VTA Opens Innovation Center

The VTA opened an innovation center a couple weeks ago at its River Oaks headquarters (3331 N First Street). This is a space where VTA teams, companies, and students can get together and work on new transportation technology. VTA is looking at a variety of ways to improve the customer experience and this new innovation center will help them focus on these efforts.

Below are some examples of the technology projects that VTA is currently working on:

• A zero emissions vehicle with dynamic, on-demand routing directing its driver to pick you up with a request from your smartphone—we’re requesting proposals for the software to drive this and looking closely at the operational challenges.
• Bluetooth beacons throughout the system to tell smartphone apps where you are so they can help you plan your trip, improve accessibility or offer you coupons—this will be a central focus of Hack My Ride 2015, VTA’s app challenge starting this summer.
• Expanding our popular TransLoc real-time light rail arrival app to our bus fleet, as requested by our customers.
• An open-source, multimodal  trip planner for any combination of transit, walking, biking, park and ride, bike share and driving (if you must). You can customize your biking directions based on your safety, climbing and speed preferences.
• Touch screen and LCD monitors at light rail stations and transit hubs to provide real-time information, trip planning help, and more.
• A pilot big data project with Allied Telesis to share and analyze camera feeds, sensors and social media in the cloud, enabling better collaboration with security partners for Super Bowl 50.
• Working with startup Transitmix, a Code for America spinoff backed by Y Combinator, to move from paper and spreadsheets to an immediately responsive online transit planning tool that can engage the public and improve planning.
• Working with our North San Jose neighbor Cisco on the Internet of Things for transportation—buses that talk to trains that talk to bus stops that talk to traffic signals that talk to bikes that talk to...you get the idea.

Source: VTA

BART to San Jose Update Video

Below is a quick update on the progress of the Milpitas BART station.

Source: Usedmedia on the San Jose Development Forum

Future of VTA Light Rail

Last week there was a "Future of VTA Light Rail" presentation to SPUR San Jose. Below are the slides. Here are some interesting notes:

• Light Rail has 35,000 average daily riders, 62 stations, 79.6 miles of track, and 100 trains
• The most used stations are San Antonio, Santa Clara (both in Downtown San Jose), and Tasman
• Compared to other systems of similar size, boardings per mile are quite low and farebox recovery is the second lowest in the country (only DART in Dallas is lower)
• The current goals of VTA Light Rail are to increase ridership, speed up the system, spend money wisely, and be more relevant to the needs of the Valley
• Recommended Capital Improvements
• Grade separation on North First and Montague Expressway
• Fencing North First to increase top speed from 35 MPH to 45 MPH
• Pocket track at Ohlone/Chynoweth
• New Great America Station
• SJSU Extension to 11th Street (???)
• Almaden Branch, Mountain View, and Vasono Double Track
• Use bollards to separate tracks in Downtown San Jose and speed up trains
• Mountain View Double track to be completed by the end of 2015
• Levi's Stadium events are attracting 8,000-9,000 boardings on game days

Source: I Heart SJ

The Future of VTA Light Rail, Presentation to SPUR San Jose Nov. 12, 2014 from SCVTA

El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

Below is a short video the VTA put together for the El Camino Real BRT project. Note that BRT is going to be branded as "Breeze" and is closer to Light Rail than bus service. There will be limited stops, partial dedicated lanes, and comfortable stations almost identical to Light Rail. The El Camino Real BRT line will start in Downtown San Jose and go all the way up to Palo Alto. For more info, have a look at the BRT Webpage.

VTA Express Bus Service to Levi's Stadium

As you all probably have heard, parking at Levi's Stadium can be both an expensive and time consuming proposition. Light Rail may seem like the next best option, but VTA is experiencing the highest volume of passengers it has had in a long time--perhaps ever--during games. Waits could easily exceed an hour to get on a train after the game. So what other options are there? VTA has a ton of express buses from all around Silicon Valley that will travel to Levi's Stadium and back with minimal stoppage. Check out the map below to find the stop closest to you. While I'm at it, I also included a couple videos about the express bus service, a map showing the epic Light Rail service on stadium days (with rare triple trains), and a link to the VTA Webpage for Levi's Stadium Service.

