Santa Clara County

2024: A Year of Victories, growth, and adventure 

This past year was the most successful year yet for Transbay Coalition’s work to improve transit, biking, and street safety throughout the Bay Area. Thank YOU for helping make that happen. Whether you donated, volunteered, came to an event, or spoke out for a better transportation system in the region, you made our region a […]

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Electric Caltrain soft launch starts Sunday August 11!

Caltrain starts a soft launch of electric train service tomorrow, August 11. A few electric trains will be in service tomorrow, interspersed with the old diesel trains and still running the current service. Caltrain isn’t announcing which trains will be electric during the soft launch period. More electric trains will be added in incrementally, and

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Portal secures federal funding; BART Silicon Valley breaks ground

Two major projects completing the ring of rail around San Francisco Bay advanced in recent weeks.   The $12.75B project to bring BART from Berryessa to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara broke ground.  The project is now estimated to start rail service in 2036.  The groundbreaking took place before VTA received a commitment from the

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BART Silicon Valley awarded federal funding, leaving gap

On Friday, VTA announced that the federal government would fund $5.1Billion toward the BART Silicon Valley project, about 41% of the cost of the project, currently estimated at $12.7 billion.  This leaves a gap of $1.2Billion from the amount that VTA had been requesting, and a gap of $700million to complete the project, following the

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Capitol Corridor

Electrify the Capitol Corridor!

Electrifying the Capitol Corridor would enable fast, frequent travel between the South Bay, East Bay and Sacramento. It would connect the economic and political capitals of Northern California– but powerful interests are pushing unproven hydrogen trains technology that could instead lock in poor train service for decades.  The Capitol Corridor is the spine of Northern

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Regional funding authorizing bill passes Senate with South Bay opposition; more work needed in Assembly

Last Friday May 24, SB1031, the Connect Bay Area Act, passed the Senate Floor and heads to the Assembly with more work to do and South Bay opposition. The next step will be Assembly policy committee hearings later in June. In order to pass the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 16, amendments were added to

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Transit Month on the Caltrain Corridor: New trains; Tour El Camino bike and bus improvements

This coming weekend and next, come join exciting, fun and informative Transit Month activities on the Caltrain corridor and around the region. Saturday, September 23, tour the new Caltrain electric trains in San Francisco between 10am and 2pm.  The train tour in San Jose this summer drew 4,000 people – so please register if you’d

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Caltrain plans ridership regrowth – lively marketing, single-brand focus

Caltrain is rolling out marketing plans to regrow transit ridership after steep pandemic declines.  The strategies encourage people to take the train for more kinds of trips and for current commute patterns.  Coasters at bars encouraging people to have fun safely with a train as the designated driver. Family and group day passes making excursions more

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Caltrain advances 2-year budget with steady service, potential partner capital contributions

At its May board meeting, the Caltrain board advanced a 2-year budget with plans to provide steady service, and with the likelihood of partner contributions to the capital budget.   Choices that Caltrain makes within the next two years have the potential to make a significant difference in ridership regrowth and revenue.    Operating budget with steady

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Caltrain board discusses short-term ridership regrowth strategies

On Thursday, February 2, the Caltrain board will discuss short-term opportunities to regrow transit ridership.  Caltrain is looking at single agency strategies that it can fully control. These strategies will be helpful,  but this narrow focus on short-term independent actions underestimates the depth of the challenge Caltrain is confronting.  The railroad is struggling to break

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New funds for Caltrain to complete electrification, defer fiscal cliff 

On January 31, the State of California announced that it is awarding $367 million to Caltrain to finish its electrification project, which is scheduled to be completed in Fall 2024. The funding for Caltrain complements $43 million in federal funding, adding up to the full $410 million gap needed to complete electrification, which will enable

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Caltrain receives $43 million from federal budget for electrification; may help defer fiscal cliff

The Federal omnibus spending bill included $43 million to help complete Caltrain electrification.  Additional funding is expected in early 2023 from the state’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP), which has funding guidelines that favor projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are currently under construction. The electrification funding may help defer the fiscal

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Caltrain board chair suggests possible service cuts – how would you regrow transit ridership?

At the September board meeting, Board Chair Steve Heminger reported that had requested that staff bring back recommendations for potential service cuts.  His remarks are at 2:33 in the meeting video. Heminger noted that Caltrain’s strategy to regrow transit ridership has included running more frequent all-day service. However, Caltrain’s ridership recovery from the pandemic is

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BART and VTA discuss ways to improve BART-San Jose

In May, following requests from the BART board and San Jose City Council the VTA board agreed to move forward with two parallel review processes to investigate opportunities to improve the project, looking the potential for: Entrances on both sides of the street – important for passenger access and safetyBetter, easier passenger access to station

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San Jose Mayor calls for design review for BART-Silicon Valley; following calls by advocates, BART board

At this evening’s VTA board meeting, in the agenda item to approve the first stage of the major construction contracts for the BART Silicon Valley Extension (item 7.7), Mayor Liccardo has submitted a memo calling for reviews of the project to explore important improvements to rider experience and the urban fabric of San Jose, including: 

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Caltrain board contemplates challenging postpandemic budgets

At a board budget workshop on March 21, the Caltrain board will contemplate challenging years ahead with the prospect of changed post-pandemic travel patterns. Business surveys predict that office workers will be commuting an average of three days per week, reducing Caltrain’s pre-pandemic ridership base.  Federal funding has kept transit afloat in the Bay Area

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Renewed opportunity for bus lanes on Stevens Creek

On Monday December 13th at 10am, the Stevens Creek Corridor Transit Steering Committee is meeting to discuss opportunities to bring rapid transit to Stevens Creek boulevard. The committee, composed of representatives from San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino and Santa Clara County, along with VTA will discuss a study to create a vision for the corridor,

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