The Sunnyvale Sun

News

Rerouting of VTA buses begins Jan. 14

By Crystal Lu

Significant changes in local bus service will take effect Jan. 14.

Route 26, which goes through both Cupertino and Sunnyvale, will have its frequency increased to 15 minutes or better all day long on weekdays. Cupertino residents will also see such frequency on routes 23 and 25, and Sunnyvale residents on routes 22 and 522.

These are among the "core routes" listed in the new service plan of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). While adding buses to the core routes, VTA will eliminate seven routes that it deems underutilized, including route 305, which currently goes from South San Jose to Mountain View, passing through Sunnyvale.

Some of the remaining routes will have segments removed.

Route 26 will have its weekday service to Wolfe Road and Arques Avenue and weekend service to downtown Sunnyvale discontinued. Route 23 will lose its portion west of De Anza College, but VTA will replace the eliminated portion of route 23 with a rerouted route 51.

VTA will also move route 53 onto De Anza Boulevard to address Cupertino residents' concerns about the elimination of route 54 service between De Anza and West Valley colleges. Route 54 will stop its service to Fair Oaks Avenue and Tasman Drive, and weekday peak hour service on Java Drive.

The 304 bus, which makes limited stops, will end at the Sunnyvale Transit Center instead of downtown Mountain View.

"The new service is designed to create more ridership along the most utilized routes," said Cupertino Mayor Dolly Sandoval, who also serves as vice chair of VTA. "No doubt some riders will have a tough time navigating. But we have lots of VTA staff to address customer questions and give new route information for the rest of January."

There will be VTA customer service representatives at major bus and light rail stations to help passengers.

Last August the VTA board of directors approved a revised version of the January 2008 Service Plan, which resulted from an 18-month Comprehensive Operations Analysis VTA conducted to improve efficiency.

For more information about the new bus service, call VTA customer service at 408.321.2300 or visit www.vta.org.