The city is talking about $500 million for a new freeway offramp, but a local bus service that could eliminate the need for a tiny fraction of the cost is going to fail because of lack of funding?

If there is such a demand for a service the public is ready to pay for, why isn't the council asking VTA to look into a regular bus route serving those destinations?

Whenever those in government ask, "What problem should we be solving?", and "Who should we be solving a problem for?", a little light bulb goes on near my head, and I wonder, "Can private enterprises use their own capital to try to figure these problems out, rather than have taxpayers footing the bill?" Especially if we're talking about automobiles, and not trains (which are quite a bit harder for private enterprises to build, compared to setting up a shuttle bus route).

I'd bet Google doesn't own the buses serving its campuses. Perhaps the city might work a deal with Bauer, or some other company that can run an efficient bus line.

i completed the survey and our only interest in a shuttle was for a ride from Mountain View High after school, so students could get to downtown area without having to walk the long stretch from MVHS to Grant or make bus changes, since there is more walking to get home once they get near downtown. We have work conflicts for pick-ups and also find Grant is VERY congested.

Wait.. what is VTA for? Why is Mountain View even thinking about getting into the transit business? The county already has a transit agency. Shouldn't the city work with the county on something like this?

Could it be that people don't really want to take buses? Even if we call it a shuttle.. people know it's really still a bus.

A shuttle is really important if the city wants to allow more density in the San Antonio Change Area. If there is gridlock, a distinct possibility here, then all the wonderful new retail, office and/or residential development will be a negative, not a positive for the city. Every possible avenue for reducing vehicles in the area need to be used.

reducing traffic is very important to the residents. Shuttle could help with the traffic problem.

Daniel left off a very important part of Abe-Koga's quote regarding Google. She said the ask was made "about 5 years ago". The way the article is written alludes to the ask being made more recently.

A lot has changed in 5 years. Going back and posing a question on partnership again shouldn't be out of the question.

VTA and the City of Mtn View should work on a plan that is high tech, sleek efficent shuttles. Could a better design and layout of seating to deal with the privacy issue.

if the city council members and employees steal less from our taxes, there is money to run 100+ shuttles in our city for many years. What we have is a system where the local govt is spending too much on themselves and leaving almost nothing for the people who are paying these millions in property taxes,sales taxes...

The city should stay out of the shuttle business. Actually it should stay out of running any type of business. If Google ran there company like the government governs, then they would have failed a long time ago.

We have bus system like Otto said, if we need more, then they need to step up, not the city run it's own bus system. Lets just spend spend spend, the tax payers will pay for it. Right?

Save some money on the animal shelter, turn around and try to spend it all on some bus

We have 2 Caltrain stations to start, we have 2 major office parks. Idea is to blend VTA and a local easy to ride shuttle. Start planning, look at certain routes and the cost. Sell, Market and get riders.

It is well known that VTA is not taking public transit very seriously in the north part of the county, with the exception of El Cam and a few other destinations.

For Palo Alto residents needing to get to Foothill College, as an example, VTA is poor as most of the buses are full at popular times and all PA residents need to get to MV to take a bus to Foothill.

Getting shuttles that run in Mountain View is a good idea, but why not have MV/PA shuttles rather than the two cities having their own?
The invisible line between the two cities is quite unrealistic when it comes to trying to get people where they want to go.

VTA provides service where it gets used. They cut service in Palo Alto because ridership was so low. They kept some of the routes used by Gunn High students but it took some intense lobbying. If Mountain View can convince VTA that they can fill buses, VTA will give it a trial. Otherwise, forget it.

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