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News On VTA Proposed Service Cuts for April 2003

If you have used the bus and light rail system for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority over the last 2 years, you know how poor the service has been. If you work for the VTA in any capacity, you know how devastating the layoffs have been for you and your coworkers.

Table of Contents

• What Is Going On?
• When and Where Will More Meetings On the Proposed Service Cuts Be Held, and What Happened At the Meetings from December 2-11, 2002?
• What Will VTA Discuss at the January 9 Board meeting, and will there be some kind of protest against the proposed service cuts, before the VTA Board Meeting?
• What if I can't Attend the Rally and/or the VTA Board Meetings?, and how can I continue to speak out against VTA's proposed service cuts?
• Next Steps

What Is Going On?

Due to the continuing economic recession, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority held public meetings in early December 2002 where they proposed widespread bus and light rail service cuts. The meetings discussed a proposed reduction of 10% to 15% of total transit service. Sixty-five (65) out of 72 bus lines - and light rail - will either face reduced hours, reduced frequency, or total elimination! These are on top of service cuts and a fare hike made in June 2002, and on top of recent fare hikes and 10% more service cuts for the Outreach paratransit service approved for January 1, 2003, at the November 7, 2002 VTA Board meeting.

Amongst the highlights of the proposed service cuts for April 2003:

• Elimination of late-night service (2:00am - 4:30am) on line 22 and the entire light rail system
• Elimination of line 56 (Fair Oaks & El Camino in Sunnyvale to Milpitas)
• Elimination of Saturday service and service in the midday on line 88 in Palo Alto
• Elimination of line 18 (Gilroy Transit Center to Monterey and Farrell) with service on line 18 rerouted to make up the difference
• having the 300 limited (between Palo Alto and East San Jose) run only during the morning and evening weekday peak periods

The full list of VTA's proposed service cuts can be found here. If approved by the VTA Board in their February 2003 Board meeting, they will take effect in April 2003.

Just as frightening is that these service cuts may just be the beginning. VTA announced a truly historic $6 billion deficit over the next 25 years. They will need at least an additional $140 million per year to operate their service. All of these service cuts are coming when they are still planning to borrow billions for capital projects that they may not be able to afford to operate.

When and Where Will More Meetings On the Proposed Service Cuts Be Held? What Happened At the Meetings from December 2-11, 2002?

Notes and news reports from some of VTA's service cut meetings from December 2-11, 2002 are provided below, for your convenience.

• Notes from the Campbell meetings on December 2
• A newspaper report of the Gilroy meetings on December 3
• Notes from the Palo Alto and Mountain View meetings on December 5, with additional news on the Palo Alto meeting on December 5 courtesy of the Palo Alto Weekly

On January 8 at 7:00pm, VTA held what is known as a CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) meeting. What is a CEQA meeting? By state law, VTA must hold this kind of public meeting when it wants to cut transit service at the levels it is proposing, to rectify a fiscal emergency. In these meetings, and by state law, VTA must respond to public questions to their proposed service cuts in writing, within 30 days.

Notes from this meeting, held at the San Jose Fire Training Center in San Jose, will be ready soon.

What Will VTA Discuss at the January 9 Board Meeting? Will there be some kind of protest against the proposed service cuts, before the VTA Board Meeting?

To protest the VTA's proposed service cuts, the Santa Clara VTA Riders Union will hold a rally on January 9, 2003 at 5:30pm at the County Government Offices at 70 W. Hedding Street in San Jose (near Civic Center LRT station, and bus lines 36, 62, 66, and 180). The general public is strongly encouraged to attend and bring signs to protest VTA's proposed service cuts. We will brief the media in attendance on why we are protesting the VTA's proposed service cuts during the protest.

We need a MASSIVE TURNOUT at this rally and protest (as well as the VTA Board meeting that follows), to send a clear message to VTA officials that we as taxpayers and transit riders will no longer tolerate the destruction of our transit system.

At 6pm that evening, the VTA Board is expected to discuss the final set of proposals for service cuts and then make recommendations to their planning committees. The final decision on which services will be cut will be made at the February 2003 VTA Board meeting.

