Mountain View Voice guest opinion
by Lenny Siegel and John McAlister
July 24, 2015
One of the reasons that commuter traffic in Mountain View is such a mess is that public transit doesn’t get people where they need to go. In particular, there is no fixed transit link from either Caltrain or the VTA Light Rail system to North Bayshore, which currently has nearly 25,000 people working there on a normal weekday, even before new offices expected to hold 13,000 or more employees are built. Building housing in or near North Bayshore will help, but it’s not enough.
We propose that the city start designing the Mountain View Monorail, which would zip people the 3 miles from the downtown transit center to the Googleplex and Shoreline Amphitheater, as well as travel 2 miles across Moffett Field from the NASA-Bayshore Light Trail Station to a new Transit Center near the Computer History Museum.
Actually, it doesn’t need to be a monorail. It could be light rail, personal rapid transit, or even hanging buses. We like the monorail image because it suggests an elevated system that would not permanently take away sorely needed traffic lanes. An elevated system could significantly reduce the number of shuttle buses that pass through or park in our neighborhoods, and it could provide much more capacity, compared with shuttles, as area employment increases and Caltrain service expands.
Given the preference of many local commuters to bicycle the last mile to their jobs, the transit vehicles should have room for bikes. Construction costs for an elevated system might be more costly than other approaches, but we wouldn’t need to acquire land and displace existing uses in the already developed areas through which the “trains” would travel. To minimize greenhouse gas emissions, it should be electrically powered.
The Mountain View Monorail would provide express service for rapid connections to and from North Bayshore, but it could also include stations for local service along the way. In fact, one of the reasons we should start planning now is that stations could be designed into new or redeveloping residential developments, so the monorail would serve, rather than disturb, future residents.
The NASA-Bayshore joint station could also include a park-and-ride lot, allowing people who arrive in the area from the south and east to hop on transit without driving the last, congested miles into North Bayshore. It could also provide a more convenient place for Levi Stadium game-goers to park (and take light rail in the other direction). The route through Moffett Field could include a bike path, linking the growing bicycle network near Ellis Street to Moffett, Ames, and North Bayshore.
While the principal function of the quick transit links to North Bayshore would be to get commuters off the roads, it would also allow residents of the new North Bayshore residential neighborhood to visit downtown Mountain View and other local stores and services, without driving. Furthermore, it would provide a commute option for people who will live in North Bayshore but work elsewhere. Any reverse flow during commute hours will make the system more cost-effective.
Though the city would seek funding from county, state, and federal sources, we believe the bulk of the money must come from the companies that generate the need for the transit. Whether it be through a city-imposed commuter tax (by employee count) or donations, it would be worth it for our growing businesses to shift from private shuttles to public transit.
If successful, the Mountain View Monorail might serve as a model for additional lines along Highways 85 and 237, or perhaps across North Bayshore and down San Antonio Road. We need to plan a regional transit system that serves existing commute patterns, not just to make it easier for people to get to work, but also to relieve the overflow traffic that crowds many of our city streets. The Mountain View Monorail would be a great place to start. As companies create plans for new offices in North Bayshore and the city studies how to include housing, it’s time to start considering a transit system to match.
John McAlister is the mayor of Mountain View and Lenny Siegel is a member of the City Council