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VTA Overview
Standard Disclaimer: This information is being
provided by me as a private citizen and is in No way to be
considered to be official VTA information.
This page is intended to briefly describe the
Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). If you want to
see official VTA info. Gohere.
Service Area
The service area for VTA is Santa Clara County, California. Some of the VTA routes also serve areas outside of the county, these include:
Line 22 - Menlo Park (San Mateo County)
Line 76 - Santa Cruz County (barely)
Express 140 - Fremont BART (Alameda County)
Express 141 - Fremont BART (Alameda County)
Express 180 - Fremont BART (Alameda County)
Express 520 - Fremont BART (Alameda County)
Five of the neighboring counties/Transit Agencies also provide
service into Santa Clara County, these include: AC Transit,
SamTrans, San Benito County, Wheels, and SMART (San Joaquin
County). The following Joint Powers Service also cross the
county line: dB Express, Hwy 17 Express, ACE, and Caltrain.
Amtrak also provides Rail and Bus service to San Jose.
History
This is a very brief history of VTA from its founding to the present.
- 1972 - California Legislature Creates the Santa Clara County Transit District (SCCTD), it will take effect Jan. 1, 1973. SCCTD is formed out of several different companies. The main ones were San
Jose City Lines and Peninsula Lines. They also bought out local service from Greyhound and Peerless.
- 1973 - SCCTD Formed.
- 1974 - SCCTD management merged with the Santa Clara County
Public Works department, this creates the Santa Clara County
Transportation Agency (SCCTA). Dial-A-Ride
started throughout county.
- 1974 - Agency adopts "Snail/CT" Logo.
- 1975 - Measure B passes providing SCCTD with a 1/2% Sales Tax for general funding.
- 1987 - Light Rail starts first revenue service.
- 1989 - Loma Prieta Earthquake closes Hwy 17. Emergency bus service is put in place. One of these routes becomes the Hwy 17 Express.
- 1991 - Guadalupe Corridor in full revenue service.
- 1992 - 5% service cuts due to budget shortfall caused by reduced sales tax revenue.
- 1992 - Agency adopts "TA" Logo.
- 1993 - 10% service cuts due to budget shortfall caused by reduced sales tax revenue.
- 1994 - State Legislature passes bill to separate SCCTD from the county by creating a new Board of Directors, to take effect Jan. 1, 1995.
- 1995 - SCCTD Separates from the county.
- 1996 - Usage name changed to Santa Clara Valley Transportation
Authority (VTA). Bill to change legal name dies in the Transportation
Committee of the State Senate.
- 1996 - VTA adopts "Swoop" logo.
- 1997 - VTA begins to expand on service and a fleet expansion.
- 1998 - VTA continues expanding service and fleet expansion. In October the last Dial-A-Ride service is discontinued due to high cost and low productivity.
- 1999 - Temporary closure of Light Rail stations along
Tasman for construction of Tasman Corridor
West. Opening of Tasman West scheduled for December
of 1999.
- 2000 - January 1, legal name of Santa Clara County Transit District changes to Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
- 2000 - Bus route changes associated with opening of Tasman West take effect on January 10, 2000.
Over the years, SCCTD/SCVTA has had the following Directors/General Managers: James T. Potts, James Graebner, James Reading, Larry Reuter, Peter Cipola (current). VTA is currently
unveiling its third logo. The first was the infamous "Snail", then came the "TA", and now the "Swoop". VTA Facilities
The following is a list
of most of the facilities that VTA (SCCTD) has owned, or used, over the years.
- Central Yard - Sunol & W. San Carlos (closed and disposed of (or in process of disposal))
- North Yard - L'Avenida & Macon
- South Yard/Gladys Jackson Yard - San Martin & Murphy (closed and disposed of)
- Agnew Yard/Cerone Yard - Zanker & State Route 237
- Chaboya Yard (Don Pedro Chaboya Station) - 7th, just North of Tully
- Guadalupe Division - San Pedro & Younger (Light Rail)
- Administration Headquarters - N. First & River Oaks
- County Services Center - Berger Dr. & Oakland Road (was rented from the county for administrative offices, not now in use by VTA)
- Bern Ct. - Bern CT& Oakland Road, offices rented for
Security. (No longer rented)
- 1570 Oakland Road - Oakland Rd., just South of Brokaw,
rented office space. (No longer rented)
- Metro Plaza - N. First & Metro, offices rented for
Light Rail Design. (No longer rented)
- Park & Ride Lot - Moorpark & Lawrence Expressway
- Park & Ride Lot - Main & Hale (Morgan Hill)
- Park & Ride Lot - Capitol Ave. & Avenue A (just North of Alum Rock)
- Park & Ride Lot - Almaden Expwy. & Camden (Rented from County Roads Dept. Closed)
- Park & Ride Lot - Camden & Hwy 85
- Park & Ride Lot - Hale & Tilton (Rented from County Roads Dept. Closed)
- Park & Ride Lot - Evelyn & Pioneer (Mountain View)
Fleet
- 50 Light Rail Cars
- 6 Historic Trolleys
- 510+ buses
Basic Service
- Bus Service
- Regular Service Lines: 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17A, 18, 18A, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,
60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 81, 82, 85, 86, 87, 88,88A
- Express Lines: 101, 102, 104, 122, 140, 141, 180, 501, 503, 520, 521
- Limited Stop Lines: 300, 304, 305, 321, 328, 330, 345
- Historic Route Numbers
- Light Rail
- Light Rail Shuttle Routes
- Business Park Shuttle
- Lockheed Shuttle
- Great America Shuttle
- McCarthy Shuttle
- Creekside Shuttle
- Downtown Area Shuttle
- Kaiser Shuttle
- IBM Shuttle
- Old Ironsides Shuttle #1
- Old Ironsides Shuttle #2
- River Oaks Shuttle
- Ace Shuttles
- Mountain View (Shoreline/Fabian)
- Moffett Field
- North Sunnyvale (Lockheed Martin)
- South Sunnyvale (Arques/Kifer)
- North Santa Clara/Great America
- South Santa Clara (Walsh/Scott)
- Milpitas (McCarthy & S. Milpitas Blvd.)
- Special Service
- 49ers Express
- San Jose Arena Shuttle
- Joint Powers Service
Funding
VTA is funded from several sources. Primary funding
comes from a 1/2 sales tax passed by the voters in the mid
1970s. Other sources include Federal, State and Local money.
Approx. 17-18% of funding comes from the farebox and other
local funding sources, such as advertising.
The Snail  Santa Clara County Transit District, commonly called "County Transit". This is the Second version of the Logo. If I can find a
clean version of the original one, I might get it scanned in as well.
TA  Santa Clara County Transportation Agency, commonly called "TA" or "Transportation Agency".
The Swoop  Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, commonly called "VTA". This became official on Dec. 11, 1996.
I don't claim to be good at scanning. But there they are. Source materials of different Size.
1974 SCCTD Routes
Current VTA Organization
Transit Ops.
Service & Operations Planning
Home This page was produced by Eric Rosenberg.
Copyright 1997, 1998 by Eric Rosenberg |
