VTA bus line 34 is proposed to be discontinued. At the VTA Proposed Cost Reduction public meeting I learned that this bus line is the only one servicing that area of Mountain View, where many senior citizens and immigrants live who rely on the bus as their only form of transportation. This line runs between Rengstorff, Middlefield, and Castro streets. The tentative decision to discontinue this bus line is based on ridership that is low relative to other bus lines. However, the lower ridership numbers are almost certainly due to the fact that line 34 is a much shorter route than other bus lines, so it draws from a proportionately smaller population.

A simple solution would be to re-route bus line 32, if only for two or three times during the day, to service this area. The VTA and the Mountain View City Council need to hear from residents on how best to implement the overall reduction plan. The current proposal of simply discontinuing line 34 seems like a huge public safety and ethical--if not legal--problem. Is it acceptable to Mountain View residents that several senior citizen centers in our community are going to lose their only mode of transportation?