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I have some action items; some of which I would like to see implemented at the June 7 VTA board meeting.  Needless to say, this is expected to be a very big board meeting, as VTA's projects in the MTC's Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) is up for adoption by the VTA board, and the 2001-2002 fiscal year budget gets adopted.  Some action items will require action sooner than others, of course.  The following agendae below reflect the core of what the VTA Riders Union is all about.  At most one hour of your time per week can help get a lot of these action items completed and can help make a difference in having better transit in Santa Clara County.  To handle these action items, I am forming subcommittees.  Some have already formed themselves; others I am appointing leaders for.

To get involved with any subcommittee listed below, please send email to info@vtaridersunion.org with only the subcommittee you want to get involved in.  To make things easier for you (and others) in terms of time, get involved with only one subcommittee (unless you have lots of free time :^))

Here we go:

• The "Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor" - Our sister organization, Peninsula Rail 2000, is forming a subcommittee of people to oversee the VTA's Major Investment Study (MIS) process for this corridor.  From what I saw in the May 21 public outreach meeting in San Jose on this corridor, there were some interesting biases toward BART during the meeting in San Jose on Monday.  This MIS process must be watched carefully, for biases and other things that might crop up.  If anyone out there lives and/or works in Fremont, Milpitas, Santa Clara, or San Jose - cities make up this corridor - thus you need to get involved.
• Bike/pedestrian issues - raise consciousness to the VTA Board on June 7 (if possible) regarding some of the poor sidewalks around San Jose.  In particular, the issue with San Jose Airport where they wish to block off bicyclists and pedestrians from accessing San Jose Airport.  For those of you not aware of this, VTA also maintains local streets, highways, and county expressways in Santa Clara County.  If you want to help lobby for improved walking and bicycling areas around Santa Clara County, express it by requesting to be a part of this subcommittee..
• The Budget.  With the 2001-2002 budget due to be approved at the June 7 board meeting, this subcommittee will be needed as the "watchdog" to ensure taxpayers are truly getting their money's worth.  If anyone else out there is good with numbers and wants to help serve as the true "wallet minders" of transit in Santa Clara County, join this subcommittee.
• Bus/LRT service.  I plan on presenting something at the June 7 board meeting and am currently in the midst of more research.  Some good news from my end: buses that normally would not show up are now starting to show up more on time.  Bad news from the street:  buses with broken headsigns are currently awaiting parts from the manufacturer, which is overdue in delivering the parts (as of Tuesday).  This subcommittee I am forming needs to push for restoring service back to levels in January, as it appears VTA has the bus drivers necessary for the service.  As the next round of service changes is in July, it needs to be a priority for us in general to start pushing for restoration of service to January levels.  This is especially true as VTA will roll out 52 new low-floor Gillig "Advantage" buses on the streets in June and July (upon safety approval).  We will also need to watch the rollout of the Kinki-Sharyo LRVs carefully for possible problems that VTA didn't catch.  We have not heard of any VTA committee member or VTA Board member who has been aboard these new low-floor LRVs - not even during the opening of Tasman East on May 18.  (And yes, this subcommittee will work on ensuring better connections between modes!) Please send email to info@vtaridersunion.org if and request to be on this subcommittee if you are interested.
• Promoting the VTA Riders Union throughout Santa Clara County.  I have gotten some interest from students at various colleges (Foothill/De Anza/SJSU/West Valley) regarding the Riders Union.  (In fact, San Jose State has a Transportation Studies program with a link to us for various news.)  I want to see branches of the Riders Union at every college and university in Santa Clara County.  Especially for colleges and universities not on LRT and not on the Fremont-San Jose corridor, these are the second biggest communities who depend on transit, next to only the working poor.  (And yes, we have started the process of reaching out to the working poor for help.) If you want to promote the VTA Riders Union at your college or university, please inform us via email to info@vtaridersunion.org.

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