SANTA CLARA VTA RIDERS UNION P. O. Box 390069 Mountain View, CA 94039-0069 http://www.vtaridersunion.org/ NEWS RELEASE TO: Editor, News Assignment Desk, Transportation Reporter * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * Press Contact (in alphabetical order): Eugene Bradley 24 hr. cell/pager (408)888-2208 email: eegenebradley@yahoo.com LATEST SOUTH BAY TRANSIT SURVEY ONLINE Survey Gauges Citizens' Knowledge of Valley Transportation Leaders, Issues, Policies MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (August 19, 2004) - The Santa Clara VTA Riders Union (SCVTARU - http://www.vtaridersunion.org/), a transit advocacy and watchdog group in Santa Clara County, today announces the rollout of our latest survey of residents within Santa Clara County. This latest survey gauges county citizens' knowledge of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and its leaders, issues, and policies. Citizens accessing the survey on the Web at www.vtaridersunion.org/survey are queried on what area of Santa Clara County they live in (North County, City of San Jose, or South County). They are also queried on whether or not they are registered to vote, as well as how often (if any) they use VTA buses and/or light rail. No personal information (i.e. phone numbers, credit cards, etc.) is collected from the user at all during the survey. The survey takes only 5-10 minutes to complete. Two questions from the survey itself are below: Did you know that the VTA also designs and builds the roads and freeway interchanges in the county, in addition to providing public transit? Yes No Do you know who represents you on the VTA Board of Directors? Yes No The goal of this survey is twofold: * Is there a gap between the VTA and the taxpayers in terms of leadership and if so, how wide is the gap? * Given Santa Clara County's history of voters approving sales taxes to improve transit, do voters know who spends their transportation tax dollars? How educated are voters on transportation issues in Santa Clara County? Do they want better accountability for their transportation tax dollars? There are several reasons why this professional survey is being done over the Internet. Besides the time and cost savings over traditional, over-the-telephone surveys, citizens actually complete the survey on their own time. In other words, precious family time is not interrupted to gain taxpayer's opinion on a critical topic such as transportation. The survey will close on September 15 or until we receive 800 responses, whichever comes first. ### About the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union -------------------------------------- Founded in October 2000 by Eugene Bradley, the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union is a grassroots-based organization dedicated to ensuring that elected officials improve and implement cost-effective, frequent, and reliable mass transit in Santa Clara County. Our web site is at www.vtaridersunion.org. We are based in Sunnyvale, CA. Our organization has absolutely no affiliation with, nor is endorsed by, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in any way whatsoever. Note to Editors and News Desks: More information on SCVTARU can be found at the following URLs: http://www.vtaridersunion.org/whoarewe/who.html http://www.vtaridersunion.org/PR