When a connection is not really a connection …
Sometimes I get the impression, that things just haven’t been thought through - a token effort might have been made to provide a certain service, but it just doesn’t go as far as it should.
One example of this that I was able to experience first hand on a recent trip to Emeryville is the VTA-Amtrak connection at the Santa Clara/Great America Amtrak station. At that location, the VTA Light Rail line from Mountain View to Downtown San Jose crosses right over the Union Pacific rail line on Tasman Boulevard. The Amtrak station is located right below the road overpass (in fact, the bridge also serves as the only availabe protection from rain or sun at this station). There is even a staircase that leads right down to the Amtrak platform (no elevator though). So you would think that this is an ideal location for a Light Rail-to-Amtrak connection, right? Well, here’s where the problems start: there is no Light Rail stop at the top of the staircase. The closest Light Rail stop is about a five minute walk away from the staircase, near the next road intersection off the overpass. Not really very convenient …
Posted in: Uncategorized | May 8, 2006 8:31 pm
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