It is common to hear Silicon Valley residents explain that the reason they do not ride the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority’s (VTA) light rail is because the trains do not take them directly where they want to go. Instead, two things happen:
1) light rail does not go there at all
2) light rail takes forever to reach the destination compared to the car or bus
These factors may help explain the unusual extremely low weekday ridership levels despite having a very extensive system.
I made a map of the system on Google Earth:
The blue lines represent the current light rail system, while the thicker red line marks the future BART extension into the South Bay. Downtown San Jose is located where San Jose is labelled. The district represents a informal divide between jobs and homes. To the north and northwest of Downtown (those whiter areas in the map) are the large technology campuses, while to the west, south, and east are suburban tracts of mainly single-family homes. Of course, there are offices in the south and homes in the north, but the zoning primarily follow such geographical division.
As displayed, the light rail system is effective in transporting residents from the distant suburban south to the tech-hub north, but not in the east-west direction. Large swaths of development from Sunnyvale to Saratoga are far from the nearest rail station. A similar void of enormous residential suburbia exists south of the Alum Rock district. The residents of these areas tend to be forced to use their cars to travel. Even if they live near a station, the light rail is hardly a competitive option (hence, “takes forever to reach the destination”). VTA did a study comparing car travel time with light rail time:
The only section that was time-competitive was between Winchester (Campbell) and Diridon (Downtown San Jose). Otherwise, commuters from the far south travelling to their jobs in the north take twice as long riding the light rail than driving in a car. This is probably also true for people living in the Milpitas and Alum Rock regions and working in the North San Jose area. Why should they ride a train that essentially makes one large U-turn when they could instead drive on a road that takes them directly to their office? Finally, the Mountain View route is too windy and indirect for many residents. It seems like planners tried to make sure the light rail went everywhere and so placed many twists and turns, sacrificing much travel time. Many workers in the tech centers in Mountain View live in the far south. Imagine riding the short stub that is the red line, transferring to the blue line, crawling slowly through the streets of Downtown, waiting at multiple stop lights on North 1st Street, transferring again but this time to the green line, zigzagging through the windy tracks of the northwest, and finally arriving at Mountain View. Wouldn’t you rather take Hwy 85, the one freeway that gets you from your home to your work?
Fortunately, VTA is taking many steps to help improve travel time. For example, a year or two ago, it has created an express service line from on Guadalupe Expressway from Ohlone/Chynoweth to Downtown. This addition has made light rail travel time between these two points comparable to that of the car. The agency is also considering closing some stations on the Mountain View line and building a rail overpass on North 1st across a busy expressway to decrease delay time at the intersection.
Though these steps may help attract more riders (especially with rising gas prices), it is also important to focus on increasing destinations on the lines. It does not matter how long it take for a train to get from point A to point B if no one is interested in going from point A to point B. While the majority of Silicon Valley can be accessed by public transit given one or two transfers, such transfers act as physical burdens to riders, as well as financial ones since VTA does not provide free transfers between modes or between buses. Thus, it is important to have access to popular destinations with as few transfers (1 or none) as possible.
Of course, building a long, costly extension of light rail may not be the best option when a cheaper bus line with a smooth transfer can work just as effectively. Additionally, if the extension fails to attract riders due to its length, time-competitiveness, or other factors, it would only add to VTA’s already bad ridership/mile record and could possibly end in a PR disaster with public backlash against further rail extensions. Therefore, access should be strengthened to destinations that are near or adjacent to the current right of way (ROW) of existing light rail infrastructure to lower capital costs, operational costs, and risk.
In line with this, VTA is currently planning to create a new east-west light rail line that would eliminate a transfer for BART riders at the future Milpitas station. Such route would connect the Milpitas station, which is expected to be a popular destination once BART is completed, with Mountain View (already popular) and all the tech campuses in between…with no transfers required! The proposal would require minimal infrastructure installation and costs as the tracks and stations already exist.
My proposal would act similarly. I propose connecting the San Jose International Airport (SJC) to the light rail system by building a short stub. The reasons are as follows:
1) SJC is a major destination
2) SJC is near the current light rail ROW
3) A short extension would be compatible with current VTA plans
4) It would eliminate the burden of a transfer
More explanation and elaboration in Part II!
Thanks for reading!
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The VTA is the main transit agency of Santa Clara County and provides service in major Silicon Valley cities, including San Jose, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Cupertino, and Palo Alto. It provides two main modes of transportation: bus and light rail, both of which are extensive systems. Currently, the VTA is primarily focusing on improving efficiency and ridership, implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) along two corridors, and bringing BART to the South Bay region.