state legislature. And this is not to say this would happen anywhere in Sunnyvale, simply that if, after detailed design is completed, a project need did turn out to require a taking of property, VTA would have the authority to pursue the taking, without involvement by the City Council.
This issue – as well as “north-south” transit in Sunnyvale – will continue to be monitored and addressed.
Yet Another Community Meeting on Transportation in Alum Rock
Also on February 24, People Acting in Community Together (PACT) held its own meeting at a church in eastern San Jose. We’re trying to get notes on that meeting and will have them up for you as soon as possible.
Our Own Meeting Last Thursday
At the San Jose Peace & Justice Center, we talked about the Sunnyvale City Council decision rejecting dedicated bus lanes on Tuesday. One of our newest members, living in Willow Glen, noted he biked to our meeting near San Jose State faster than he could have taken the 64 bus. We also discussed the Stadium Series post-game debacle VTA had, and instructed people to write to VTA about it, as well as plan on going to their Board of Directors’ meeting March 5th in San Jose.
As you have read, there is much to do – and much to learn – to get things better.
Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users