Author: Monica Mallon (Monica Mallon)

September is Transit Month in the Bay Area, an annual celebration of public transportation and its role in our communities. In other parts of the Bay Area, there are news conferences, ride-alongs with elected officials and various events. But here in Santa Clara County, September is just a typical month, where residents express the usual...

Last month, the VTA board unanimously approved the Visionary Network, a bold vision for transit service in Santa Clara County that aims to bring service levels up to what’s appropriate for today’s market. The vision includes 83% more service than what’s currently offered, including more frequent service on all routes, longer hours of operation and...

In recent years, there’s been a lot of discussion about free transit, fleet electrification, consolidating agencies, seamless fare integration, governance and regional network management. All of these things have been pushed in the name of helping riders, but what do riders really want? While opinions may vary—and geography certainly plays a role—surveys from across the...

In January, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his budget proposal, which includes a drastic $2 billion cut from public transit projects in the state. This would lead to delayed projects and service cuts at agencies throughout the state. During the pandemic, federal relief money allowed transit agencies to keep service running despite declines in ridership and...

With the new year come new laws and policies, and perhaps the biggest one that will impact transit in Santa Clara County is a state requirement moving large transit agencies toward implementing zero-emission buses. In 2018, the California Air Resources Board adopted an innovative clean transit regulation that requires all transit agencies in the state...

In September, Milpitas and Morgan Hill launched microtransit programs, often touted as the future of public transportation. But are they really worth the hype? Microtransit refers to services that operate like Uber and Lyft, but use minivans or large buses and often use apps to schedule point-to-point rides within a designated service area. Companies like...

Last month, San Jose became the initial “Transit First” city in Santa Clara County. While it will take time for San Jose to truly become a city where public transit is prioritized, improved and seen as a better option than driving, this policy represents a shift in priorities. For decades, the city has prioritized cars...

A common complaint about transit in Santa Clara County is there’s not enough service. The service isn’t frequent enough, the hours aren’t long enough and there aren’t enough routes. Residents want more service, but how can we make that a reality and why is it so challenging to even maintain service? The answer is complicated,...

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on public transportation in Santa Clara County. Ridership and sales tax revenue plummeted. A ballot measure proposing a one-cent sales tax for transportation was put on pause. As someone who believes in public transit, it was hard to watch everything fall apart. Like many people, my school and...

In 2019, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury did a report on VTA’s board of directors. Since then, governance reform discussions have taken place and multiple governance bills have been introduced and killed. Recently, Assemblymember Marc Berman introduced AB 2181, a placeholder bill for governance reform. So for the fourth year in a row,...