What is it like? Perpetual transit diabolical math

 You know how they say waking up at 5am to go work out its good for you. Unless you were not planning to do that. 

So, on Tuesday, March 11th Day 2 of the #TransitStrike I woke up at 4A.M ! Frustrated, I stayed in bed and did my duolingo. Thus, at 4:35A.M. I started to fall back to sleep. 

At 5:02AM my alarm went off and I pulled myself up out of bed. I got on my clothes, put my lunch in my backpack, check the weather, got keys, phone and beanie on, double check everything! Then at 5:30AM head out the door. Its dark, there is little to no traffic and I start my hustle. 

To say I sweat is an understatement as I trudged down the variety of corridors during the 19 days and subsequent four days for safety checks it gave me time to think about how public transit became. First off, you have to understand a long time ago the public transit was abundant because not everyone had cars and taking a bus was common. 

Next, you have to understand there are 15 cities that make up Santa Clara County. That is the Santa Clara County Valley Transit Authority customer reason for existence. I would transverse a mere 4 miles to my connection. I would encounter one highway and another corridor or two. I would also witness several other people on bikes, scooters, and their own two feet trying to transverse the terrain. 

I would cross the San Jose Diridon Station at 6:50 A.M. Enough time to catch the train to San Francisco still about 45 miles away. While most people had a commute of 2-10 miles, more than a couple had a commute of over 20 miles for medical. 

The County developed the public transit to build and connect the 15 cities that were distinctly different from the farm lands they grew out of. The public transit was for the workers on those farms, then the printing presses and the cannery and then the schools and the children. Soon an Airport needed service and roads were built. 

This is where Santa Clara County Transit Authority ( V.T.A) should stop they just manage roads but, nope somehow somewhere along the El Camino to the White Road to Monterey Road today's VTA became the Authority that managed both roads and public transit. For a time VTA also managed the railway that would come through the valley until the State and Federal government took over. 

You see there is a lot of land that VTA would manage or own because it was project to be part or near a roadway. If you lived in Santa Clara County when the highway 85/87 freeway was being proposed you would be astonished at the public ignorance of the land owned by a public transit agency that was a shell game for the county. 

Anyway, on my walk I figured out that the VTA will still cut costs and services because they are not getting money from the 100,000 riders. They want the money from all the property owners and tax payers 2.1 Million people. This means businesses have to start lobbying the agency which by the by is not liable for a lot of the accidents that do happen because of their drivers. This means that property owners need to lobby the agency to have protected access for wheelchairs to safely get up and off a sidewalk. This means the elected officials have to direct the agency to think of the better for society. 

It was 2015 that the cracks started to show in the VTA veneer, from mismanaged services to outright theft of funds for programs. The subsequent audits and reviews proved that the agency that is suppose to help people to around the valley that is rich and bright was horribly flawed and worse it was corrupt. 

Today, VTA is struggling to find its footing again because of the renewed SVBART there is a whiff of corruption again and another audit providing that VTA does not have the mental capacity to manage the system or funds. 

So, you can support the union drivers ( by the way they are NOT innocent - many have homes and the leader went on strike without a fully funded strike fund ) for their 18% increase but, you can almost ensure that VTA will cut services this year and the first place is by raising the transit fare to $3. 

This means that Santa Clara Valley County and the 15 cities will get an opportunity to bring in a competitor of sorts the robotaxis. Its not an if but, when the county starts to become a little bit more crowded if just because of an agency can't manage the basic need of moving people from one end of town to the other side of town.