Politics & Government

Rapid Transit Bus Designs, Lane Options Unveiled

Study session details design options for new high-speed bus route

It’s rush hour, you’re stuck in gridlock on El Camino, and suddenly a massive articulated bus comes swooshing past you in its own dedicated lane, whisking commuters through green light after green light.

If the Valley Transportation Authority is successful in implementing its sweeping plan to run these buses between San Jose and Palo Alto, this scenario may become a daily occurrence.

Palo Alto City Manager James Keene sent a staff report Monday to city council detailing a variety of design options for the VTA Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route along El Camino Real in advance of a study session held in council chambers Monday night.

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The BRT project, paid for by VTA’s Measure A Transit Sales tax along with state and federal funds, seeks to improve transit access along El Camino Real by offering rapid buses to and from San Jose and Palo Alto, passing through Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Los Altos and Mountain View.

That corridor is currently served by VTA Local 22 and VTA Rapid 522, which accounts for 20 percent of all of VTA’s daily ridership, according to the report.

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“The current Rapid 522 is the first step to initiating a BRT type of service with limited stops,” the report says, “but lacks the upgraded stations and branded vehicles.”

In addition to the newly branded buses and stations, VTA also wants to install “specialized transit access”—in the form of right-of-way and/or dedicated lanes—throughout the city for the Rapid 522 buses.

The difference between those two options will likely be a major source of debate, since dedicated lanes will require a six-lane setup that will have significant impacts to private property along the city's busiest corridor.

"Staff has expressed concern with the impacts that a dedicated lane would have in the City," the report says, "such as loss of parking, right of way take of private properties and removal of the landscaped medians along El Camino Real."

The other option, a "mixed flow" right-of-way lane, would allow buses to share a lane with cars and would reduce the impact of the project on local properties.

See a .pdf of the full report in the sidebar.


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