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Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is a Special-purpose District responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County , California , United States . HISTORY In 1969, Santa Clara County had three private bus companies, all of which were in serious financial trouble: Peninsula Transit, San Jose City Lines, and Peerless Stages.Charles S. McCaleb, ''Rails, Roads & Runways: The 20-Year Saga of Santa Clara County's Transportation Agency,'' (San Jose: Santa Clara County Transportation Agency, 1994), 12. The California Legislature passed a Santa Clara County Transit District Act in 1969.McCaleb, 12. However, the Act did not supply any funding for the new district, and county voters were reluctant to tax themselves to fund a public bus system. The formation of the Santa Clara County Transit District was rejected in 1969 and 1970 before it was finally approved by county voters on June 6 , 1972 .McCaleb, 12. The SCCTD took over the operations of the three old bus companies on January 1 , 1973 .McCaleb, 12. On September 26 , 1974 , the county Board of Supervisors dissolved the Public Works Department.McCaleb, 16. Non-transit operations went into a new General Services Agency, while transit operations were placed into a new Santa Clara County Transportation Agency.McCaleb, 16. The biggest problem facing SCCTD in its early years was to replace the aging bus fleet it inherited from its predecessors. At first the district bought propane-fueled Twin Coaches from Gillig , but switched to an all-diesel fleet when six buses went up in flames between December 1977 and April 1978.McCaleb, 26. At the time, critics referred to the buses as "rolling propane bombs."McCaleb, 26. On January 1 , 1995 , the SCCTA merged with the county Congestion Management Agency to become the SCVTA. For convenience, the acronym was later shortened to VTA. GOVERNANCE The Santa Clara VTA special district is governed by a 12-member board of directors comprised of:
VTA's current General Manager is Michael Burns, previously the General Manager of San Francisco Muni . TRANSIT SERVICES VTA operates three Light Rail lines, a number of Bus lines, and Paratransit service. Light rail VTA Light Rail Map Alum Rock — Santa Teresa Runs from the Alum Rock Station in East San Jose (or Alum Rock ) to Santa Teresa Station in the Santa Teresa Neighborhood of San Jose, via Milpitas and downtown San Jose. There are 36 stops on this line. In South San Jose, the line operates in the median of California State Route 87 and 85 . Mountain View — Winchester Runs from Downtown Mountain View Station in Mountain View through Sunnyvale , Santa Clara , North San Jose along North First Street, Downtown San Jose, and terminates at the Winchester Station in western Campbell . It has 32 stops, 14 of which are shared with the Alum Rock-Santa Teresa Line. Almaden Shuttle There is a 3-stop spur from the Ohlone/Chyoweth Station to Almaden Station at the Almaden Expressway in the Almaden Valley . The Ohlone/Chynoweth station provides connection to the Alum Rock-Santa Teresa Line. It receives little traffic, even though there is an intermediate stop at the Oakridge Shopping Mall . Light rail vehicles From 1987 until September 2003, the system was served by a fleet of high-floor light rail vehicles built by Urban Transit Development Corporation . In 2002, VTA introduced new Low-floor light rail vehicles by Kinki Sharyo into the fleet. The low-floor vehicles initially operated only on the Tasman West line ( Downtown Mountain View — I-880/Milpitas )because the vehicles' floor height matched the platform height only at that line's stations and was only able to provide level-boarding there. In 2003, after VTA reconstructed platforms along North First Street from the Japantown/Ayer stop northward (with wooden ramps provided for the leading car's front door at all other stations), VTA replaced the entire fleet with low floor light rail vehicles. Major light rail connections
Bus routes in Los Altos Hills ]] VTA operates 82 regularly operating Bus routes as of April 2006. There are many commuter-based services and connections to VTA light rail service and Caltrain stations. VTA also provides express bus service linking BART in Fremont . VTA's longest and most-used bus route is Line 22, which connects Eastridge Shopping Center in East San Jose with the Low Floor New Flyer buses. Line 22, and Rapid Line 522 are currently the only routes that utilize the low-floor articulated New Flyer models. On July 5, 2005, VTA implemented its first rapid bus line along the VTA's busiest corridor. Modeled after the Metro Rapid service in Los Angeles , rapid bus Line 522 follows most of the Line 22 route, and features limited stops, headway based schedules, low floor fleet, and signal priority along El Camino Real. Paratransit Paratransit service is door-to-door shuttle service available to disabled people that meet the requirements of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act . Outreach, a non-profit agency, is the contract paratransit broker for VTA. CONGESTION MANAGEMENT VTA serves as the Congestion Management Agency for Santa Clara County. In that role it makes decisions on what local projects can utilize federal and state funding. In this role, VTA was responsible for several highway projects such as widening portions of US 101 and Interstate 880 within Santa Clara County. SEE ALSO
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