Officials discuss plans for new transportation hub to campus

By Robert Philbrook

City officials from San Jose and Santa Clara met with members of the community in the Williman Room Aug. 28 to hear community input for a proposed Bay Area transportation hub which would be located just outside the university.

During the meeting, organized by the cities of Santa Clara and San Jose and the Valley Transit Authority, officials unveiled their hopes for a new transportation center, to be located in the area around the Santa Clara Caltrain station.The promise of a center like this one would provide essential transportation for the area's businesses and residents.

The plan, which could potentially connect the entire Bay Area, would include a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) line to the East Bay and Oakland and rail service to almost all parts of San Francisco.

However, the plan is still in developmental stages, which will allow citizen input, but also means that there will be no benefits for students for at least 30 years.

Many Santa Clara students rely on public transportation to go off campus for shopping or events. Freshmen are not allowed to have cars on campus.

Junior Jeff Norona would like to attend more sports games in the city using public transportation.

"My friends and I probably went to eight or so Giants games on the Caltrain last spring. I'm sure we would use BART to see NBA games in Oakland if it were available," Norona said.

To ride BART and the Caltrain, passengers pay for their ticket before boarding.

Caltrain has attendants who routinely check the tickets during the trip and provide a uniformed security presence.

BART passengers only have to insert their tickets into turnstile machines before boarding. BART shuttles do not carry attendants on board.

Others were indifferent to BART expansion, some because of past experiences with the service.

"I never take BART. It is dirty and unlike the Caltrain, there are no attendants or security on board," said Caitlin Dunn, a junior. "I rode it from my home in Danville to work in San Francisco last summer and never felt safe."

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the transportation planning agency for nine counties in the Bay Area, spent five months creating the project proposal.

During the meeting, organizers used drew what they hoped the Santa Clara city would resemble in 30 years, to gauge.

Stan Ketchum, planning department project manager from San Jose, stated there would be future opportunities for community and student input this fall, including more workshops.

The project's Web site, www.santaclarasap.com, has not yet listed these events.

Contact Robert Philbrook at rphilbrook@scu.edu.