San Jose commuters spend roughly three days a year sitting in rush-hour traffic, and local advocates worry it will get worse. Residents are seeing their daily trips between work and home extended by more than 17 minutes each day because of rush-hour traffic—nearly 7 minutes in the morning and more than 10 in the evening. That translates to an...
Time’s up: San Jose reinforces limited parking rules
The grace period for timed parking in San Jose is over. The city is ticketing violators again starting tomorrow. San Jose stopped enforcing time-limited parking during the COVID-19 pandemic. It phased in partial enforcement in the summer for parking limits of less than two hours. Now the city will also enforce parking restrictions on spaces with limits...
San Jose airport travelers caught in holiday nightmare
For thousands of travelers, holiday cheer turned into a sack of coal due to massive flight cancellations caused by a “once in a generation” weather event and ill-prepared airlines. Flight cancellations started on Christmas Eve and continued to increase throughout the week, Mineta San Jose International Airport officials said. Southwest Airlines, one of the airport’s...
Santa Clara brings back parking permit enforcement
Santa Clara residents might find an unexpected new year surprise—they’ll need permits again to park in overcrowded areas. Residents on more than 50 streets, including neighborhoods near the Alameda, Levi’s Stadium and Rivermark Plaza, pay for street parking permits to prevent non-residents at nearby businesses from parking in the area. Santa Clara stopped enforcing permit...
San Jose airport rebrand ticks off commissioners
The San Jose airport’s decision to rebrand has exposed a rift between airport leadership and the commission that advises on changes at the South Bay’s sky hub. In a Dec. 14 informational memo to the San Jose City Council, Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport Director of Aviation John Aitken announced the airport will...
Santa Clara County VTA service review long overdue
A state oversight agency required to conduct service reviews of VTA hasn’t done one in nearly a decade—and it could be years more before it does. The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), a California watchdog with offices in every county, is required by state law to review special districts like VTA every five years, as...
‘People are dying on our roads’: San Jose unsafe for bicyclists
San Jose tops the list of Silicon Valley cities with the most bicycle crashes, injuries and deaths, which is nothing to brag about. San Jose ranks the worst in bike safety, tallying 2,803 bike crashes over a decade, resulting in 38 deaths and 2,752 injuries. Palo Alto ranks second with 787 bike crashes, resulting in three...
VTA couldn’t stop San Jose mass shooting, report claims
An independent investigation into whether VTA could have done more to prevent the 2021 mass shooting in San Jose has found the organization did not have enough information to prevent the attack. At a last-minute Monday news conference at VTA headquarters, VTA Chief of External Affairs Jim Lawson said a 17-month investigation conducted by San...
VTA won’t let more workers sleep at San Jose yard
Adan Miranda used to fall asleep during his long commute. The VTA bus driver lives in Elk Grove, a four-hour drive in traffic, because he can’t afford a home in San Jose. After nodding off at the wheel several times on his way home in 2003, Miranda signed up for a permit program letting VTA...
VTA disputes San Jose’s plan for tiny homes
San Jose plans to move forward with building housing for homeless residents on VTA property, but there appears to be disagreement over the inevitability of the project. The City Council voted unanimously last week to pursue tiny home projects at the Cerone and Cottle VTA sites, located in North and South San Jose, respectively. Tiny...