SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose’s transit agency, the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority, is proposing the closure of a little-used light rail line as part of a series of budget cuts.
The 2-mile Ohlone/Chynoweth-Almaden branch would be replaced by bus service under the authority’s New Transit Service Plan, which will go before the authority board for approval in May.
The International Railway Journal reports ridership on the branch was an average of 141 weekday passengers at Almaden and 166 at Oakridge, the one intermediate station on the branch.
Other light rail changes will see the Blue Line from Santa Teresa to Alum Rock, via the San Jose city center, cut back to the intermediate station at Baypoint. A new Orange Line service will connect Alum Rock to Mountain View.
The changes are part of a series of 65 cuts to bus and rail service as the agency attempts to reduce a $26 million operating deficit. Ridership on the bus and light rail network fell by 23 percent between 2001 and 2016.
There are I believe MANY problems with transit that are not being addressed. I’m not sure if this is the problem in this case, but the fact that transit needs taxpayer input to cover expenses creates a catch-22. Transit is supposed to provide affordable transportation, yet the increased taxes makes the cost of living higher. So people move farther away where taxes and other expenses are less and then wonder what happened to their inexpensive transit. I think transit needs to be seriously rethought.
Actually Troy, in this case the big reason is an increase in personal vehicle usage…which makes no sense with the traffic problems we have but when you live 1, 2 and 3 hours away from work what other solution is there. Insufficient housing within the city means that workers have to live miles away from their place of employment, and neither the bus lines or light rail lines go to those cities(the growth in the South Valley, from Morgan Hill to Gilroy is substantial, it’s the main reason that China has outstripped Gilroy in growing the most garlic in the world).
@Troy Staten: Is that accurate? LA is also saying Uber and Lyft are stealing riders as well.
The line is only 2 miles long. How does a ticket and timing compare to a 2 mile ride in Uber?
It’s too bad that service is being cut, one of the reasons that ridership has dropped so much is the huge increase in Lyft and Uber drivers and users.