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After a turbulent year, the Mineta San Jose International Airport is seeing a promising uptick in passengers traveling for the holidays. Approximately 300,000 passengers passed through the airport from Nov. 19 through Nov. 28. Daily traffic data is not yet available, but airport officials say overall travel volume was nearly three times higher than the...
San Jose transit agency looks to improve work culture
As VTA prepares for the end of a year marked by unprecedented tragedy and challenges, the public transit agency is exploring how to change its work culture for the better. During the VTA’s most recent board meeting, CEO Carolyn Gonot outlined a multi-pronged approach to stabilize and transform the agency after a year marked by...
VTA pulls funding from San Jose’s Charcot Avenue extension
VTA is diverting funding from a controversial highway project—the target of community outrage for years. The transit agency’s board of directors agreed to approve nearly $200 million for 11 infrastructure projects to relieve highway congestion in Santa Clara County during its Thursday meeting. At the urging of director and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, the...
San Jose airport taxi drivers protest fee increases from dispatcher
The Mineta San Jose International Airport taxicab dispatch contractor is asking independent drivers to pay increased fees. Some drivers aren’t having it. Dozens of independent taxicab drivers are protesting rules from Safer, LLC, the airport’s taxi dispatch contractor. According to drivers, they began a strike on Nov. 16 and plan to stay off the job...
San José Spotlight wins award for coverage of VTA mass shooting
San José Spotlight this month won a national award for its breaking news coverage of a mass shooting in May at a VTA light rail yard that killed nine transit workers. The award from the Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers recognizes our nonprofit newsroom among the top news publications in the country. LION Publishers is...
VTA committee recommends Measure B funds for Silicon Valley highways
VTA is poised to distribute nearly $200 million for projects to reduce highway congestion following a critical committee vote. The Congestion Management Program and Planning Committee is recommending VTA’s board of directors approve funding for a list of 13 highway projects in cities across Santa Clara County. The funding comes from Measure B, a sales...
Vision for personal rapid transit system stalled in Milpitas
Rob Means dreams of revolutionizing Milpitas’ public transit by creating an environmentally-friendly track system to whisk people to destinations in small vehicular pods. But getting others to share that dream is tough. In 2019, Means, founder and secretary of LoopWorks, pitched Milpitas’ mayor and City Council on the concept of personal rapid transit (PRT), a system...
Billions of infrastructure dollars are coming to Silicon Valley
Caltrain, VTA and BART are all big winners with the passage of the federal infrastructure bill on Monday, with billions of dollars flowing into Silicon Valley. Some of the funding from the $1.2 trillion bill will be spent on local public transportation. Coming to the Bay Area is $66 billion which will enable the $7...
San Jose VTA backed off promise to hire diverse firms, activists say
Civil rights groups claim VTA backpedaled on a pledge to give substantial contract work to local minority-owned businesses on a major infrastructure project. The leader of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP sent a letter to VTA CEO Carolyn Gonot on Oct. 28 complaining the agency assured the NAACP, the Asian Law Alliance and La Raza...
Only one San Jose VTA board member uses public transit
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is dealing with tight budgets, low ridership and out-of-touch officials, even as they discuss expanding to new technologies. A San José Spotlight survey found that just one of the 18 lawmakers who oversee and govern the troubled transit agency—of those who responded—actually ride its buses and trains. San José...