The San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) has launched zero-emission battery-electric buses along its Route EPX on Feb. 12, in East Palo Alto, Calif., and at San Bruno Bay Area Rapid Transit.
The new express service will use its zero-emission buses with limited stops in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, the SFO AirTrain, San Bruno and downtown San Francisco.
Route EPX connects passengers with key transit hubs, including Caltrain’s Redwood City Station and adjacent Transit Center, San Bruno BART, SFO AirTrain Station/Rental Car Center and San Francisco Muni Lines in the Financial District.
“This route is the result of a solid partnership between my city, SamTrans and the developers of the Light Tree Apartments,” said East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio Lopez. “Our cooperation helped us secure the necessary funding to make this equitable route become a reality.”
In June 2019, SamTrans, with Eden Housing and the city of East Palo Alto, received the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program award for the Light Tree development in East Palo Alto. For SamTrans, the grant brought in $2.25 million for three new electric buses to help with the eight buses needed to run Route EPX. The Light Tree development is 100 percent affordable housing and transit passes are provided to residents.
“We at SamTrans are in the business of helping people get where they need to go,” said SamTrans Board Chair Marina Fraser. “The EPX is a big step in that direction, connecting south San Mateo County residents to transit systems that cover the entirety of the Bay Area.”
In order to reduce redundancy in the system, SamTrans will discontinue Route 398. Customers can take the new EPX for access to the airport, as well as other replacement options provided by other SamTrans routes.
SamTrans has also made other key changes to its bus service as part of its Reimagine SamTrans initiative.
The ageny's Route ECR, will have weekend frequency increased to every 15 minutes. It was previously every half hour on Saturdays and Sundays. ECR runs the length of San Mateo County, mostly along Highway 82 between Daly City and the Palo Alto Transit Center. The ECR carries nearly a third of all daily SamTrans passengers.
San Mateo County Coastside residents ustilizing Route 110, serving Pacifica and Daly City, will see a weekday frequency increase to every 30 minutes throughout the day.
The full list of service changes can be viewed on SamTrans' website.
