Saratoga News
News
Photograph by George Sakkestad
West Valley College student Brandon Samble waits for the bus at the college's VTA station. The two lines that service the college, the 57 and 58, are being proposed for consolidation as VTA tries to streamline its service.
VTA proposes cutting two lines in Saratoga
By Shannon Burkey
Valley Transit Authority has proposed cutting two of the six lines that service Saratoga and combining another two lines into one.
In an effort to streamline its service, the agency, which has been losing riders and money over the years, has been looking for ways to improve, and cutting several of the lines with low ridership seems to be its answer.
"We had a vision statement when we were first created that said, 'The vision of VTA is to provide a transportation system that allows anyone to go anywhere in the region easily and effectively,' which is great but it's also expensive, and we're finding that we really can't do all of that," said Anne Carey, executive assistant to VTA's general manager.
Since the dot-com bust, Carey said ridership has gone down 50 percent, and the ridership area does not necessarily match where potential and existing riders want to go.
Currently the 57 and 58 lines serve West Valley College. In the new proposal, VTA would combine them into one line that would follow the same route the other two did.
"Those are definitely the busiest routes, and we are going to retain them; they will just become one," said Jim Unitas, operations and planning manager for VTA. "Most of the ridership in Saratoga comes in and out of the college, so we are maintaining those routes."
There will be two major changes in service. The 27 line that runs from Good Samaritan Hospital through Los Gatos and into Saratoga through Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road will be discontinued.
The other route to be discontinued is the 54, which starts at De Anza College in Cupertino and goes through Saratoga on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.
"Both these routes have very low ridership and this is something we are doing throughout the county--looking at areas that have low ridership and reallocating those resources in other places," Unitas said.
The 54 line that runs across Prospect Road, along the top of the city, will remain unchanged, as will the 53 line that runs from Westgate to the Sunnyvale Caltrain station.
"We realize that we can't provide service throughout the entire county effectively and cost-efficiently so we need to focus on our core network, where people will really use our services, and augment that with specialized service, such as community buses that will fit the smaller niche markets," Unitas said.
The community bus idea is a new one for VTA and it is currently working with the cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy and the town of Los Gatos to create a shuttle-type service that would run throughout each individual community.
"Right now we are only looking at those three communities, but if they are successful, as we believe they are going to be, we'll have the opportunity to build it in other communities," said Jim Lawson, government affairs manager for VTA.
Councilman Chuck Page said it's unfortunate service is being cut and he would like to see VTA really look into the community bus idea for Saratoga.
"We're an area that has micro-commutes. There are commutes within communities and adjacent cities, and I think the community bus is something that could benefit us all," he said.
The bulk of the changes wouldn't take place until January 2008, and Unitas reiterated that the proposed closures are just the first step in a lengthy process.
"It's important to remember that this is a proposed plan," he said. "We are going to get community feedback and adjust the plan over the summer. It doesn't go back to our board for approval until the end of August."
