October Transit Schedule and Fare Changes

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Changes to Silicon Valley bus and rail schedules are being made this month.  As regular service is being operated today (October 9), the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) made changes to several bus line schedules in Santa Clara County.  Some of the schedule changes enable better connections with the Caltrain commuter rail service.  Read up on the service changes here and learn how YOU will be affected by these changes.

Speaking of Caltrain: several fare changes were made on October 1:

  • The price of a monthly Caltrain parking pass was raised from $55.00 to $82.50.  This is because Caltrain changed their basis of a “month” to 15 days from 10 days.
  • Caltrain riders will pay an additional 25 cents per zone they travel
  • Caltrain 8-ride tickets are no longer available for purchase.  Current 8-ride tickets will no longer be valid after October 31.

This is in addition to the changes Caltrain made to its Monday thru Friday schedule, to increase “operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.”  These changes were approved by Caltrain’s Joint Powers Board back in August.

What are your thoughts on the schedule and fare changes at VTA and Caltrain?  Please discuss them in comments below.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

Tonight’s VTA Board of Directors’ Meeting

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BART tunnel options won’t be the only things the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board Of Directors will discuss this evening.  Besides discussion of “single-bore” vs. “twin-bore” tunnel choices for the BART subway in downtown San Jose, the VTA Board Of Directors will vote on spending over $3 million of your tax dollars on 64 Braun Entervan paratransit vehicles for its ACCESS paratransit program.

The VTA Board will also vote on spending $847,743 of your tax dollars on parts needed to heat and cool the light rail vehicles.

WHEN: This evening at 5:30pm
WHERE: Santa Clara County Supervisors’ Chambers, 70 W. Hedding St., San Jose

Read up on the transit and parking directions you need to this evening’s VTA Board Of Directors meeting.

See you this evening.

Eugene Bradley
Founder, Silicon Valley Transit Users

September VTA Meeting Summary…With a Feeling

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Last month, I wanted to experiment with providing a brief summary of a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board Of Directors meeting.  Your feedback demanded more information be provided for such summaries.  So, in the future, more detail will be provided for such summaries.

That said, the September 7 VTA Board Of Directors Meeting and follow-up workshops revealed a potential conflict of interest in a formed sales tax measure watchdog group. They also confirmed routing for two bus lines, once the BART extension to Milpitas and Berryessa comes online.  Finally, conflict was revealed between VTA and BART over how a tunnel for BART in downtown San Jose should be built.

Detailed information on all of this (in chronological order) is below.

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