Can we really address traffic problems in the Bay Area?
Is public transportation the solution?
How can we really reduce dependency on driving our cars to work, school, and to shop? Is it realistic to expect that we wait half an hour to an hour for public transportation? How realistic is car pooling with the pandemic. Yet we must recognize that it is unrealistic to expect most residents to suddenly stop driving vehicles. Our policies must be practical, strategic, and based on providing incentives and alternatives rather than simply saying, "Don't drive!"
For many of us, scheduling our trips around traffic hours is a minor inconvenience, but for some they are more significant. I have heard from seniors that they have stopped going altogether to morning exercise classes, even physical therapy, because of the strain of the trip. Other seniors say they have largely stopped going to lunch and activities at their loca Y because of traffic. This is a problem!
We should continue opposing the VTA’s plan to take El Camino Real lanes. There’s no evidence it will increase bus ridership, but even the VTA acknowledges it will divert car traffic onto residential streets.
We must find a way to fund Transportation Demand Management (TDM). But this should come from the businesses whose commuting workers will use it, not from residents’ taxes. Transporting workers to their jobs is an operating cost of business.