Valley Rapid’s El Camino project would provide enhanced limited stop rapid transit service along 17.4 miles from Palo Alto to San Jose along one of the busiest corridors on the Peninsula: El Camino Real. Enhanced service through the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and San José, would improve the existing 522 Rapid service and still retain the local Route 22 service. The busway would continue to Eastridge Transit Center, under the Santa Clara-Alum Rock Transit Improvement Project.
The El Camino Valley Rapid service would include the following features:
- Special Vehicles – Equipped with green technology and comfortable, modern interiors.
- Enhanced Stations – Offering attractive shelters, passenger amenities and advanced features.
- Dedicated Lanes in some segments – The BRT vehicles would travel in dedicated median busway, separated from traffic to improve travel time. Segments most likely to have dedicated BRT lanes are under study.
- Transit Signal Priority – Traffic signals stay green as the vehicle approaches the intersection for faster travel time.
- High-Tech Communications – ‘Up-to-the-minute’ information through electronic message signs at stations and wireless capabilities.
- Rapid Boarding – Ticket machines and all-door boarding means faster stops
- Fast, Frequent, Reliable –BRT operating headways of 10 and 15 minutes are being studied, while local 22 would operate every 15 minutes.
Service would be provided at 15 stations:
- Palo Alto Transit Center
- California
- Arastradero
- Showers/San Antonio
- Castro
- Bernardo
- Hollenbeck/Mathilda/Sunnyvale
- Fair Oaks
- Wolfe
- Lawrence
- Kiely
- Scott
- Santa Clara Transit Center
- Taylor/Naglee
- Race/Julian
Project Schedule
| Conceptual Engineering | May 2010-May 2012 |
| Environmental Studies | October 2011–November 2012 |
| Draft Environmental Document | May 2012 |
| VTA Board Approves Environmental Document | December 2012 |
| FTA Approval for Preliminary Engineering | December 2011 |
| Project Agreements with Cities | January 2013–January 2014 |
| Preliminary Engineering | June 2012–August 2013 |
| Vehicle Procurement (under Santa Clara – Alum Rock project) | July 2011–July 2013 |
| Final Design | September 2013–September 2014 |
| Construction | January 2015–June 2016 |
| First Day Service | July 1, 2016 |
Project Cost and Funding
The 2009 VTA BRT Strategic Plan estimated the cost for the El Camino BRT to be $216 million (2008 dollars), with $8.7 million secured thus far through the Measure A Transit Improvement Program. VTA also plans to seek funding through FTA’s Small Starts Program.
Parking Inventory and Occupancy Survey
Policy Advisory Board Presentations
March 2011 Presentation
What is BRT? (PDF)
Lane Configurations and Santa Clara Photosimulation (PDF)
Project Goals (PDF)
May 2011 Presentation
Adopt Project Goals, Ridership, Parking, Traffic, Land Use, Mountain View and Palo Alto Photosimulations (PDF)
