Here’s the third and final installment of our latest video series. This one addresses the changes that the El Camino Real BRT project could make to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety and access along the corridor.
An article in the Mercury News earlier this week framed the decision over whether to convert a lane on El Camino Real into a bus-only lane as a choice of who is more important: car drivers or transit users.
Now, this article was flawed on a factual level. The author stated that VTA wants to install bus lanes on El Camino Real in Palo Alto and that the project was being pushed on the cities by VTA. Neither is correct as the commenters astutely pointed out. VTA has proposed that the BRT bus operate in the right lane with cars in Palo Alto like the current 522 Rapid Bus. Also, VTA has been working with the cities since May of 2010 on project design and is asking the cities to vote on whether VTA’s proposal is compatible with how they envision El Camino Real in the future before any changes to the street are pursued. We also object to her characterization of the project as merely a perk to current transit riders without acknowledging the improvements in transit ridership, vehicle miles traveled, greenhouse gas reduction, operating cost savings or the years of collaborative planning that has been put into El Camino Real by the cities of Santa Clara County that supports improving transit.
Besides those points, we’d like to address the underlying assumption of the article, that this project is a zero sum game between car drivers and transit users and that giving a lane to transit would be something that car drivers should take offense over.
Continuing our video rollout…
Many intersections where dedicated lanes are proposed are currently unsignalized. At unsignalized intersections, drivers wishing to turn off of El Camino Real must wait in left turn pockets until oncoming cars have passed and it is safe to make a left turn. With dedicated lanes, the BRT lane would be to the left of the left turn lane, which creates a conflict as vehicles turning left off of El Camino Real could turn in front of a bus approaching from behind. Our latest video explains the options for solving this issue.
As we’ve talked with residents, city staff and elected officials from all six cities, we hear a lot of the same questions and concerns:
What happens to auto traffic?
What happens to left turns on El Camino Real?
What would the project mean for bicyclists and pedestrians?
We’re excited to release a series of videos that answer these questions. First up: traffic. Check back later in the week for left turns and bicyclists and pedestrians.
VTA and Sunnyvale staff collaborated on a presentation about the El Camino Real BRT Project for a joint study session of Sunnyvale’s City Council and Planning Commission last night. The study session was well attended and we were impressed with the level of interest and volume of questions and comments that were received. The study session served as a forum for council members, commissioners and members of the public to share their input on the project. On May 22, the City Council will be asked to take an action on whether to recommend that VTA’s upcoming environmental studies feature a dedicated lane street configuration in Sunnyvale.
There was a lot of interest in the issue of traffic diversion and possibly also some misunderstanding about the effect that traffic diversion would have on other roads in Sunnyvale. Some commenters appeared to be under the impression that the pie charts below represented increases in vehicle volumes on the respective roadways, rather than the destinations for the shares of diverted traffic from El Camino Real. We’d like to use this space to go over the traffic diversion projections and discuss what it means for Sunnyvale.
Throughout the El Camino Real BRT planning process, we’ve been asking city councils, city staff, city commissioners and members of the public what the best balance of uses on El Camino Real is. The topic of on-street parking has brought out especially divergent responses. Some cities see on-street parking on El Camino Real as essential while some cities think it should go. Santa Clara’s council voted to accommodate bicycle lanes on El Camino Real by narrowing the landscaped median instead of removing on-street parking. Sunnyvale has adopted an on-street parking policy that gives preference to mobility uses like bike lanes over stationary uses like parking. Business owners see on-street parking as crucial to their bottom line while cyclists see a wasted opportunity to accommodate a bike lane. So, how important is on-street parking? How much on-street, side street and off-street parking is there? And how much is used? The answers may be surprising…
On Saturday, April 28, VTA staff participated in the walking tour of West San Carlos Street and Bascom Avenue hosted by Greenbelt Alliance and SJSU planning students. VTA staff spoke about the upcoming Stevens Creek Bus Rapid Transit Project, which would add a new BRT service along Stevens Creek Boulevard and San Carlos Street.
There were many questions about what the project would or would not do and some confusion about how all the agencies and neighborhood residents work together to improve the corridor. Additionally, there was some frustration expressed regarding existing neighborhood plans that have gone unrealized due to lack of funding. Due to time limitations, we were unable to answer everyone’s questions so we’d like to use this post to address some of the major themes that arose at the event.
On Tuesday, April 17, the City of Sunnyvale and VTA collaborated on a presentation for two public workshops. The presentation started with VTA’s explanation of bus rapid transit and what VTA is proposing for El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. That was followed by a question and answer session where Sunnyvale staff asked questions and VTA answered. You can download a PDF of the presentation here. Sunnyvale questions are on the green slides, VTA answers are on the white slides.
San Francisco CBS affiliate, KPIX, covered the El Camino Real BRT Project on the December 22 evening news. You can watch the video here.
The video does a good job of explaining the potential changes to El Camino Real in just three minutes, but there are some moments that could use clarification.
There are eight agencies involved in the planning of the El Camino Real Rapid Transit Project. Each agency has different responsibilities and potentially different outlooks on how El Camino Real should operate. In order to proceed with the project, these agencies must decide on a project definition that can be studied in detail through an environmental impact study. So how do you get all eight agencies on the same page?
