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| Santa Clara VTA | Riders Union |
I had the chance to attend one of the VTA public meetings in Mountain View regarding the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) it must submit to the MTC at the end of this month. However, I noticed that the comment card that VTA's community outreach department had regarding input did not have a lot of transit issues I was interested in, so I am emailing you directly.
From my experience I feel that rapid bus corridors along every county expressway, highway, and interstate highway - in dedicated HOV lands - needs to be in VTA's version of the RTP. While it is nice to see rapid bus corridors along El Camino Real, Stevens Creek, and Monterey Highway specified in VTP 2020, this is obviously not good enough. The dogma I have noticed in Santa Clara County that buses can only run on freeways during peak commute hours must cease to exist. Our clogged highways will certainly agree, and this can be implemented within two years if financed properly.
I also feel that increased bus service during evenings, nights, and weekends should be in our RTP. It is insane that the last 56 bus leaves Sunnyvale and Milpitas at 5:30pm respectively, and that there is no service on weekends. This means that someone who wants to travel from Sunnyvale to Milpitas must take lines 54, 55, or 26 to LRT, take Tasman West LRT to Baypointe, and then transfer to line 33 at Baypointe to Weller and Main in Milpitas. This roundabout travel can take anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours total. Not acceptable by any standard, since this forces most people in this corridor to drive via Hwy. 237 in 1/4 to 1/2 the time it takes for the gauntlet of transit to navigate this corridor - especially if you work on the night shift at any company in the Sunnyvale to Milpitas corridor.
Finally, I feel that Caltrain grade separation and electrification should be a part of our RTP we submit to the MTC. For far too long Caltrain has had to operate a 1950's style service (diesel trains with numerous at-grade crossings with cars based on a 1950's design and over infrastructure that dates back to the 1950's) where places like the Northeastern US operate commuter rail on GPS, with grade separation, electrification, and even cars that automatically announce stops. And areas such as New Jersey run express trains on three to five tracks per line. There is no excuse why the same thing cannot be done for Caltrain - other than the usual politics I have seen and read about over the years. Electrification and grade separation should be from Palo Alto up to Gilroy, of course.
I managed to take the MTC's survey on the RTP, but found it heavily biased towards automobiles. There are too many examples of the bias I saw in that survey to mention here. As a result, I found myself writing in a lot of the transit choices (increased service at night and weekends) in that survey. I have also copied Jim Beall and John McLemore, the VTA representatives to the MTC, on this note.
Overall, the RTP proposal and what is in VTP 2020 is simply not good enough for our transit needs. I have not mentioned BART in my letter because I am not convinced that VTA's staff and management are aware of - or want to reveal to the public - how much the proposed BART extension to San Jose and Santa Clara will really cost. I understand that Mr. Valerio and Mr. McHugh are on the BART negotiation committee. If you truly want to gain the trust of those who still oppose the BART extension and the 70% of county voters who approved of this project via Measure A last november, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as to how much the proposed BART extension will truly cost, which Measure A projects VTA may not be able to afford, and whether or not we will need to be taxed again to pay for any and all cost overruns.
I look forward to your reply on these matters.
Sincerely,
Eugene Bradley
Founder, VTA Riders Union
http://www.vtaridersunion.org/
Yahoo! IM: eegenebradley
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