Public bus route 68 is a mainstay to South County that connects non-driving residents of Gilroy, San Martin and Morgan Hill to people, places and businesses in the heart of Silicon Valley. But in downtown Morgan Hill, it’s a hulking nuisance and a filthy polluter that kills the small-town quiet and the peaceful ambiance that pedestrians and outdoor diners enjoy, and some city officials want to see it moved off Monterey Road where out-of-town visitors and residents end up to enjoy their evenings.
The bus, operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, follows a northwesterly route from the Gilroy Transit Center to downtown San Jose’s Diridon Transit Center and back. Both destinations are a hub for public transportation, with service to other VTA and community bus routes, as well as Amtrak and Caltrain.
The route travels Monterey Road for two large sections – from Gilroy to south Morgan Hill and through areas in south San Jose – and crosses over to Hale Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard (via Main Avenue on northbound service) to serve stops in the middle such as Martin Murphy Middle School and Kaiser hospital.
The only problem with the current route is that it bothers people in downtown Morgan Hill who might be trying to eat a quiet outdoor meal while inhaling exhaust fumes, according to some council members.
“Downtown is now a hub for restaurants and outdoor dining,” Councilwoman Marilyn Librers said. “As the buses roll through, there’s pollution, and nobody wants that while they’re eating.”
However, one director of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association – Jim Krause – wondered if new hybrid buses used on the route are as noisy.
And while moving a key downtown stop from in front of a popular outdoor dining establishment last year took care of a lot of complaints about the incompatibility of the buses and downtown uses, the large passenger vehicles still carry an unmistakable presence through the otherwise quiet neighborhood.
“I think the bulk of people would want it moved if they had their choice,” Mayor Steve Tate said. “It makes the downtown more walkable and serene without the buses going through.”
Possible reroutes, according to council members and other residents, include moving the bus east to Depot Street, where it could proceed north and serve the Caltrain station and existing parking lot – or the future parking garage the city hopes to build there. That option might require a tight left turn from Fourth or Fifth street to Depot Street.
Or the bus route could go east up Dunne Avenue and north onto Butterfield Boulevard, where it could serve the larger VTA parking lot on the east side of the railroad tracks – just across from the Depot Street Caltrain lot.
The lot on Butterfield is already served by other VTA bus routes, such as the 168 express from Gilroy to Diridon; and the 121 express from Gilroy to the Sunnyvale Lockheed Martin transit center.
Either way, Councilman Larry Carr, South County’s alternate representative on the multi-jurisdictional VTA board thinks the train station and adjacent parking lots should be used more as an “inter-modal transit center” as it already serves a number of public transportation options. Rerouting the 68 would be one way take advantage of that use, Carr explained.
“If (the 68) goes to the train station, is somebody more likely to connect to another mode of transportation, and are they going to gain ridership?” Carr said.
On the other hand, a VTA spokesperson said a key reason many of the agency’s bus routes intersect downtown areas in Santa Clara County is because that’s the destination for passengers. That’s why some passengers now take the 68, for example, instead of the 168 which connects the same stations in Gilroy and San Jose, bypassing downtown with a stop at the Butterfield lot.
“I would like to think people take the 68 to Morgan Hill to come visit, and I wouldn’t want to discourage that by taking people over to Depot Street,” Carr said.
The VTA declined to comment on any hypothetical reroute of any of its buses because the city has not made a formal request to consider such a change, according to VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress.
In general, however, the process of creating or changing a bus route is always carefully studied, and any request for a reroute is not taken lightly.
“VTA has a specific set of design guidelines and a transit sustainability policy that shapes efficient land use planning, development and transit service operations throughout Santa Clara County,” Childress said by e-mail. “Generally speaking, moving a highly effective route off a main arterial street would be adverse to the efforts that have been made to improve the transit network.”
That makes a reroute sound unlikely any time soon. Carr added that the VTA has said in the past that it prefers the Monterey Road route, and conceded that it’s likely better for businesses by increasing exposure to their storefronts – even though some of those business owners are the ones who want the bus 86’d.
The VTA will be eager to work with the city if and when a request for a 68 reroute is made, Childress added. Such cooperation was employed when the city requested moving the 68 stop at Monterey Road and Third Street last year, Childress said.
That stop for several years was directly in front of Rosy’s at the Beach. After a request from the city and Downtown Association, VTA moved the stop about half a block south, in front of the vacant lot that used to house Simple Beverages.
Moving the bus to the train station would help the city accomplish its goal for a downtown area that is not only a dining and entertainment destination for visitors, but is also transit oriented, Bergin added.
The lone English-speaking route 68 passenger who exited at the new northbound Monterey Road and Third Street stop between 5 and 6 p.m. Wednesday said it wouldn’t bother him if the bus stopped on Depot Street.
Stephen Anderson, of Gilroy, is a frequent visitor of downtown Morgan Hill. In the evenings, at least three times a week, he takes the bus to night-time eating and entertainment establishments, his favorite among them Champs Family Bar and Grill where he partakes of karaoke and 50-cent wings.
He would just have to walk a little more if the 68 was 86’d.
“I’m used to walking,” Anderson said.
Despite the sparse use of that stop in the middle of rush hour Wednesday, ridership on the 68 – which has been in existence since 1973 – is up about 5 percent since last year, Childress added. From July 2011 to April, a total of about 1.47 million passengers have taken the $2 bus. During the same timeframe a year earlier, the same route saw about 1.4 million passengers.
Councilman Rich Constantine thinks the issue of disruptive buses is “moot” because the state might not even let the city spend the 2008 bond proceeds it was going to use to make the downtown more inviting and accommodating to visitors and new residents.
Those plans included a three-story parking garage to serve the train station on Depot Street, which would be a possible new stop for a 68 reroute.
Still, auto traffic in general is a hindrance to pedestrian and outdoor activity downtown, Constantine added.
“We want to make the downtown more walkable, and getting as many vehicles off the downtown as possible would be advantageous.”
