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

SURVEY: 73% OF COUNTY RESIDENTS WANT VTA BOARD REFORM

75% Agree With County Civil Grand Jury to Delay BART to
San Jose

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (November 4, 2004) - The Santa Clara VTA 
Riders Union (SCVTARU - http://www.vtaridersunion.org/), a 
public transit advocacy and watchdog group in Santa Clara 
County, today releases the results of its latest online 
survey.  The online survey asked Santa Clara County 
residents online what they know and how they feel about 
the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), 
its policies, issues, and leadership.

The key results of this latest online survey:

* 92% of those surveyed knew that the VTA was managed 
by a Board of Directors.  However, nearly 2/3 of those 
who said they knew could not name any of the 12 VTA
Board members.  

* When asked whether or not they agreed with the Santa 
Clara County Civil Grand Jury's recommendation in June
to delay BART to San Jose, 75% of those surveyed
agreed with the recommendation.

* When asked whether or not they would vote for a 
ballot measure that would allow them to directly
elect VTA Board members, 73% of those surveyed
would vote for such a ballot measure.

These same results were originally released to a 
shocked VTA Board of Directors during the public 
presentation at their October 7 Board meeting.  In 
addition, the survey results were given to members of 
the VTA's Policy Advisory Committee before their 
October 18 Board meeting.  In order to obtain a 
written response from VTA Staff, SCVTARU will release
the survey results again to the VTA Board at their
November 5 workshop at 1740 N. First Street in San
Jose at 8:35am.  You can find the full results of
our survey on our web site in Adobe Acrobat format:

http://www.vtaridersunion.org/statistics/survey2_full_summary.pdf

SCVTARU is only making the results public now 
because our group has been focusing on successfully 
fighting the VTA's proposed $7.7 million public 
relations proposal.  In addition, SCVTARU felt the 
shocking results of the survey should not be buried 
amongst pre-Election Day hype.

SCVTARU was stunned at the fact that 75% of those 
who took the survey agreed with the Civil Grand 
Jury's recommendation to delay BART to San Jose.  
"It counters the claims by Ron Gonzales and Carl
Guardino about voters continuing to support BART,"
said SCVTARU founder Eugene Bradley.  "Now that 
the facts are in, the heart for BART is not all
that big."

However, SCVTARU is concerned that many Santa
Clara County residents do not know the decision-
makers on the VTA Board.  "Voters need to educate
themselves better on who spends their transportation
tax dollars," said SCVTARU founder Eugene Bradley.
"However, more people are realizing via the Civil
Grand Jury report how VTA continues to waste
their tax dollars."

Our group commissioned surveymonkey.com 
(http://www.surveymonkey.com/) $20.00 to host the 
online survey.  The survey response period was
between September 10 and October 10.  In addition
to a media release, word of mouth, and our web site,
we advertised our survey on the following web sites:

* gomilpitas.com
* southsanjose.com
* santaclaracountynews.com
* Usenet newsgroups ba.transportation and 
sbay.transportation

A total of 57 people responded to the survey.  
Unlike traditional, over-the-telephone surveys, 
this survey did not disturb county voters during  
family time.

Overall, the survey's results reflect growing concern 
in Santa Clara County over how the VTA continues to 
mismanage itself into bankruptcy.  They also reflect 
the need for all County taxpayers to make the VTA 
fully accountable for these decisions.  

Survey results sorted by residency within San Jose
can be found as Adobe Acrobat documents on our web
site:

http://www.vtaridersunion.org/statistics/survey2_sj.pdf

Survey results by residency outside San Jose can be
found on our web site, also in Adobe Acrobat format:

http://www.vtaridersunion.org/statistics/survey2_outside_sj.pdf

###

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