Regarding the proposed shuttle service, three major omission in coverage where it is needed the most are the Senior Center, the MV Public Library, and Springer Rd, none of which have VTA service.

Palo Alto is also proposing new shuttle routes. The most ridiculous idea is that there is a Berlin Wall between Mountain View and Palo Alto and residents don't want to travel between them. What nonsense. Why on earth can't the two cities work together. Palo Alto residents want to get to Kaiser on Castro, Mountain View residents want to get to PAMF, and how can this happen on the proposed routes.

Also, shuttles are best for routine, regular trips, commutes in other words. I doubt very much if someone deciding to meet a friend for lunch is going to think shuttle. Instead, think students getting to school or Foothill, Seniors with routine appointments or activities.

But please, stop thinking piecemeal and start cooperating with neighbors. We aren't living on islands, but in a region.

The article touches that the route is too long and too indirect. So much should be obvious to anyone looking at it!
My advice would be to *drastically* cut the route into a short loop or even back and forth, and connect the stuff that has the highest chance of attracting riders. Less is more, because frequency and directness really matter - if a rider has to look at the timetable to figure out whether or not to use this, you've already lost.
If you need a good model for this, please see the City of Boulder, Colorado. They started such a city bus service years ago with a loop
that ran frequently. Then, they expanded it over time with additional
connections. Because they focused on a small network initially, the buses come frequent enough that you can just walk to a stop and wait.
Web Link
I think the first ones were the HOP and the SKIP. Look where they go (the mall, university, downtown, along Broadway which is the main drag of the city). Look how often they run.
This isn't rocket science but it matters how you start it. Please don't repeat VTA (it goes no where while stopping everywhere - time to the airport can take longer than your flight so it's useless in practice).
PS: Not saying where I live, it's not relevant. I'm not lobbying to be on the route since I'm OK with biking and driving. But if you can help out seniors and students and so on with this - that's a good cause. Thanks.

Link to a bigger map:
Web Link
I would propose a shuttle from El Camino/Sylvan to San Antonio via Evelyn/Villa/California.

@PA Resident The VTA buses on El Camino offer great service between Palo Alto and Mountain View. Both local and express buses come every 15 minutes. PAMF in Palo Alto is directly on the line, Kaiser in Mountain View is a 7 minute walk.

Shuttles like this one and the Stanford Marguerite are intended to augment VTA bus service. Combining the two together offers the most options.

@oldabelincoiln Do you realize the Mountain View Library is directly behind City Hall where this new shuttle is slated to stop? It's a very short walk, closer than most mall parking. The VTA 51 & 52 also run on Castro with a stop at City Hall and the VTA 34 & 35 run on California a block as well.

As for the Senior Center, the VTA 34 serves it on its run from San Antonio Shopping Center to downtown. I've heard it's popular.

If you're expecting to be dropped off directly in front of every destination and not a short walk away, you'll be disappointed by any public transit.

Some very good suggestions above.

When I looked at the map, my initial reaction was bewilderment at this convoluted route! Why not just run a Google bus up and down major streets:

El Camino
California
Evelyn
Middlefield
Grant
Castro/Whisman
Miramonte/Shoreline
Rengstorff
San Antonio

Google can *probably* afford to send several of their mini-busses to go up and down the major streets of MV.

And while I appreciate the idea that shuttles should extend and not duplicate VTA, it's difficult to even consider taking the bus when it's significantly cheaper and faster to drive. But a free or even a $1 shuttle? Yes I'd LOVE to walk a couple (or more) blocks to jump on and off a quick and inexpensive shuttle.

Janet Lafleur

I agree that these destinations are near VTA bus routes, but people do not always live within a 7 minute or couple of blocks walk of VTA. If you want to help Palo Alto residents to get to Kaiser on Castro, or Mountain View residents to PAMF, then they need to be able to get a bus/shuttle from nearer to their homes. For those who live east of the Caltrain tracks, walking across those tracks is also a barrier for some. Smaller community shuttles make a lot more sense than the VTA.

@PA Resident You originally complained that community shuttles weren't good enough because they did not allow movement between cities. I said that VTA offers connections between cities. Now you say small community shuttles are better.

What do you want, a community shuttle with a loop that goes between Palo Alto and Mountain View? That's a really big loop.

Janet

Thanks for your response. I do want community shuttles, but I don't want them to stop at the borders of towns. We are not islands and we cross from town to town all the time.

There are many people who live too far from VTA and if we are going to have shuttles then these shuttles should not be city by city. Mountain View and Palo Alto should be looking together to provide shuttles, not just acting alone.

Surveying people, particularly seniors who may not want to drive but feel that they have no choice, and finding out where they need to go on a regular or semi regular basis makes a lot more sense to me than trying to encourage people to use the shuttle for lunch or movies. People are much more likely to use a shuttle for a morning at a senior center, a class at a community center or a weekly trip to a library, than they are for a once off activity. If they have medical appointments they usually know about them in advance and they are other types of reasons for possibly using a shuttle, particularly as they usually frequent the same place for these appointments.

And when I said small community shuttle, I was referring to the size of the vehicle not the size of the loop.

@PA Resident
You can dream about the free municipal public transportation that covers the whole Bay Area, but the article is about 4 pretty small shuttle buses that are offered by Google for free and what optimal route for these buses would be in Mountain View.

Who are these actually supposed to serve? The proposal is that they end at 6 on weekdays and 8 on weekends. No one can go to downtown for dinner if there's no way back. Almost every adult will be working during the times this shuttle is proposed to be active. Waiting half an hour plus trip time plus errand time is more time off in the middle of the day than most people can swing. At commute times, waiting half an hour is still not even remotely valuable. What's the use case?

@Madeline Bernard
As was noted in the article, they'll serve mostly to senior citizens and students.

Google is providing FOUR little shuttles? I saw twice that many large luxury busses within 5 minutes yesterday evening. These small and large corporate busses are everywhere! I would think that with all their Billions that these companies could contribute a little more to their communities. No, they don't HAVE to, but it would certainly be easy and hugely beneficial if they CHOSE to do so.