Transportation
I have chaired the Valley Transportation Authority Policy Advisory Committee for two years and gained great insight into the challenges with regards to cost, consumer appetite for mass transit, and destination availability of transit in the area. My VTA Policy Advisory Committee tenure was during the devastating shooting at the VTA yard, and I quietly worked to protect workers from further threats while chairing one of the committee meetings: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/12/31/man-who-made-shooting-threat-during-vta-meeting-gets-probation/ As an engineer trained in transportation solutions, seeing the high value lucrative contracts for transit systems have, makes it imperative that we are not swayed by solutions looking for problems but by solid and provable data.
Silicon Valley Hopper:
I supported the expansion of Via to Silicon Valley Hopper which connects us with Santa Clara now. If you haven’t had a ride in the Hopper, which has wheelchair access vehicles, you can sign up here. Students, seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-income riders enjoy a special lower fare of just $1.75.
SV Hopper expansion was brought to the residents of Cupertino and Santa Clara through a collaborative grant funding award between the cities and fills a local need. While we are looking to expand into other cities, the current grant is expected to keep the system going through 2027, and this subsidized ride sharing will need to have ongoing funding determined.
Situated between two major freeways which serve to bring in commuters from the east to job centers northwest of us, while being a jobs center in our own right, provides us with some unique challenges. I support regional solutions which provide Cupertino with improvements which Measure B promised, collaboration with tech giants, and a more creative synthesis of ideas for future transit. Complete streets, Vision Zero, and electrification of vehicles help make our transit corridors safer and healthier. Plans for improvements have been started again and again, with no solid direction. In fact, with tech companies providing their own bus systems, we have moved further from having a public regional transit system. Meaningful synthesis of existing and future transit plans, with all of the stakeholders, is needed to form a concrete framework for the future.
