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The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is hoping Cupertino residents will be on board for some significant changes in public transportation, proposed to take place in 2006. The program includes shifting to smaller buses and shuttle vans in reconfigured routes throughout Santa Clara County--including Cupertino.
"It's designed to serve the masses and provide better customer service," said VTA spokeswoman Lupe Solis.
Convenience is the key to meeting that goal. With their reduced size, the new vehicles will be better able to deliver residents down narrow side streets. The smaller vehicles will be roughly half the size of the 40-foot buses currently in use.
Proposed changes also include changing routes, adding phone-in pickup service for riders with decreased mobility, and putting new Global Positioning System devices on the buses that will allow for better tracking of every bus.
The ultimate goal is to improve ridership, Solis said, which will then help relieve congestion on roads and provide funds for future public transportation projects.
Dave Knapp, Cupertino city manager, said the program is something the city is definitely interested in, but with reservations. "If it raises everyone's expectations, we don't want it to come with a cost," he said. "The transportation authority is short of money right now, and so are we. So the question remains, where will the money come from?"
A Santa Clara County grand jury slammed the transit organization in a June report recommending that it restructure its board of directors and delay funding of the troubled BART-to-San Jose project, and the VTA board recently borrowed $275 million against tax revenues that will not be collected until 2006.
Representing Cupertino--as well as the four other cities in the West Valley region--on the VTA board is Los Gatos Councilman Joe Pirzynski.
Pirzynski says benefits of the proposed program include reduced traffic congestion and parking problems, especially in the participating cities with a core downtown.
At press time, Knapp and his staff were scheduled to meet with VTA representatives on Oct. 5. He will then go to the city council with his recommendations.
In the future, the VTA plans to hold a series of workshops in participating cities, at which community members would tell the transit authority what kind of service they want in their area.
Grant Shellen contributed to this story.
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