VTA News - BRT Artwork and Real-time Bus/Light Rail Info

There were a couple nice tidbits of information related to VTA improvements in Sam Liccardo's latest newsletter. The first is a partnership between VTA and the City of San Jose to add localized artwork to 20 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations when they go online. Read the excerpt below for a listing of some of the stations:

"Several of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Bus Rapid Transit stations will be getting enhancements  with public art thanks to a collaboration between VTA and the City of San Jose. 20 stations in all (most including an east/west bound) which will feature vibrant color and unique designs. The artists and each local community collaborated to capture each individual community's spirit. The designs range from informative to whimsical. The art project is in its 'design/development' stage and the stations receiving the art enhancements will include: The Arena (SAP Center), Santa Clara, City Hall, 17th, 24th, King, Jackson, Alum Rock, Story Road, Ocala, Eastridge."

The second bit of news is that VTA now provides their riders with real-time information on where buses and light rail trains are, so you'll never have to guess whether you missed a train or when the next one is arriving. Again, more details below:

"VTA has created a series of four videos to help our customers use their real-time information app for bus and light rail. These real-time information tools tell you when the next bus or train will arrive, which means you don’t have to carry a paper schedule, can anticipate bus arrivals in between published stop times, and can estimate when you’ll arrive at your destination.

Each describes how to access real-time information using a different tool: by calling 511 on your landline or cell phone; visiting m.511.org or 511.org on the Internet; or downloading the TransLoc mobile app for real time light rail information. The TransLoc app for real-time light rail information is also very popular. For more information visit VTA Realtime."

VTA Light Rail Turns 25!

Last Friday, VTA celebrated 25 years of Light Rail service in Silicon Valley. Each morning during my commute, I am seeing more and more people hopping on Light Rail along Tasman. I think with the 49ers Stadium, BART, and the upcoming efficiency improvements... the system is finally going to get the traction it deserves.

Check out the map below to see what the system will look like in 2017. There will be a new Red Line from Mountain View to Alum rock, which will include express service during peak hours. Mountain View will get double tracked, Santa Clara will get pocket tracks near the Stadium for peak transit during games and events, and Almaden will get a direct connection to Downtown San Jose and Mountain View. There are also talks of expanding the system from Alum Rock to Eastridge Mall and from Winchester to Los Gatos.

The VTA Light Rail Efficiency Project

Some big changes are coming to our Light Rail system over the next few years that will substantially improve travel times and better support connections to BART and the new stadium. From the maps below, the obvious changes are:

• A new Red Line (with express trains during peak hours) from Mountain View to Alum Rock. This will make it possible to easily get from the Milpitas BART station to the 49ers Stadium, and will help out those commuting between East San Jose and Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, or Mountain View.
• The Green Line will extend to Almaden, so riders coming from there will no longer have to transfer to another train.
• The Blue Line will offer all-day Express service, instead of only peak hours.
• A new Purple Line will be added between Winchester and Downtown (this is the only major reduction of service, since those commuting from Campbell will have to transfer trains if they are going beyond Downtown).

The changes you can't see from the map are:

• VTA is adding a third track on Tasman between Reamwood and Old Ironsides for peak-demand trains to the Stadium. This track will be able to store three, 3-car trains (usually Light Rail only uses one or two car trains) to deploy when there are major events happening in the area. This project should be complete by November 2014.
• Double tracking in Mountain View, which will allow timed transfers with Caltrain and the Red Line express service. This will be ready by 2016.
• System-wide speed and reliability improvements. VTA plans to deploy better signaling systems to reduce wait-time at traffic lights, and improve speeds from 35 MPH to 45 MPH on North First.

After all is said and done, travel time will be cut by up to 30% and we will have some new options for getting around. Check out the video below or the VTA website for more info.

VTA's Holly Trolley Video

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! Check out a quick two minute video below on the Holly Trolley that circles Downtown San Jose. The historic Trolley runs from 2:30 PM to 10 PM on weekends and 6 PM to 10 PM on Friday. This is the last weekend that this program will be running for 2013, so catch it while you can!  I rode the trolley last year and it was really neat!

VTA's Holly Trolley

The free Holly Trolly is back! You can ride a historic Trolley throughout Downtown San Jose between Diridon and Civic Center. The trains run from 2:30 PM to 10 PM on weekends and 6 PM to 10 PM on Fridays. The trolly will be operational until December 29th (I really wish this was a year-round sort of thing, it's a great idea)!

Sam Liccardo's Newsletter: Traffic Relief is on Its Way

In Sam Liccardo's latest newsletter, he talks about the plans for addressing increased congestion going forward. What do you guys think?

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Traffic Relief on Its Way

                If you’ve noticed that the traffic along your commute has become much worse, you’re not alone: in April 2013, INRIX announced that San José area congestion increased 25% over the prior year alone.   While a sign of the “good times” to be sure –a typical bellwether of our Valley’s rebounding economy—the impact of traffic on our quality of life cannot be ignored: more stress, less productivity, and fewer hours for family or recreation. 

