Eugene B

Measure “B” Blocked Again

by Eugene B • August 31, 2017

Santa Clara County Superior Court House. Courtesy Wikipedia.

It could be months – or years – before money for transit and road projects promised to voters in 2016 come to fruition – if at all. The August 28 edition of the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported that a lawsuit was filed that blocked all Measure B spending. This included spending for extending BART into downtown San Jose, pothole repairs, and other transportation projects.

More on this matter – and how it affects Measure B – follow below.

by Eugene B • August 28, 2017

Among what we will discuss at our upcoming meeting on Thursday at 6pm in San Jose:

How we can address VTA’s shortage of buses throughout the county
VTA’s street improvement projects on Bascom Ave., Tasman Dr. and Story/Keyes Avenues – and what we can push for

Have anything else transit-related that we should be fighting for? Please address it at our meeting, BEFORE the agenda items listed. (Otherwise, you will have to wait until the end of the meeting to address your particular item.) Be prepared to discuss how YOU would help make it happen.

We meet at the San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 48 S. 7th Street in San Jose. Transit and driving directions to the Peace and Justice Center are found here.

Note that if you plan on driving to our meeting, there is limited parking in the back. Also, do not park in the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market parking lot across the street – you will be towed at your expense.

Can’t make it to our group meeting in San Jose? You can join us via dial-in at 5:55pm. Info is as follows:

Call 1(415)655-0001
When prompted for the “meeting pin number,” enter 190809846
When told that “You have joined the Conference” and after hearing that this is the Silicon Valley Transit Users meeting, please give your name and where you live.

See you on Thursday. We have much to talk about and fight for.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Transit Events Calendar Now Available…and More

by Eugene B • August 13, 2017

Per reader request, a local transit events calendar has now been installed on the web site. The calendar will help list public transit, bike/pedestrian, and paratransit events and meetings hosted by other citizen groups throughout Silicon Valley. This will include our own live group meetings.

Examples of entries already present in the events calendar:

SamTrans Dumbarton Corridor public meetings in Union City and East Palo Alto this Tuesday and Wednesday
Public transit discussion in San Jose with the U.S. Attorney General for the San Francisco Bay Area

In the future, the Event Calendar will also include Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)-hosted public workshops and public meetings.

Hear about a public transit, bicycle/pedestrian, or paratransit meeting or event in Santa Clara County or San Mateo County? Please let us know at least 7 days in advance of the event so that it can be added to the event calendar.

One more thing: there have been reports of people not receiving confirmation email when subscribing to new posts or comments. When you initially subscribe to be notified of new posts or comments to posts, please check your “Junk Mail,” “Junk E-Mail” or “SPAM” folders for the confirmation email. That confirmation email is sent to ensure your email address is not being abused in any manner. Click the URL link in the confirmation email to confirm your subscription; otherwise, ignore and delete the confirmation email.

Enjoy the rest of this big Bay Area concert weekend safely and sanely.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Transit To the Tunes This Weekend

by Eugene B • August 11, 2017

The biggest concert weekend of the year takes place this weekend in the Bay Area. Several huge concerts and music festivals will take place in San Francisco, Mountain View, and San Jose.

Expect standing room only (SRO) conditions on Caltrain from Friday thru Sunday. This is because fans traveling to and from these concerts will be riding with normal commuters.

This guide will show you bus and rail options to help you beat traffic gridlock and parking hassles at these events. Options even detail some private shuttle bus options to and from these events.

More information follows…

by Eugene B • August 10, 2017

Passengers boarding the VTA 181 express bus to Fremont BART station in downtown San Jose.

Bus and light rail restructuring throughout Santa Clara County has been put off until 2018. The Silicon Valley Transit Users just received official word from VTA that the BART extension to Milpitas and Berryessa in San Jose has been moved until June 2018 due to “system integration and testing.”

The VTA Board of Directors received word of the BART extension delay from staff at the August 3 Board of Directors’ meeting in San Jose. This means that the VTA “Next Network” transit restructuring has been moved until at least 2018.