Some students find public transit convenient, since parking lots are often crowded during rush hours. Others, such as student Ling Hu, would prefer driving to school.

Hu commutes for two-and-half hours and makes three Valley Transportation Authority exchanges from Fremont to De Anza. “The routes are rare, the waiting time is long, and the bus fare is too expensive,” she said.

Another complaint with the VTA system is that it cancelled some bus routes over the past several months due to “a shortage of personnel,” said VTA General Manager Peter M. Cipolla.

After a one-hour bus ride from Los Altos to campus, Mary Huahuar said she could have spent 30 minutes less on commuting before Line 24 was cancelled. “[VTA] should put more buses [on service],” said Huahuar.

Line 24, which extended between Downtown San Jose and California Avenue Caltrain Station via De Anza College, was terminated this past January.

VTA is currently in the process of recruiting bus drivers and mechanics. “Let’s anticipate … when VTA will bring back the lines and extend more service,” said Pat a VTA Information Service Representative.

Another schedule change will affect De Anza students beginning this April. Line 54 and Line 55 will increase its weekday service frequency from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes, Pat said.

ALTRANS provides alternative transportation solutions. It encourages taking public transit, carpooling, and riding bicycles.

“We help people finding their routes to school,” said Elizabeth Olsen, an ALTRANS outreach assistant who works at the service desk in the lower level of the Hinson Campus Center. She refers to VTA bus routes or safe bike routes.

According to an ALTRANS brouchure, a bicycle is much less expensive to maintain than a automobile. It says, “A car costs about 33 cents per mile to maintain, a bicycle costs only four cents per mile.”

ALTRANS also assists commuters in finding a carpool partner. It can be done in written requests or online matching.

“It was a shame when one of my neighbors and I found out at the end of a semester that we both went to West Valley College with a similar schedule but didn’t carpool.” said Olsen.

She said that carpooling could have saved her gasoline expenses and the time commuting on Highway 85.

According to the Web site of another carpooling service, called RIDES, Santa Clara County residents have the second-highest drive-alone rate in Bay Area.

De Anza carpools are difficult to organize, the Web site says. It also says that those who drive alone have an increasingly more difficult time commuting than those who use public transportation or carpools.

According to Carmen van Gastel the Transportation Demand Management assistant coordinator for De Anza, ALTRANS is trying to put a new program for De Anza students. She said that the program will include the ECO Pass from VTA and several other items at a very will be working with the student government in the near future.

According to the Web site, commute distances among Santa Clara County residents have increased very slowly, while the average commute time has increased from 22.9 minutes in 1993-1994 to 29.3 minutes in 2000. The average miles per hour has dropped by five, from 34.3 to 29.1.

The bus fare of an adult is $1.25 for a single ride or $39.00 for a monthly flash pass. San Jose State University offers flash passes to its students as part of their tuition. De Anza College is yet to have any similar plan with the VTA.

Currently the bus routes that reach De Anza College are Line 23, Line 25, Line 53, Line 54, and Line 55, connecting campus to Downtown San Jose, East San Jose, West Valley College, Sunnyvale, and more.

For more information, contact VTA information service at 408-321-2300 or at http://www.vta.org. Contact ALTRANS at 408-258-7267 or at http://altrans.org.

http://www.vta.org

http://altrans.org