We expect the service cuts to be discussed as one of the first agenda items at the January 9, 2003 VTA Board meeting, around 6:15pm. (We will let you know which specific item that will be.) If you have time, you can also wait until the public presentation period to make your voice heard. Be advised: in VTA Board meetings, public presentations are amongst the last items on the agenda. Be prepared to wait at least 90 minutes to two (2) hours after the start of the Board meeting, before the VTA Board opens itself to public presentations and plan accordingly. Visit this page for more details on how to have your voice heard during VTA Board meetings.

If you use a bus, light rail line, or other means of transit that will be unavailable by the time the VTA Board meeting ends (usually around 7:30pm) please make all necessary arrangements for you to get to and from the meeting.

If at all possible, attend and speak out at the January 9, 2003 VTA Board meeting. The January and February 2003 VTA Board meetings are a must-attend if you care about transit in the South Bay.

What If I Can't Attend the Rally and/or the VTA Board Meetings? How Can I Continue To Speak Out Against VTA's Proposed Service Cuts?

Between now and January 9, 2003 at 6pm, when the VTA will discuss the proposed service cuts at their next board meeting:

• Contact the VTA Board member(s) that represent your city or area. (You can find a list of them, their phone numbers, and email addresses here.) Let him or her know that they should NOT cut VTA's bus and light rail service, and that they should develop a sound financial plan that does not harm local transit service. When emailing or calling, state your name and address, to verify local constituency. Be polite and to the point in your message. Always ask for a written response to your letter. A sample letter with tips can be found here.
• Send a carbon copy (CC) of your email, or separate email to VTA General Manager Peter Cipolla. Ask for a written response. In your email, send a blind carbon copy (Bcc) to us at info@vtaridersunion.org for presentation to the VTA Board when they decide on the final proposal in February. You can also contact Mr. Cipolla thru regular mail, phone, and fax here.
• Write to your state assembly representative, your California State Senator, and U.S. Congress representive and your United States Senator, and urge them to force VTA not to further reduce transit service! Find out who represents you by calling (408)299-VOTE anytime during regular business hours or visit www.sccvote.org and click on "Look Up Your Districts". Don't know how to write to who represents you? Find out by clicking here.
• Write a "letter to the editor" to your local newspaper protesting VTA's latest round of proposed service cuts. Some email addresses for letters to local papers (in no particular order):
  • Sunnyvale Sun, Campbell Reporter, Cupertino Courier, Los Gatos Weekly Times, Saratoga News (lgwt@svcn.com)
  • Willow Glen Resident (wgresident@svcn.com)
  • San Jose Mercury News (letters@sjmercury.com)
  • Palo Alto Daily News (editorial@paloaltodailynews.com)
  • Gilroy Dispatch (editor@gilroydispatch.com)
  • San Francisco Chronicle (letters@sfchronicle.com)
  Keep your letter no more than 200 words long, to make sure it has the best chance to be printed. Also include your daytime phone number so the editor of that paper can contact you.
• If at all possible, attend and speak out at your city council meeting and demand that your city council pass a resolution against VTA's proposed service cuts. This is what the City of Santa Clara did to protest VTA's service cuts in June. The VTA Board members' contact list also has information on when your city council meets, and a number to call to verify when they meet.
• Another thing you should do to help fight the VTA's proposed service cuts is to write to your State Assembly representative, State Senator, and/or Governor Gray Davis. Get them to do something against VTA's proposed service cuts. Find out who else represents you by visiting http://www.sccvote.org/ or by calling (408)299-8682. Get your friends, coworkers, and fellow transit riders to write their representatives and get them to do something regarding the VTA proposed service cuts. Lessons on how to properly write to and address your elected officials can be found here.

For further information on how to get your voice heard by VTA officials for all transit needs, visit our new web portal, which we call DIY (Do It Yourself).

Next Steps

We will keep you informed of the latest news and other happenings regarding these critical meetings. Please feel free to bookmark this page for the latest news. Let's get out there and save our transit!

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