{"id":14167,"date":"2020-04-17T22:02:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T05:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/14167\/news\/vta-passengers-travel-free-during-coronavirus-quarantine\/"},"modified":"2020-05-11T20:25:40","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T03:25:40","slug":"vta-passengers-travel-free-during-coronavirus-quarantine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/14167\/news\/vta-passengers-travel-free-during-coronavirus-quarantine\/","title":{"rendered":"VTA passengers travel free during coronavirus quarantine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will not collect fares for buses and light rail trains during the coronavirus quarantine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll public transportation is free,\u201d said VTA passenger James Copplen. \u201cIt used to run from 5 a.m. until midnight every 15 minutes, but now it\u2019s 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every half hour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>General light rail service resumed on April 9 after a two-week hiatus. The transit system closed on March 25 after it was discovered that a VTA employee tested positive for COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the light rail, we are not offering weekend service; the buses we still are,\u201d said Ken Blackstone, public information officer for VTA.<\/p>\n<p>VTA recently implemented passenger limits on the different size buses. Twenty passengers are allowed on the 60-foot extra long bus, 14 to 15 passengers on a 40-foot bus and 13 passengers on the 35-foot buses.<\/p>\n<aside>\n    <div class='pullquote sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 sno-animate'>\n                <div class=\"quotebody\">\n                        <div class='largequote'>&ldquo;<\/div>\n                                    <p class='pullquotetext'>We\u2019re encouraging people to adhere to social distancing measures.<\/p>\n                            <p class='quotespeaker'>&mdash; Ken Blackstone, VTA public information officer<\/p>\n                        <div class=\"clear\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<style>\n.sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 {\n    display: flex;\n    float: left;\n    margin: 30px 30px 30px 0;\n    width: 50%;\n    border-color: #212121;\n    border-top-width: 0px;\n    border-right-width: 0px;\n    border-bottom-width: 0px;\n    border-left-width: 0px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 p.pullquotetext,\n.sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 p.quotespeaker {\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 .pullquotepic {\n    width: 33%;\n    margin-left: 25px;\n}\n.sno-story-body .sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 p.pullquotetext {\n    font-size: 22px;\n    line-height: 1.4em;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 .quotebar {\n    background: #cccccc;\n    flex: 0 0 90px;\n    margin-top: -15px;\n    margin-left: -15px;\n    padding-left: 15px;\n    padding-top: 15px;\n    margin-right: 15px;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 .largequote {\n\tcolor: #ffffff;\n}\n.sno-pullquote-6a4a289ac5ed3 .quotebody {\n    width: unset;\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<p>\u201cOnce that limit is reached, if the bus operator came to a bus stop and there was somebody waiting to get on but nobody waiting to get off, then they would not let anybody else on,\u201d Blackstone said.<\/p>\n<p>Excess seats were marked off or rows were tied off to limit the number of passengers on the trains and buses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re encouraging people to adhere to social distancing measures to abide by the county&#8217;s orders that define essential travel,\u201d Blackstone said. \u201cPassengers should follow the CDC guidelines to wear face masks to cover their nose and mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similar measures have been implemented for paratransit with one or two passengers per van.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14172\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14172\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone align right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/covid_vta_7687\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14172\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_VTA_7687.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_VTA_7687.jpg 798w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_VTA_7687-390x475.jpg 390w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_VTA_7687-740x900.jpg 740w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_VTA_7687-768x934.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_VTA_7687-300x365.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14172\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"photocreditinline\">Steve Hill, Contributor<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A bus bridge service is normally offered by VTA when a light rail train is unable to run from one stop to the next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTypically if we shut down light rail, it\u2019s a temporary thing; and we&#8217;ll create a bus bridge to get those passengers around the stoppage,\u201d Blackstone said. \u201cThat was not a service that was going on that we stopped. We just said we&#8217;re not implementing a bus bridge during this shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the VTA website, detailed cleaning of vehicles occurs twice a month in addition to daily cleaning. Drivers are also provided with cleaning supplies to decontaminate buses and trains throughout the day.<\/p>\n<p>VTA will not collect fares until the coronavirus quarantine ends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody wants people to speculate (on when the quarantine will end),\u201d Blackstone said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that nobody knows the answer to.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_14170\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-14170\" style=\"width: 1354px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/panoramicvta_7682\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-14170\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PanoramicVTA_7682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1354\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PanoramicVTA_7682.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PanoramicVTA_7682-475x114.jpg 475w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PanoramicVTA_7682-900x216.jpg 900w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PanoramicVTA_7682-768x184.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/PanoramicVTA_7682-300x72.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1354px) 100vw, 1354px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-14170\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"photocreditinline\">Steve Hill, Contributor<\/span><br \/>A VTA light rail train passes Leigh Street in San Jose on April 16. Trains are running Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. until the coronavirus quarantine ends. Fares are not being collected during this time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will not collect fares for buses and light rail trains during the coronavirus quarantine. \u201cAll public transportation is free,\u201d said VTA passenger James Copplen. \u201cIt used to run from 5 a.m. until midnight every 15 minutes, but now it\u2019s 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every half hour.\u201d General light rail&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[40,869,1086,91,42,1087,93,915,85,118,1085],"staff_name":[591],"class_list":["post-14167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-city-college-times","tag-coronavirus","tag-cover-19","tag-journalism","tag-journalism-program","tag-light-rail-service","tag-san-jose-city-college","tag-shelter-in-place","tag-sjcc","tag-valley-transportation-authority","tag-vta","staff_name-steve-hill"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - 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