Ever notice your bus or light rail train did not show up as scheduled in Silicon Valley lately? One reason: the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), along with some other transit agencies in this country, is experiencing a driver shortage. Yet, as of today, no official notice from VTA advising people on this has occurred. This is a follow-up to a post from October on VTA’s driver shortage.
Transit riders in the South Bay are in for major changes on December 28. That’s when the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will make major changes to bus and light rail service throughout Santa Clara County. Read and learn more on how your bus and light rail service will be affected on December 28 here.
Our own Monica Mallon was interviewed for a story on ABC 7 News about the service changes. That news story aired December 26 throughout the day.
While VTA is adding service on major bus lines like the 22 and 70, they are also ending service on some bus lines like the 45 and 65. As the agency converts a limited stop bus line to a rapid bus line (323 to 523), they are eliminating the 304, 321, 328, and 330. (Some of these bus lines run along county expressways.). As VTA enables direct light rail service between Mountain View, the Great Mall, Milpitas BART stop, and Alum Rock, it will close the Almaden light rail spur. (One final group round trip between Ohlone-Chynoweth and Almaden will be on December 27 at 9:30pm.)
The same ABC 7 News story noted that all VTA bus and light rail service will run FREE from December 28-31. On New Year’s Eve, VTA will run a normal weekday schedule, with extra late night service on the 181 express bus line between Warm Springs and 2nd/Santa Clara in San Jose.
We’re looking for stories from you on how the VTA service changes after December 28 will affect your transit travel. Please comment below, on our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed. We will soon have tips on what YOU need to do come January 9 to start restoring transit service in Santa Clara County.
Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users
Key events occurred at the December 5, 2019 Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board Of Directors’ meeting. County Supervisor Cindy Chavez was elected Board Chair for 2020. By an 8-4 vote, Sunnyvale City Council Member Glenn Hendricks was elected Board Vice-Chair for 2020. The press for public disclosure of things continued, and more.
Read on for more of what happened at this Board meeting…