I am so proud of Mtn View for having Pickleball for the seniors. As Monica said, it is much easier than tennis, low impact. The game is played just beyond "the kitchen". You'll like that ladies, no more in the kitchen!!!!

Cheerio eh!!!
Susie-Q

I'm all for watching people sit in summer gridlock in their Mercedes. I'll laugh as I ride by, watching them stew in their own unavoidable mess, trying to seem somewhat enviable in their luxo-laugh-mobile, but failing miserably. They'll be no escape for them. Go BRT!

@Let"em Brun,

And what about the rest of us...you know those of us not driving in a *luxo-laugh-mobile" but maybe driving compact 100% electric cars, or how about the ones shuttling family members to and from chemo appointments or other medical appointments, or whatever other life business folks may need to take care of that puts them on El Camino Real...Do you laugh at their added misery, too because you're just that kind of person?

Nice to know who my neighbors are.

MVResident67, your statement implies that those people driving have a more 'legitimate' or important reason for their trip. It would probably be smart to drop that attitude if you want to actually have a chance at affecting the BRT project. Somehow I don't think you're going to stop commuting based on the idea that your contribution to traffic might be slowing down someone else's need to get to their destination faster.

@Robert, I believe that the residents of Mountain View are the people who will be the most negatively impacted - in numerous ways, every day - if the dedicated lane option is actually implemented here. And, you need not worry about my commuting habit, as it very low impact.

As a long-time resident of Mountain View, I can tell you that many of us are supportive of the bus lane. Development is skyrocketing along El Camino and if we do nothing, then people will not be able to successfully get from one place to another.

The scare tactics from the opposition is ridiculous, although understandable. The area is undergoing growing pains and residents are more and more stressed and fearful. I'm glad to see Mountain View endorsed the project. It gives me hope!

When considering transit options for new development on El Camino Real in Mountain View, consider where we expect people to be headed? Will the new apartments, as expensive as they are, be occupied by people working in Mountain View? Will they shop IN Mountain View?

Well, tell me please, how a dedication of one full lane of traffic just to these new BRT vehicles will help exactly? Were do they go? They only stop at the Whole Foods market and at Castro Street. So if you can walk to Castro Street to catch the BRT vehicle, then it will get you seconds quicker to Whole Foods Market. How many cases like that exist?

What you need to realize is that the vast majority of bus service along El Camino Real will continue to be on the real bus, the 22 route. VTA will not use the dedicated lane for that bus line. Instead it will cut back on the frequency of service on the 22 route. So the new residents of EL Camino Real will see less frequent service on the only bus service they might use to get around within the city up and down El Camino Real. There will be no convenient transit service improvement by these dedicated lanes. Nope, it has nothing to do with new apartments in Mountain View, unless these are occupied by people working in Sunnyvale or somewhere further away where the distance is great enough to make the BRT vehicle useful.

The last poster, "Don't Like It" has a very good point. The limited stop express BRT is more useful for people going longer distances on El Camino. If someone wants to hop on a bus for only a mile, it makes much better sense to take the local. Fortunately, the development is happening all up and down El Camino, so the need for long distance transit is only increasing.

This revelation is neither new nor surprising. If I want to take CalTrain from MV downtown to San Antonio station, I cannot take the Baby Bullet. If I board that train, then it will bypass San Antonio. I would need to wait for a slower train option--limited stop or local. Does that make CalTrain an awful transit service? Not at all. It's just the reality of having express options means that compromises must be made. Stopping at every station reduces wait time for the train, but increases transit time for the passengers.

Fortunately, the bus riders that don't have far to go won't feel much impact from not enjoying the speed of the dedicated lane. They might have to wait a few more minutes for a bus, but they will also have the option to hop on a BRT bus and transfer to a local. This project opens up so many options for riders. It's going to be wonderful!

The difference of course is that for all dozen stops along El Camino Real, for all but two of them, the situation is not only that the "Bullet train" (BRT) never stops, but that VTA plans to seriously reduce the number of times per day that buses do stop at those 10 stops. Cal Train has never cut the frequency of stops at San Antonio in order to add more Bullet Trains, nor would they ever need to.

Neither does VTA need to. VTA is claiming that the BRT service will reduce the demand for the local service they offer at the 10 other stops, and that just makes no sense. The people riding the local stops are doing it because that's what they are looking for. VTA adding BRT service does nothing for these riders, and they are the majority and always will be.

"Cal Train has never cut the frequency of stops at San Antonio in order to add more Bullet Trains, nor would they ever need to."

Actually, this is incorrect. After launching the Baby Bullet service and seeing local train ridership drop, they reduced local and increased Baby Bullet. That impacted San Antonio. So, VTA is forecasting something similar.

There's no magic in what CalTrain did and VTA is doing. They identify the demand and provide a corresponding service. When the service goes live, perfomance data is collected and the service will be optimized.. This is standard practice in private industry.

I don't know why you mention "10 stops." There are MANY other stops on El Camino. The BRT project is meant to provide an efficient public transportation system along El Camino between PA and SJ and not focusing exclusively on travel within MV.

I'm surprised to hear that you are concerned that a slightly lower frequency of 22 buses will impact a great many people. Frankly, it's exhausting to read once again from the BRT opposition that the buses are empty all day long. I can see you are opposed to BRT, but at least you are not re-publishing such an obvious mis-truth. Kudos to you!

We would not be having this discussion if the politicians did what they said they would do; if they followed through on the reasons the majority of voters gave them their trust.

We wanted opposition to designated lanes and that is what they promised, so the people of Mtn. View put them in office. Then they spat on us and jumped into bed with the VTA. Simply disgusting politics and something that needs to be PUNISHED, not rewarded, in order to send a clear message for now and the future of Mtn. View.

To: Head of Mountain View Senior Center.
From: Irina Osenina (member of the Pickle Ball Senior Team)
Dear Sir,

On behalf of all the senior attendees and participants of the Pickle-ball presentation I would like to thank you and to express great gratitude to the couches Monica and John Williams.

The presentation and the training sessions went so well that nobody wanted to leave the courts. It was only because of a sudden rain that everyone had to depart the area that day.

This young sport is rapidly picking up the speed of development and its popularity around the world is growing. It is particularly great for senior citizens as it not as complicated and it helps us to maintain a healthy, active, and positive lifestyle, which is extremely important for people of older age.

Our entire team would like to kindly ask you to dedicate two tennis courts to our team so that we could attend training sessions on regular bases. This sports helps us to feel younger and full of energy and with this we forget about our age.

Thank you very much in advance for your consideration.

Best regards,

Irina Osenina
Pickle Ball Senior Team’s member.

The VTA employees/consultants posting comments will spin any story and engage in any trick to undermine the opposition of rational residents (and commuters) who know that one bus arriving at most every 10 minutes on El Camino (at Castro and Showers in MV) will not get many people where they need or want to go. The VTA should not be surprised when it next tax measure fails - thanks to its stubborn insistence on reserving lanes just for its under-used buses.