Silicon Valley Transit Users (SVTRU)

Silicon Valley Transit Users

Search the webSearch Our Website

Transit Terminator 2

schwarzenegger_photo

Governor Schwarzenegger has targeted transit riders throughout California in his budget cuts again. (image courtesy flickr.com)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is at it again. A Los Angeles Times story on Christmas Eve revealed that he wants to tap public transit funds to in the state budget like he did last year. It was confirmed in early January that the Governor will divert $1.5 billion total in state public transit funding in an effort to deal with the state's $20 billion deficit. (The proposal defies a State Supreme Court last June ruling transit funding raids illegal.)The result, should the budget pass with the diversion, is more public transit service cuts and fare hikes at transit agencies throughout California.

All this comes as the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) enacted further service reductions January 11.

You are strongly encouraged to contact your State Assemblymembers and State Senators, and let them know how important state public transit funding is for your mobility. Not sure who represents you specifically? Contact the Santa Clara County Registrar's office at (408)299-8683 from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday or go here and click "Look Up Your Districts" to find out who represents you.

In Other News...

Mid-February Compromise

In an 11-5 vote on January 27, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) gave BART until February 16 to comply with Title VI Civil Rights requirements for federal stimulus money for its proposed Oakland Airport Connector project. All three Santa Clara County members of the MTC voted to reaffirm the project with this deadline. SVTRU joined other groups throughout the Bay Area to try to get MTC to use the $70 million in federal stimulus money for transit operations. More information on this effort can be found here.

Related: Milpitas Post Op-Ed: Government + Labor Unions = No Good | VTA Watch: Don't Mess With (the) FTA

February 4 VTA Board Meeting Audio

Audio from the February 4 VTA Board meeting in San Jose is now available. Highlights from the nearly two-hour long Board meeting include the VTA Board approving its short-range transit plan and applying for up to $120 million in "Jobs for Main Street Act 2010" funding. Listen up here as our group urges VTA to focus its spending on preserving existing transit service throughout the meeting.

Gotta Keep Fighting...

We strongly urge you to contact your representatives in the U.S. Congress and urge them to co-sponsor HR 2746. The bill would allow transit agencies like VTA to use at least 30% of what they receive in federal transit construction (capital) funding for bus and rail operations. U. S. House of Representatives members Zoe Lofgren of San Jose and Jerry McNerney of Morgan Hill are two of the co-sponsors of the bill.

Transition Period

As you can see, we are in the process of changing our name. We are now officially known as the Silicon Valley Transit Users (SVTRU). For now, our web site is still the same. However that will soon change given our new name. Please watch this web site for more details as we roll out our new, more dynamic name.

Other Ways To Follow Us...

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Monitor this page
for changes

it's private

by ChangeDetection

JOIN OUR YAHOO GROUP!
Click to join our mailing list

SAN JOSE/SILICON VALLEY TRANSIT RIDER ALERTS

Powered by Feed2JS

(What's This?)

Please let us know if you are having issues with our RSS feed. NOTE: this RSS feed is unofficial and therefore not affiliated with, nor endorsed by any of the public transit agencies mentioned.

Ride Caltrain?

LATEST CALTRAIN UPDATES
(courtesy of Caltrain Tweets and powered by feed2js and Twitter)

Ride a VTA express bus to or from the Fremont BART station?

LATEST BART SYSTEM UPDATES
(courtesy of BART and powered by feed2js)

More Bay Area Transit News can be found in our Regional Section.

Please call KLIV 1590AM at (408)575-1600 if you experience delays or cancellations on public transit in the South Bay.

WHAT'S REALLY INSIDE VTA

Contacting VTA Board members, management, and staff can be found here.
DIY - Do It Yourself - Complaints and Compliments to VTA Management That Get Results!