Santa Clara has joined a growing number of Bay Area cities pursuing policies aimed at eliminating traffic deaths. The Santa Clara City Council voted early Wednesday morning to adopt the city’s Vision Zero plan, committing to a strategy to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries on local roads. City officials decided to implement the plan...
San Jose company takes VTA to court over eminent domain
A commercial truck company based in San Jose is taking VTA to court, two years after the public transit agency forced the business to move off a site slated for use in the planned BART extension project through Silicon Valley. Monarch Truck Center, a full service medium duty truck dealership, had operated at 195 N. 30th St....
Super Bowl sets South Bay public transit ridership record
Public transit ridership to and from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl hit an all-time high with 30,000 trips — although not without a few bumps along the way. VTA tallied 28,000 light rail trips and 2,600 bus rides for the big game, which the National Football League said drew 70,823 people....
San Jose wants industrial land exempt from housing law
With just five months before landmark housing legislation takes effect throughout California, San Jose officials are racing to exempt broad swaths of the city from the law. Sen. Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 79, signed into law in October, aims to encourage denser housing construction around transit hubs. In San Jose, the law would cover 40,000...
San Jose traffic deaths dropped in 2025
San Jose’s traffic fatalities declined once again in 2025, helping the city move closer toward its goal of eliminating all road deaths over the next 15 years. Last year, 41 people died in traffic accidents on the city’s roadways, a 16% drop from 2024, when 49 people died, and the lowest figure the city has seen...
Bay Area public transit riders can use bank cards to ‘tap-and-ride’
The long-awaited rollout of the new generation of the Clipper Card payment system started Wednesday, with Bay Area travelers now able to pay for public transit trips more efficiently and conveniently. Clipper will transition the individual cards of passengers over the next 12 weeks with new features that will allow people to instantly add money...
Lawsuit alleges San Jose license plate readers violate privacy rights
A new lawsuit by local advocacy groups alleges San Jose’s use of data collected by automated license plate readers deployed around town violates drivers’ privacy rights The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, takes aim at the city’s practice of allowing the San Jose Police Department to search a vast database of license...
East San Jose small businesses struggle amid VTA construction
Capitol Expressway has turned into a traffic nightmare near the light rail connector expansion — and local businesses are looking to transportation officials for relief. San Jose business owners say construction from VTA’s Eastridge to BART Regional Connector has been driving customers away, with intermittent lane closures, redirected traffic, blocked driveways and construction debris along...
Bay Area transit sales tax measure clears state hurdle
Advocates are gearing up for a regional outreach effort now that the door is open for a Bay Area public transit funding measure on the November 2026 ballot. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 63, also known as the Connect Bay Area Transit Act, on Oct. 13 — clearing the way for a voter initiative...
Silicon Valley transit agency picks single tunnel for BART extension
Silicon Valley transit officials are moving forward with plans to dig a single tunnel and close their BART extension funding woes. The strategy is steeped with risk. After a fallout with the main contractor and scathing rebukes from BART officials, the VTA board of directors voted 8-1-3 to lock in on a new set of...