After last week’s shooting, restoring light-rail service to Silicon Valley will take “weeks or months, not days,” says a representative of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). In place of light rail, the agency was providing “bus bridges” to serve light-rail routes.
On Monday, however, VTA announced that it would discontinue such bus bridges. Instead, it “is directing all resources to the regular bus network that serves the majority of our riders who rely on public transit the most.” In other words, light rail serves mainly high-income workers who aren’t riding anyway because they are working at home. So those who were still riding light rail before last Wednesday must hustle to find alternate transportation such as riding buses that don’t necessarily parallel the light-rail lines.
If these light-rail lines were so important to the region that they had to be built, it seems like they would be important enough to keep running buses serving their customers while the rail system is out of commission. VTA is tacitly admitting that it was a mistake to build them in the first place.
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Meanwhile, VTA continues its dysfunctional record by hiring a new general manager named Carolyn Gonot. “Carolyn has a proven track record in delivering major capital projects and programs and establishing critical funding mechanisms to build and sustain them,” a VTA board member is quoted as saying.
In reality, says an insider, the BART project Gonot oversaw was three years late, $2 billion over budget, and $800 million in debt. In order to avoid being fired, she took a pay cut to leave VTA and work for another agency. Since that BART line is still under construction, I’m sure she will do very well overseeing the cost overruns and further delays to the project.
Apologies for repeating this every time VTA light rail is mentioned but in case anyone hasn’t seen this before. In 1999 on a tour of the light rail I got into an argument with the head of the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Association. He kept trying to say light rail was carrying a significant number of people and I kept pointing out it was carrying only0.2% of those who would otherwise have driven. Eventually in exasperation he said something to the effect “but you cannot build high density housing unless it is next to light rail.” So the purpose of building light rail may have had nothing to do with transport, but just a way of getting high density housing approved. Presumably residents were fooled into thinking it was “smart growth” because the high density housing was next to light rail.
So the purpose of building light rail may have had nothing to do with transport, but just a way of getting high density housing approved. Presumably residents were fooled into thinking it was “smart growth” because the high density housing was next to light rail.
That is the goal, from the point of view of the planners. Politicians like shoveling the billions of dollars to their contractor buddies, and repeating lies about sustainability and equity.
I hope you get an opportunity to review Santa Clara’s ACE trains and their plans to add lines in to the states central valley, Modesto, Merced, Turlock. I oppose these expansions at our local city and county governmental meetings. Your excellent deep dives on public transportation would be especially useful in these endeavors. Thanks for all your great work!