An old woman with head down slowly pushed her walker across the light rail tracks mid-block in downtown San Jose. A bicyclist ambled down the middle of the trolley line. A driver pulled out of a parking garage across the tracks with only a slight tapping of brakes.

These are everyday occurrences through the downtown area, forcing trolleys to slow to 7.5 mph — among the lowest speeds in a downtown area anywhere in the country. Now the Valley Transportation Authority is launching a $900,000, six-month pilot project to speed up the trains and erect barriers to funnel pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers to certain areas for crossing.

“We won’t convince commuters to leave their cars for transit if I’m still able to outrace light rail downtown on my niece’s tricycle,” said San Jose mayor and VTA chairman Sam Liccardo.

The pilot project will be along Second Street between San Fernando and San Carlos where sharp turns, stations close to each other and numerous traffic signals all contribute to slowdowns. The maximum operating speed for light rail downtown is 10 mph.



The VTA will test railings and street lights to delineate the sidewalk from the track. The railings will have breaks for driveways and the Paseo de San Antonio crossing. The agency will also include crosswalk improvements and better warning signals for vehicles entering and exiting the Pavilion Garage.

In the last eight years there have been 125 incidents where street crossings abound between the Children’s Discovery Museum and Tasman involving VTA light rail and a person, bicycle, automobile or other object. This number may include a range of incidents, such as cars making illegal left turns in front of a train, or trains coming into contact with stationary objects.

Pedestrians and light rail vehicles downtown share the wide transit mall that contains the tracks, a median walkway on the platform-side, trees, lighting and a sidewalk between the rails and businesses. People can dart from the sidewalks across the rail lines almost anywhere.

“I see people run across tracks at the Gish station all the time,” said James Wightman of San Jose, who spoke at a recent VTA board meeting.

The VTA previously proposed double tracking on First Street and constructing a subway below downtown. But that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to complete, so the agency is considering near-term, lower cost and lower impact improvements.

In August it will begin a North First Street speed and safety analysis between the Interstate 880 ramps and Tasman Drive, looking at the installation of adaptive pedestrian signal technology and other train related signal improvements.

“When we survey both riders and non-riders, one of the primary comments is public transit speed,” said VTA spokesperson Holly Perez. “Faster service through areas like downtown can not only make public transit a more attractive alternative to those who are otherwise sitting in traffic, but can help preserve our current riders, allow us to operate more efficiently and provide an attractive mobility option for anyone getting around Santa Clara County.”

In 2010, VTA took a first crack at faster service, running trains that skipped six stops from Santa Teresa to the Discovery Museum in the median of Highway 87. But average weekday ridership dipped to 29,262 in 2017, down from 34,935 in two years and slow speeds are a common gripe.

If the pilot project is successful, changes could be made on both First and Second streets between Devine and San Carlos streets.

Follow Gary at Twitter.com/mrroadshow, look for him at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.