Author: Monica Mallon (Monica Mallon)

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,...

The last time I went to the Mineta San Jose International Airport on public transit, I had to take the bus to the light rail before finally boarding another bus to the terminal. The trip from Cambrian took a little more than an hour and could have taken longer if I had missed a transfer....

I’m Monica Mallon, a new transportation columnist for San José Spotlight who will contribute columns on first Thursday every other month. For my first column, I’d like to tell you about Santa Clara County transportation from the perspective of a rider. I’m a lifelong transit rider and advocate with professional experience in transportation demand management....