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What is the "Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor"

VTA named a South Bay Corridor study area from Milpitas to San Jose and Santa Clara the "Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor". The Major Investment Study (MIS) is studying the costs of building various transit modes to connect Milpitas to San Jose, and hopefully, other sensible alternatives.  An MIS is required to be completed before any project can receive federal funds.

At this time, the MIS is now completed, and BART to San Jose via a railroad line running east of the Great Mall in Milpitas has been selected.

What's the News So Far?

It has been confirmed thru public documents (the April 5, 2001 VTA Board meeting agenda) that the VTA is proposing enhancements the following express bus lines along the "Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor" starting summer 2002. These enhancements will likely last until the BART extension has finished construction in 10-20 years:

• New midday and reverse-commute service on what is currently known as line 140. This line now serves the new I-880/Milpitas LRT station and park-and-ride lot, located at Tasman and Alder in Milpitas. This express bus line is expected to be renamed to line 340 as of summer 2002. Midday and peak hour trips would serve Baypointe LRT, with selected peak hour trips serving downtown Sunnyvale. Proposed hours of operation are from 5:00am to 9:00pm on weekdays only, with peak service every 20 minutes; midday service every 30 minutes; and evening service every 60 minutes.
• More service on line 180 (Fremont BART to San Jose Caltrain via I-680/I-880/North First Street). The line will be made to connect with VTA's SJC Airport Flyer in the Metro/Airport LRT area.
• New super express line 500! The new 500 will run between Fremont BART and San Jose Caltrain station via I-680, I-280, and 10th street. The new line will run every 30 minutes, in both directions, during peak commute hours on weekdays only.

Funding for VTA's enhanced express bus service along the corridor is expected to come from express bus funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).

Bad News However...

We observed the following at the last round of public meetings for this corridor on October 11:

• One handout indicated the VTA's Preferred Investment Strategy to be BART down the former WP line. (The VTA Board bought the line mostly for the purpose of running BART down this corridor, which runs from Milpitas to San Jose via the west side of the Great Mall. This was done in the VTA Board meeting earlier on October 11.)
• Still no charts indicating where people work, and where people commute from/to. What few charts were there were based on "activity centers" such as the Arena and Great America and the Airport. No major job sites like Cisco or Sun or HP were marked on the Alternative maps.
• Very poor definition of Intermodal connections. Seems the VTA defines Intermodal IMHO as anything that connects to LRT only at proposed stops (Calaveras, Great Mall, Berryessa, Alum Rock, several stops along Santa Clara St. San Jose Caltrain Station/Arena and Santa Clara for BART) instead of any combination of bus, LRT, Caltrain/ACE/Capitols/Amtrak lines.
• A fact sheet given out at the site with the 5 remaining alternatives left me with numerous unanswered questions - even by Lisa Ives - regarding how these numbers were calculated. One example: the 2000 Measure A ads claimed that BART is "the equivalent of adding 3 lanes of traffic." However, in the "Equivalent Capacity of Freeway Lanes" they claim BART is equal to 7 freeway lanes, compared to 5 for commuter rail along Alviso and 4 for commuter rail along the former WP line.
• The part that is really questionable for source is the operating efficiencies, customer/user benefits, and cost effectiveness. One example: BART's cost per rider was calculated to be at $1.95/rider. However, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's own statistics indicate that BART cost-effectiveness is over $100/rider. (figure was in 2001 dollars). Commuter Rail along the Alviso and WP lines were listed as $1.65/rider and $1.58/rider, respectively, in 2001 dollars.

As specified, no source is indicated as to where the numbers for the VTA's "Evaluation of Alternatives" comes from. One other person (from BayRail Alliance perhaps?) asked VTA staff on hand where the figures came from. No one was able to answer the person, as he was given the runaround from several staff members.

Also, two recent letters to the San Jose Mercury News reveal how the VTA is railroading what is supposed to be a neutral process for deciding what should serve the Fremont-San Jose corridor towards BART.

So What Is Going On with BART right now?

How Can I Let VTA Know I Still Need Bus and Light Rail Service?

1. The Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors will be voting on the proposed agreement at the VTA Board Workshop on Friday, Nov. 9th at 8:30 am at the San Jose Hyatt, 1750 North First Street in San Jose.
2. If you can not attend the Workshop, we strongly urge you to contact the VTA Board of Directors right away to voice your concerns!

-Kim Strickland contributed to this report.