"Those three decades have brought major milestones - from the expansion of bus service to the opening of the light rail system in the 1980s and BART SV Phase I extension to Berryessa/North San Jose in 2020, to the forthcoming BART Silicon Valley Phase II extension that will finally connect to San Jose and Santa Clara. Yet, there have also been numerous challenges."
"VTA has dealt with multiple economic downturns, funding shortfalls and service cuts - and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, which drastically reduced ridership nationwide. VTA faced another significant challenge last March: its first labor strike in 30 years. For more than two weeks, buses and light rail were shut down, leaving riders stranded and operators without pay. It was a stark reminder of how essential transit is for our riders and region -"
VTA became the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in 1995 after a merger between the Santa Clara County Transit District and the county's congestion management agency. Public transit in Santa Clara County began when voters approved the transit district in 1972 and the first buses rolled on Jan. 1, 1973. The system expanded from a small county operation into a multimodal network serving hundreds of thousands of riders daily. Milestones include bus service expansion, light rail in the 1980s, BART SV Phase I to Berryessa/North San Jose in 2020, and the forthcoming Phase II to San Jose and Santa Clara. The agency has faced economic downturns, funding shortfalls, service cuts, the COVID-19 ridership collapse, and an 18-day labor strike that shut down service and left operators unpaid. Ridership for fiscal year 2025 exceeded 2024 despite the strike.
Read at San Jose Spotlight
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