The VTA light rail Orange Line has returned to full service and partial service has been restored to the Blue Line Monday, after the historic union worker strike paused the agency’s bus and light rail services for almost three weeks. The fully restored Orange Line runs from Mountain View to Alum Rock, and the partially...
VTA strike must end, Santa Clara County judge rules
A Santa Clara County judge has ruled against striking VTA union workers, bringing bus and light rail services back to the region. Superior Court Judge Daniel Nishigaya ruled Wednesday that members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, which represents about 1,500 frontline VTA employees, must return to work — ending the union’s historic 17-day strike....
Commuting San Jose State students struggle amid VTA strike
A local university is trying to help its students caught in the ongoing VTA strike find transportation. The union worker strike started March 10 and has left San Jose State University students stranded at the BART Berryessa station and elsewhere. While VTA is offering $5 vouchers for Uber rides for two rides per day between stations, taking...
VTA offers Uber vouchers for stranded Silicon Valley riders
Silicon Valley commuters are feeling the pain of digging deeper into their wallets on a daily basis due to the ongoing VTA worker strike. To compensate for the extra outlay, VTA is partnering with Uber to support riders while bus and light rail services are down. Starting Tuesday, VTA is providing riders with two $5...
UPDATE: VTA union workers reject latest contract offer
VTA bus drivers and light rail operators turned down the agency’s latest offer, sending negotiators back to the table and leaving Santa Clara County commuters in the lurch. Roughly 83% of members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, which represents more than 1,500 frontline VTA workers, voted Monday to reject VTA’s latest offer. The...
Silicon Valley VTA strike from a commuter’s lens
My morning commute usually goes like this: I hop on the BART Green Line from San Francisco’s Mission District for an hour-plus train ride to Berryessa Station in East San Jose. From there, I hold on for dear life — with gratitude — as VTA’s Rapid 500 bus hurtles toward San José Spotlight’s downtown newsroom...
VTA strike strands Sunnyvale high school students
Janeth Zarate is a freshman at Fremont High School who wakes up at 6 a.m. to get to school on time. On any normal day, she takes VTA’s 255 bus, but for the past two weeks service has stopped due to a historic union worker strike. VTA’s operator union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, has...
VTA board chair absent in first week of strike
Thousands of VTA riders have been stranded without public transportation for 10 days due to an ongoing union strike, and the agency’s board chair has been out of town. Social media posts show Sergio Lopez, chair of the VTA board of directors and Campbell mayor, was in Yosemite over the weekend for a policymakers conference,...
UPDATE: VTA’s legal request to stop strike denied
VTA’s request for the courts to immediately intervene in a weeklong strike has been denied, delaying the potential return of bus and light rail public transit service in the region. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Daniel Nishigaya denied VTA’s request for an injunction Monday afternoon. Nishigaya also ordered representatives from Amalgamated Transit Union Local...
VTA files legal complaint over striking union’s alleged contract breach
VTA has filed a legal complaint against its striking workers, claiming it’s a breach of contract. VTA said in a Tuesday news release the goal of the complaint is to end the strike and restore normal VTA bus and light rail services, which stopped once the strike began. Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265 went...