         Doing the same things the same ways---i.e., expanding freeways and “hoping for the best”-- doesn’t amount to a winning strategy, for several reasons.  First, it costs between $3 million and $15 million to add a single mile of a single additional lane to a congested freeway,  and few discretionary dollars remain at any level—federal, state, or regional—to pay for more freeway expansion.  Second, SB375 and other legislation appropriately place the burden on regions like the Bay Area to reduce our per-resident greenhouse gas-emissions, and encouraging more people to find commuting alternatives to the automobile improves our environment and relieves traffic.  Finally, San José will see more population growth–about 400,000 additional people over the next quarter century—than the next three largest Bay Area cities (San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont) combined.   Job and population will outstrip any expansion of freeway capacity by a factor of three over that time.  So, if you think it’s bad now, just wait: it will be worse.

        Fortunately, we’re not doing the same things the same way.  As a Board Member of both the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), I’ve worked to push San José and the region toward innovative approaches that offer important alternatives: 

• BART is under construction!   Moving ahead of schedule and $105 millionunder budget (yes, you read that right), BART will open service in San José’s Berryessa station in 2017.   In 2000 and 2008,  I spent thousands of hours advocating for BART in the media, raising money to support those ballot measures, and speaking at community meetings, so BART’s arrival is happily anticipated by me, and by thousands of commuters stuck in rush hour traffic along 680 and 880.
• Last month, I was proud to join People Acting in Community Together (PACT) and the VTA in announcing a long-sought pilot project to expand the mobility of our working low-income neighbors, by reducing monthly transit passes fares by over 60%.   Residents making less than 200% of the Federal poverty level ( e.g., $47,000 for a family of four) can obtain the $25 monthly pass bycontacting one of the non-profits administering the program.
• In the last 30 months, we’ve introduced “express lanes” on southbound 237 and 680, using congestion pricing to provide commuters with travel time savings up to 15 minutes along those routes, and generating revenues for transportation improvements.   Look for Express Lane implementation to relieve long-suffering commuters on 101 and 85 in 2014-15.
• In the last year, we’ve seen the launch of both car-sharing (i.e., Zip Car) andbike-sharing services, providing our fast-growing Downtown with an antidote for the increased congestion and parking demand from the addition of roughly 2,000 housing units likely to be under construction by this time next year.  Now that my efforts to initiate these innovations over the last half-decade have borne fruit, we’ll continue to push to make these services available outside the Downtown.
• Within weeks, we’ll begin construction on a “Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, linking Downtown and East San Jose with dedicated bus-only lanes, and high-frequency, high-amenity service along Santa Clara, Alum Rock, and Capitol.
• As commuting trips along our trails system surges, we’re seeking continued investment in expanding our trails infrastructure.   Last year, I worked with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group to obtain state grants for two trail segments in North San Jose.  Last month, we successfully obtained $1,200,000 in funding from MTC for the expansion of Los Gatos Creek Trail in West San Jose.
• On the MTC Board, I’ve also recently voted to allocate regional grants to improve bike and pedestrian safety near San José elementary schools through our Walk N’Roll program, to retrofit streetscapes for better pedestrian and bike access along key corridors like The Alameda and San Carlos, and to boost our street repaving budget by $8 million.
• We’ve recently obtained regional grants for implementation of “smart intersections” technology, and have begun construction on a sophisticated transportation management center on 5th Street.  Exciting innovations abound.  For example, working with our Transportation Department staff, BMW is testing ways that “smart cars” and “smart intersections” will communicate to dramatically reduce red-light running, auto emissions, and congestion at key intersections.  

We’ll keep pushing to reduce the traffic burdens you encounter every morning.   Let me know how we can better do so by sending me your thoughts atsam.liccardo@sanjoseca.gov.

Sincerely,

Sam Liccardo

El Camino Real BRT Project Update

There are some updates regarding the Bus Rapid Transit Corridor that is currently being planned for El Camino. Instead of just trying to push through the plan to build a dedicated BRT lane through most of El Camino between San Jose and Palo Alto, VTA is now considering and doing environmental impact reports for seven different scenarios. These include from the original plan utilizing a dedicated lane, making everything mixed flow between buses and normal traffic, and several options in between.

What do you guys think? Does it make sense to improve public transit by making an El Camino Bus-only lane, or is the cost of increased car-traffic too high?

