Revisiting the Issue - Extended Version: Why Should VTA Run Their Light Rail Every 20 Minutes When BART Opens Milpitas and Berryessa Stations? And what about VTA's buses?

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has plans for the future, including Levi's Stadium, Mountain View double-tracking, extended express trains on the Alum Rock-Santa Teresa Line, and so on. Yes, I have definitely saw all the activity on VTA's website and on social media, which I generally follow. But my review of the project looks to be somewhat promising apart from some major hiccups in the project, so I gave my extended take on what VTA could improve on as they are in progress that I originally posted on social media, including what VTA said about the future plans on the light rail.

When I originally suggested every 20 minutes instead of every 30 minutes on nights, weekends, and major holidays, the 20-minute headways at those times (when the Berryessa BART extension is complete) are designed to allow BART riders to easily transfer between trains in 8-10 minutes between the future Milpitas BART station and the current Montague station. Weekday headways would still run every 15 minutes on all light rail lines to allow enough time (5-7.5 minutes) for Clipper card users to easily transfer between BART and VTA's light rail. VTA would still maintain it's regular service even if regular service would be adjusted. During major events at Levi's Stadium, VTA would maintain unaltered service after the new alignment begins. However, until that new alignment begins, the current alignment does not allow Winchester-bound trains to go directly to Mountain View during events at Levi's Stadium and instead turns around at Baypointe and would instead become "Winchester-Baypointe" line (and for Mountain View, the "Mountain View-Baypointe" line).

Here is what is behind the reasons of using 20-minute headways on light rail on nights, weekends, and holidays - recall back in 2012, The Investigative Unit's Tony Kovaleski questioned then-VTA general manager Michael Burns about the management of the use of money while implementing new systems on ticket vending machines to allow riders to pay with a credit/debit card. Kovaleski then asked Burns on the issue of fare evasions. But now with Nuria Fernandez heading up VTA as general manager, the public has yet to see the latest ridership data ever since she took office. VTA has been losing at least a million dollars for fare evasions, delays of getting the ticket vending machines updated to include both credit/debit card functionality, and the upgrade to also include Clipper card capabilities, the latter of which Kovaleski was unaware of in his investigation. Some unknown sources also were saying that VTA's change of pattern in the light rail system would need an additional $3 to 5 million annually to operate.

Speaking of the change of pattern and the cost, the same would probably also go for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects as well. For the BRT project in it's entirety between Alum Rock and Palo Alto Transit Centers, VTA would need to run the same headways as what SamTrans does (from Palo Alto to Daly City), as VTA's priority is to manage their money, which is something that they would do in the long term.

Transit issues and projects around the Bay Area (including VTA) have been a top priority when I asked Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese after the start of the BRT construction, who is currently in the running for San Jose Mayor while still maintaining position at the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). I also encountered Chris Lepe, who is the community planner for TransForm and transit advocate for riders in the South Bay. Lepe had no comment at that time, although I most recently encountered him on the main campus at San Jose State University (SJSU). Lepe's office is less than a block from SJSU.

As VTA said on the major projects including both the Integration Study and on the light rail projects, VTA plans a major overhaul of the light rail system, which may also include permanently closing the existing Evelyn station. I have saw what is going on in terms of all the light rail projects that VTA was posting on social media and on their website. VTA plans to extend the light rail express line to an all-day service from mornings to evenings (maybe late nights as well), but I still questioned whether VTA will continue to expand service to also include weekends and holidays while including the same headway alignment as BART currently does at all times. I have long known that VTA is making changes to also change the southernmost final destination from Winchester to Almaden, while the Winchester line will then become the "Winchester-St. James" line. That change is one major component in VTA's big "Levi's Stadium" and "BART Integration Study" plan. But to make the plan work correctly, trains headed to/from Almaden will have to time the LR trains a few minutes behind express trains to/from Santa Teresa. This means that the northbound pattern would start with Alum Rock express line, followed by Mountain View and then St. James, while southbound trains would start with the Santa Teresa express line, followed by Almaden and Winchester (based on train times from Convention Center station).

The Integration Study plans has also caught my attention to not only ask VTA, but also AC Transit as well. In early 2014, while I quietly predicted that AC Transit's line 217 (which also runs from Fremont to Milpitas) would remain unchanged for the most part, I also questioned the future of AC Transit's line 801 as VTA's study was in progress, which was at the same time that I also investigated and questioned AC Transit, VTA, Caltrain, SamTrans, and Marin Transit, which took me about a couple of years to figure out my findings and write up my blog on that issue. In a e-mail statement sent to me in early May 2014, AC Transit said,

"We are currently working with VTA on our service integration plan for when the Warm Springs BART Station opens. As of yet, we do not have a plan in place as to whether the 801 will be extended to Warm Springs. It is already a very long route and extending it may be a challenge but we are looking into it."

As for the Caltrain side, VTA was only given a small time frame to complete the light rail extension double-track from Mountain View to Whisman stations so that Caltrain can commence building their electrification project. As of so far, I have yet to hear any news on the progress for both phase one and two. VTA has completed the tracks for storage near Levi's Stadium, but I have heard nothing in regards to if VTA plans to build a pocket track in addition to the second track located next to Mountain View Station, which could supplement regular services to both commuters and special events at Levi's Stadium (see visual figure on this page). The current alignment does not allow 15-minute headways except during weekday commute time. Part of the reason is that the single track would act as a bottleneck, which if one train is moving, the other train waiting at Whisman station in the Mountain View direction would need to wait until the other train has passed by.

The removal of the Evelyn station, despite the closure, would allow light rail trains to move back up to 55 MPH (89 kph) between crossing Central Expressway and the Mountain View Station, something that can barely be achieved between Evelyn and Mountain View. In the current scenario, light rail trains has barely any capability to run 15-minute headways, which as of now, makes transit connections to/from Caltrain very weak at this point.

So the bottom line? The reason why 20-minute headways during evenings and on weekends and holidays have two purposes: first, those are meant only to help with managing VTA's management of funds and to better manage their time on buses. Second, the 20 minutes allow for trains to run up to three or four trains between normal headways during special events at Levi's Stadium. Without those important points for VTA to remember those two basic reasons, combined with Tony Kovaleski's investigation on VTA, VTA's deficit could be in serious jeopardy and who knows when it may happen.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If anyone has something to say, please comment below, send me a tweet, or e-mail me. Offensive language use in any method may result in a removal of your message or comment - therefore, please be considerate.

Original Work: Kyle Chak
Twitter: @KyleSChak
E-Mail: chak595301@gmail.com