Santa Clara VTA light rail: 25 years later, very low usage
Today’s Mercury News tells the story of how the Santa Clara VTA light rail system has consistently missed ridership targets while costing taxpayers more than expected in subsidies. The system only has 32,000 daily boardings, less than one-quarter of Muni’s light rail boardings – due largely to sprawling land use throughout the region that favors automotive commutes, but also slow speeds through the downtown “transit mall” and suburban lines. This should be a lesson to regional authorities considering where to build mass transit: build where the demand is!
Yeah, well, is it any wonder?
Nobody want’s to ride those ugly cars. They cam from Japan, which
usually produces pretty decent design, but it’s almost as though someone
at VTA said, “Design me the ugliest, most unappealing, uninviting
railcar you can.” Who’d wann ride ’em. Put a couple of PCC’s on the line
and watch ridership go up.
You think I am kidding? And as far as it being a ‘light rail
system’, that’s a load of horseshit. The naked eye will tell you that
the whole thing was built to Deutsche Bahn mainline standards.
Somebody made a bundle.