Source: VTA Newsletter

Wednesday Wishlist: Light-rail Expansion

I think it's time to start pushing expanding our rail infrastructure, especially with several factors that are going to increase ridership substantially over the next four years such as:

• Increased density and new housing and jobs being built near transit lines
• BART extension to San Jose
• The new 49ers Stadium
• Increased traffic on our freeways as the economy grows

However, I'm not sure if the proposed Los Gatos extension is the way to go. It would cost $175 million to add two stations extending from Campbell to the Netflix Offices in Los Gatos. The estimated increase in ridership is about 200 people. Even though this number seems too low to be true, the actual number probably won't be dramatically higher. I think we should focus on improving service where there is already some density such as Downtown, First Street, Japantown, Midtown, etc. The ultimate light-rail line would be along Stevens Creek connecting Downtown to Santana Row, Valley Fair, DeAnza College, Valco Mall, and the new Apple HQ. Unfortunately, that will probably cost the same amount as building the BART subway or even more, so I don't have high hopes for that.

What likely makes the most sense is to start working on the extension to Eastridge mall, where there is a huge bus hub along with future planned BRT. That is expected to cost $310 million and get around 1,000 new riders a day. Still quite expensive but the larger the network becomes, the more riders it will attract system-wide. 

Where would you like to see the next Light-rail extension?

Source: The Merc

The VTA Holly Trolly is Back!

From the VTA Website

Feel it all over again on VTA's Holly Trolley! VTA will roll-out its Holly Trolley uniting the nostalgia of the past with the young and young at heart! Whether your plan is to visit Christmas in the Park, ice skate under the palms or dine in downtown San Jose's many restaurants, the Trolley will get you there and...the ride is FREE!

Operating between the Civic Center and San Jose Diridon light rail stations, the Trolley will surely get you and your family into the spirit of the season. The Holly Trolley will make its magical journey only during the holiday season, so be sure to Hop Onboard Today!

You can catch VTA's Free Holly Trolley every weekend*, from November 30 through December 30; Fridays from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

To get on board, stop by a Holly Trolley light rail station nearest you!  The Holly Trolley will travel through downtown San Jose with stops at the Civic Center Station through the San Jose Dirdon Transit Center. For a complete schedule, click on Schedule Information or call 408-321-2300.

VTA Holly Trolley Service Hours*

Fridays                             6:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Saturdays & Sundays       2:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Look for more details on VTA's Facebook page and celebrate the season with VTA!

*Weather permitting.

Wednesday Wishlist: I Want VTA to use THESE Buses

Several months ago I caught a glimpse a bus on 101 that I could have sworn was a double-decker. I thought I was perhaps sleep deprived since I had never seen a two-story bus in Silicon Valley up until that point. The following week, I saw another one. The past couple weeks, I have seen 6 or 7 of them every day going home. I finally snapped a picture to prove I'm not crazy. Now that I've confirmed these exist in the Bay Area, how do we get VTA some of these? =)

Also, for those of you that work at Google, Facebook, or Apple... can anyone confirm which company is using the double-deckers?

Free VTA Rides New Year's Eve

You just got one more reason to party hard in San Jose this New Year's Eve... free VTA rides.  Between 7pm on Dec 31 and 4am on Jan 1, light rail and bus service will be free of charge!

VTA Safety Video

Surprisingly entertaining (intentionally and unintentionally) VTA safety video. "Remember, the lightrail train is electric. It's stealthy like a tiger. It can sneak up on you... silently. So you better keep your whits about you." Thanks Jen!

VTA Spending $488 Million on New Bus Projects

Next year the VTA is going out to bid on some substantial public transit projects. One will be at $128M project that will run 7 miles through the heart of Downtown San Jose from Santa Clara Street all the way down to Alum Rock Avenue. This route will have bus stations at one mile intervals that look more like Light Rail stations with ticket machines, nice landscaping, and additional security features. There will also be dedicated bus lanes along 2 miles of Alum Rock. Completion is set for Summer 2014. 

VTA is also planning to do $200M worth of work along 17 miles of El Camino from San Jose to Palo Alto and a $160M project on Steven's Creek between San Jose and Cupertino. Both are expecting to have greatly improved stations and dedicated bus lanes when possible. The VTA is shooting to have all of these projects completed by 2018 when BART begins service to San Jose.

Fore more info, click here.

$156M of Freeway Improvements Approved

The VTA just received $156M to do some substantial work on South Bay freeways. $71M will be used to widen 880 from 6 lanes to 8 lanes all the way from 237 to 101. The 2 new lanes will both be HOV lanes (carpool lanes). $85M will be used to add new HOV and exit lanes on 101 between 85 and Embarcadero in Palo Alto. These upgrades are planned to be completed in 2014.

Wednesday Wishlist - VTA Light Rail Expansion