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The local transit company, VTA, which is gradually becoming known for its inefficiency even by US standards, did an unusually wideranging revamp of its "service" starting on the 28th. In advance they took out full-page ads in every local newspaper, and ran announcements on the moving strips inside the buses that give the date and time and the next stop. They plastered the bus stops on Mathilda, the main artery through central Sunnyvale, saying service would be withdrawn: they shut down the little bus that ran north-south every hour, carrying a steady trickle of people to and from apartment complexes and things like the library. They had originally intended to stop night service on the 22, their one reasonably reliable and frequent bus through the valley (also known as a mobile homeless shelter), but I and others managed to get that change removed from the plan by making them realize that, duh, riders use those buses. The one good change that could be discerned is that now to take the light rail from Mountain View to the Great Maul in Milpitas (pretty much the only reason to take the light rail in the valley) will no longer require changing lines and backtracking. The light rail runs agonizingly slow, and instead of going along El Camino as apparently requested by pretty much everyone outside San Jose when it was planned, it loops languidly through north Sunnyvale and north Santa Clara, stopping at what were utterly unused stations when I first moved here, where there were once Lockheed buildings; "transit villages" of townhouses and condominiums with little parks have now been built at these, but ridership is still low; people can make better time on a bicycle.
What they didn't announce anywhere was that the express bus on the 22 route, the 522 (well, its route diverges in far east San Jose to accommodate people who live on the edge of a freeway) would be changing its stops; I think they've also been reduced. It still stops in two places I can get to from work by beating the feet, but it no longer stops anywhere I can reasonably get to on my way to work. (The closest are about 25 minutes' walk away.) Since there are more express than non-express buses, this means I'm going to be regularly late home, and puts me in a real bind getting to work: if I miss the one 22 that arrives in time for me to not be late, the poor housemate is going to need to drive me to work, and one night of my work week, she plays some wretched game after work. There was no announcement of this change; on Saturday night I and a gentleman who always takes the 522 were both at our usual stop when the bus came barreling along on the inside lane; I actually leapt out into the middle of El Camino trying to flag it down, and it proceeded to run a yellow light in contempt.
What they didn't announce anywhere was that the express bus on the 22 route, the 522 (well, its route diverges in far east San Jose to accommodate people who live on the edge of a freeway) would be changing its stops; I think they've also been reduced. It still stops in two places I can get to from work by beating the feet, but it no longer stops anywhere I can reasonably get to on my way to work. (The closest are about 25 minutes' walk away.) Since there are more express than non-express buses, this means I'm going to be regularly late home, and puts me in a real bind getting to work: if I miss the one 22 that arrives in time for me to not be late, the poor housemate is going to need to drive me to work, and one night of my work week, she plays some wretched game after work. There was no announcement of this change; on Saturday night I and a gentleman who always takes the 522 were both at our usual stop when the bus came barreling along on the inside lane; I actually leapt out into the middle of El Camino trying to flag it down, and it proceeded to run a yellow light in contempt.