What an interesting confluence of events and intentions this
month has been.
What an interesting confluence of events and intentions this month has been. Just while I was experimenting with not driving for a month, the Valley Transportation Authority proposed a tax to support services, and it also proposed to develop a community-based transportation plan to meet the needs of low-income people in the area (which I’ll detail in a subsequent column). With my experiment, I got was a first-hand look at what it’s like for folks who don’t have access to cars to get around this county, and got some insight into whether I’d support a tax or a community-based plan.
Getting around South County without a car is not that easy! It’s too suburban and rural so that bus use is low during off peak times, (but still used nonetheless). With no more than two routes in Morgan Hill and three in Gilroy, only one line runs with enough frequency to be of any good regular use, and only if one’s destinations are close to Monterey Highway.
With a borrowed bike, I found that the 68, stopping just less than a mile from my house, was OK to get around here in South County, as long as long as I padded my travel time by 15 minutes to wait for the bus. What would normally have taken me 15 minutes by car took me about 25 to 45 minutes, depending on my wait time.
It’s a nightmare getting to San Jose if you are constricted by time. To attend meetings, I would take the bus to the light rail in order to be closer to my destination so I wouldn’t be sweating like a dog upon arrival. A trip that would have taken me 35 to 40 minutes one way took me two hours (and, as I was going to Alameda at Hedding, I avoided an extra half hour by exiting just off Highway 87 to avoid the frequent stops throughout downtown San Jose, so I still wound up sweating like a dog after riding a good pop).
CalTrain is simply not an option for people who have responsibility for seeing their children off to school or being there at a reasonable time for them after they come home. There are three trains available to head north. The last one leaves my train stop at 7:11am. My son’s school time is 8am. The first train that will come south doesn’t leave San Jose until 4:30pm.
Out-of-town trips are an interesting adventure. One weekend, I went to Calistoga, which involved using VTA, CalTrain and BART. Even with rides from other drivers, it took five hours up, and six hours to come home (and oh my goodness, there were no public restrooms at major transfer stops in between).
It’s not any wonder South County residents don’t have a high opinion of our current public transportation. Outside of the occasional friendly driver and cool, clean bus on hot days, the current public transportation options just aren’t enough to do without a car completely.
While I agree with some of VTA critics’ assertions about VTA, I disagree that we don’t need subsidized public transportation. We need transportation for people with physical and mental disabilities, for seniors and young adults, mostly college students, who can’t afford a car. My biggest concern is for low-income families, workers and teenagers, particularly those who need to access services that are not provided in South County. With the long commutes one way, they spend precious resources being set up for failure.
And, I can’t even get started on the folly of BART. Given that neither BART nor light rail to access it, is going to be extended down to South County, I really disagree with Carl Guardino’s continuing crusade for BART in any economy.
Despite the inconvenience, I was able to work around it (my work is independent and flexible, and my children are old enough to transport themselves by bike or car to their respective schools) and my spirit benefited from using public transportation, (except when navigating my bike among big black Navigators on certain streets). So, I’d still like to see something happen to increase usage and be useful for people who need it.
I’m sure I don’t want to pay a tax to fund BART, but I would consider a tax if it meant re-prioritizing projects, and developing the kind of good public transportation system that is a component of a sustainable community.
