When calculated by the hour, transit service in Santa Clara
County will be reduced to 1981 levels if the latest in a series of
service reductions is approved by Valley Transportation Authority
leaders this summer. The county
’s bus and transit agency released sobering details Friday on
another series of cuts – roughly 21 percent this time around – that
are meant to help combat the agency’s unprecedented fiscal
crisis.
When calculated by the hour, transit service in Santa Clara County will be reduced to 1981 levels if the latest in a series of service reductions is approved by Valley Transportation Authority leaders this summer.
The county’s bus and transit agency released sobering details Friday on another series of cuts – roughly 21 percent this time around – that are meant to help combat the agency’s unprecedented fiscal crisis.
If approved by the VTA board this summer, the proposal would mean reductions to 63 of VTA’s current 69 bus routes – including at least five affecting South County – and 18 routes would be eliminated outright. Fifty-three net total bus routes would remain after the cuts and the addition of two stop-gap routes.
The fall reductions would complete an overall suite of 35 percent in service cuts in roughly a year’s time. The agency already reduced bus and light-rail service 14 percent in the past two years, and modifications to paratransit service are also in the works.
One proposed modification is to cut back paratransit service to within a 3/4-mile distance from a regular bus stop. Many Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy residents who use the paratransit service live beyond this limit and say they don’t know what they will do without the service.
“We never want to reduce service, and we have to this point been able to keep the service reductions to the levels we have because of other cost-saving measures – deferring capital projects, using one-time revenue sources,” said VTA spokeswoman Ann-Catherine Vinickas. “We’ve run out of those one-time revenue sources.”
South County residents can comment on the proposals at two meetings scheduled for Thursday, June 12.
The Morgan Hill meeting begins at 3 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Morgan Hill City Hall, 17555 Peak Ave.
The Gilroy meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Gilroy City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
The deadline to send in comments on the latest reductions is June 16. Contact the VTA by phone: 321-2300 (TDD: 321-2330); by e-mail: cu**************@*ta.org; by Web site: www.vta.org; or by mail: VTA, Customer Service, Building B, 3331 N. First St. San Jose CA 95134.
