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"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." --George Orwell
As per recommendation from recent performance audits (Adobe Acrobat PDF), the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) developed a plan to reorganize bus service to better fit ridership needs in January 2007. Meetings were held throughout May 2007 and August 2007 to take in public input on the bus service restructuring proposal.
In late July, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) made public the final draft of its bus service restructuring plan. The first draft was released as part of the initial public meetings on the bus restructuring plan back in May.
The VTA’s Board of Directors approved the final bus restructuring plan at their August 30 meeting in San Jose by a unanimous, 12-0 vote.
Some have questioned why light rail was excluded from service restructuring. According to the blog VTA Watch, this is because light rail is what is known as a “fixed guideway” system. Thus, there is little flexibility to make service changes on light rail. However, as light rail is more expensive to operate, a poorly designed light rail line will drain more operating resources than poorly designed bus lines.
How VTA's "New" Community Bus Lines Are Not New
VTA claims to introduce 11 new "Community Bus" lines throughout the county. Upon further examination, the "new" community bus lines really serve areas VTA shortened from other bus lines. One example: VTA's "new" 42 bus line (30K GIF) from Monterey/Senter to Santa Teresa light rail station uses most of what the 72 bus line used before January 14 (50K GIF). The 42 primarily uses Monterey Highway between Senter Road and Bernal. It only differs from the 72 in that it serves 2 neighborhoods along Monterey Highway.
Another example is how VTA's "new" 45 Community Bus line will use the northern portion of where the 64 used to serve before January 14. Specifically, the portion between the Alum Rock Transit Center and the Penitencia Creek Transit Center that used to be served by the 64, will now be served by the "new" 45.
This fits a prior plan VTA used a few years ago when in 2005 it ceased direct bus service to Los Gatos via the 60 and 62 bus lines, instead having the 48 and 49 "Community Bus" lines serve Los Gatos from the Winchester Transit Center.
VTA has converted some bus lines into "Community Bus" lines and misbranding them as "new." One example of this: the "new" 34 bus line in Mountain View will be converted to a Community Bus line. This "new" 34 will only run between Downtown Mountain View and San Antonio Shopping Center, and will only run weekdays during the midday. The 34 will stop serving El Camino Hospital after January 14. Passengers going to El Camino Hospital would have to transfer to the 51 bus at El Camino and Castro or at the Mountain View Transit Center as an alternate.
This splitting of routes into "Community Bus" routes as detailed above forces passengers to pay two different fares - the standard VTA bus fare and the Community Bus fare - instead of a single bus fare. SCVTARU will consider a position to have VTA utilize a time-based fare structure for buses similar to what light rail uses now, to alleviate this issue.
Back to TopWhat About the Express Bus Lines?
VTA will introduce two new express bus lines on January 14. The first new express bus line is the 168 between San Jose's Diridon train station and the Gilroy Transit Center. The other express bus line is the 181 between San Jose's Diridon train station and the Fremont BART station via I-880, I-680, and Mission Boulevard.
History shows that the idea for the 181 is not a new idea. Back in 2001, VTA proposed having a similar express bus line between San Jose and Fremont via I-680 and Tenth Street but those plans were shelved.
While the 181's faster service could potentially close the gap between driving and transit between Fremont and San Jose, rush-hour passengers between Milpitas and San Jose will be most impacted and could also be confused with the new line. Fortunately the 66 bus line or light rail serves as an alternate for these passengers. The 181 is clearly the most significant improvement to the San Jose-Fremont commuter corridor since Santa Clara County promised commuter rail service as part of Measure A in 1996 and the aforementioned express bus proposal in 2001 - both of which were shelved. As for the 168: this new bus line comes at the expense of the 68 bus line between San Jose and Gilroy, where weekday rush hour frequencies decrease to every half hour instead of every 20 minutes.
What About the Buses That Will Not Run Anymore After January 14?
Bus routes 36, 38, 44, 59, 67, and 85 are eliminated. East of North First Street, the 61 and 62 would replace service formerly provided by the 36 and 59. The 85 is the only direct bus line between Downtown San Jose, San Jose City College, and Valley Medical Center.
According to VTA Watch, one effect of losing the 85: riders will have to cross 6-lane Bascom Avenue at San Carlos Street to transfer between the 61/62 and 25 bus lines between Valley Medical Center, San Jose City College, and Downtown San Jose. With no word from VTA about timed transfers at this corner between these bus lines as of this writing, it is likely that ridership will drop in this corridor until timed transfers are established. The same situation applies for the lack of timed transfers at Palo Alto's Transit Center between the 22 and SamTrans' 391 and KX buses to Menlo Park. SCVTARU will continue to fight for these timed transfers, and encourage you to contact VTA directly to demand this as well.
UPDATE (February 22, 2008) - SCVTARU recently received email from Shriram Chendke of Cupertino describing the loss of the 53 bus in Cupertino has affected students at Monta Vista School, J.F.K. Middle School, and Lincoln School. "I am definitely going to be badly impacted by this decision as my daughter travel regularly for day to day commute for going to school and coming back from school," said Ms. Chendke. As of this writing (February 24, 2008) she is gathering a coalition of concerned parents to lobby for the restoration of the 53 bus line in Cupertino. SCVTARU will have more details available as facts warrant.
The Overall Picture For Bus Service In the County After January 14
The bus restructuring removes over 40 weekday rush hour service buses from the streets of Santa Clara Valley. Based on the latest bus statistics from VTA (28K Adobe Acrobat PDF), the restructuring January 14, 2008 leaves just over 300 rush-hour service buses in the county - nearly a 30% decrease from 2001. This would be just over the number of rush-hour buses that existed in the county in 1981. VTA's own Bus Facts show the active overall bus fleet has decreased over 16% since 1999. Remember: VTA promised to increase the bus fleet to 750 buses as part of Measure A back in 2000.
VTA's bus restructuring, upon further review, is really a cleverly disguised 9% service reduction. Wrapped around the slogan of "The NEW VTA," the restructuring appears to give Santa Clara County voters the illusion that the agency is turning itself around for the better, thus winning voter support for a 1/8-cent sales tax that could appear on the ballot in November.
VTA claims that service will be evaluated yearly to determine what service to retain, increase, or eliminate. SCVTARU found the bus restructuring plan easily positions VTA to easily remove many of the benefits of the bus restructuring in the future. Analysis of bus service gains in the restructuring plan that could be undone by VTA should the need arise:
Hence the reason why SCVTARU refers to the "New" VTA with an asterisk (*).
Updates On VTA Bus Service Since January 14
UPDATE (February 22, 2008) it was revealed on our mailing list that VTA has placed passenger counters on buses serving the 68 bus line between San Jose and Gilroy. This was in response to complaints from passengers of the 68 bus line regarding the reduced weekday rush hour frequency from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes. A letter in the San Jose Mercury News It was also in response to crowded bus conditions on the 68 between San Jose and Santa Teresa as a result of the frequency reduction on January 14, 2008. SCVTARU will have more details as circumstances and facts warrant.How Can I Make My Voice Heard At VTA On the Bus Changes?
Impacted by VTA's bus changes January 14, 2008? There are several things you can do to make your voice heard at VTA:
More updates on the aftermath of VTA's bus restructuring will be made as circumstances and facts warrant.
SCVTARU members Andy Chow, Hugh Jaronn, Zakhary Mallet, and Dwayne Williams contributed to this report.
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