Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is reasserting its commitment to improving the speed of transit with a new policy that calls for something that hasn’t been done before: ask cities throughout Santa Clara County to put transit first.
VTA will ask cities to adopt their own compatible policies that give transit greater priority and to ensure that future growth will not make transit slower.
Over the past 30 years, Santa Clara County has grown by more than 400,000 people, which has led to increased roadway demand and increased congestion. Over that time transit speeds have declined by about 20 percent resulting in transit service that is less appealing and more expensive for VTA to operate. In some locations, traffic signal timing has been changed in ways that makes transit wait for longer periods, which hurts on-time reliability.
As our county becomes more urban and travel demand increases, we need to think about how to move more people in less space which makes transit a crucial component for mobility.
So how do you make transit faster? The solutions fall into two categories: things VTA can do alone and things that require help from cities.
VTA can make its transit routes straighter and more direct— as is proposed in the new transit service plan—and can lengthen the distance between bus stops so that buses spend less time stopped and more time moving. We’re currently analyzing our frequent network (bus lines that offer more frequent service) to see where stops can be removed or relocated to allow for faster, more reliable service. VTA will also explore ways to make boarding the bus faster, like all-door boarding. And we now allow riders to purchase their fare before boarding the bus right from their cellphone with EZ Fare.
Faster transit requires help from cities because cities control many of the factors that slow buses and trains down like traffic signal timing, how road space is allocated and how cities grow, which affects where congestion occurs. The Transit Speed Policy asks cities to change how they prioritize road space and to focus on moving people instead of cars. That means more green lights for high-capacity, space-efficient modes like transit and bus-only lanes where traffic congestion slows buses down. Making these kinds of changes will mean that cars receive lower priority, perhaps waiting a few more seconds at a red light. But buses can move more people at one time than cars, so efficiency takes a front seat here.
The hope is that this policy will allow us to accommodate future growth without getting bogged down by more congestion. When the amount of service and the appeal of service increases, more people feel inclined to take transit, which is good for moving everyone, transit riders and car drivers alike.
Tamiko Percell is a transportation planner for Santa Clara VTA
