You wonder why our web site has a red background instead of the usual white background today.
It’s because we are showing support as part of a nationwide effort to preserve public transit funding in Congress today. Details are below.
Weekend Update-Sept. 16, 2011
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This is your Silicon Valley transit update for the weekend of September 16, 2011. This guide will cover Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) bus, light rail, and Caltrain service to the following events this weekend:
- California Home & Garden Show in San Mateo
- Football games for the San Jose State Spartans, Cal Bears and San Francisco 49ers
- San Jose Sharks training sessions at Sharks Ice @ San Jose
- American Indian Powwow & Market in San Jose
Weekend Transit Update-Sept. 9, 2011
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This is your Silicon Valley weekend transit update for September 9-11, 2011. It’s your guide for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Caltrain service to events throughout Silicon Valley.
This update includes public transit information on events like
- Mountain View’s Art and Wine Festival this weekend
- San Francisco 49ers’ home opener vs. Seattle this Sunday at 1:15pm
- San Jose Earthquakes soccer v. Chicago Saturday night at 7:30pm in Santa Clara
- San Jose Giants’ playoff baseball on Saturday and Sunday @ Municipal Stadium in San Jose
This comes on the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. To that end, you are strongly encouraged to stay safe when riding any VTA bus, light rail or Caltrain this weekend. You are also strongly encouraged to report any and all suspicious activities to the authorities as soon as possible.
Labor Day Weekend Transit Update
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This is your 2011 Labor Day Weekend Transit Update. It’s your Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Caltrain guide to events this weekend like the opening weekend of college football at Stanford and in San Francisco. In addition, the update has public transit information and tips for events taking place this weekend like:
- San Francisco Giants & San Jose Giants Baseball
- Identity Festival in Mountain View
- “Islamic Science Rediscovered” at the Tech Museum in SJ
Specific details are below. Note that many public transit services will be running on a Sunday (Holiday) schedule on Monday to honor Labor Day.
VTA Board Meeting Notes-Sept. 1, 2011
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Last night, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors approved a BART Project Labor Agreement (PLA) to govern work on the initial phase of bringing BART into Silicon Valley. The VTA Board also approved a labor agreement with its unions (SEIU and TACA) and also approved a land purchase near Eastridge Mall in San Jose. The goal of the Eastridge Mall land purchase was to rebuild and reconfigure the Eastridge Mall Transit Center to make it more user-friendly and more accessible for bus (and future light rail) riders going to the mall.
The most disturbing part of last night’s VTA Board meeting came during the “Public Presentations” portion at the beginning of the meeting. During “Public Presentations” two (2) black VTA bus drivers mentioned that 1 passenger had been making racial slurs at them on multiple occasions, and had requested VTA to take action against this passenger.
As a fellow VTA bus passenger who is also black, this disturbs me. It should also disturb other racial minorities as well. Not to be preachy or anything, but we have to learn to respect one another. At minimum, this passenger making these racial slurs must be identified ASAP, arrested by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, and charged with disturbing the peace. My greatest fear is that, left unchecked and unpunished, this passenger will resort to violence to express his (or her) racial hatred.
If you take any VTA bus or light rail train, and you see someone using racial slurs against another, call it out to them. If you are experiencing this as a bus driver or light rail operator, I would not only contact my line supervisor, but also I would directly call the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s office (or VTA Protective Services) and have the offending passenger removed from the vehicle with proper legal charges filed.
If there is one thing that does NOT belong on public transportation, it is racism and disrespect toward others. It not only serves to destroy transit ridership, it also reflects poorly on our society.
Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users