A critical issue not mentioned here: is that Palo Alto, the heart of the Silicon Valley, is unfortunately at the edge of two transit zones/counties: SamTrans and ValleyTransit.
This means buses in Palo Alto coming from the north, terminate there. It means buses coming from the south also terminate there!
And it means Palo Alto is not even reached by ValleyTransit's light rail, while SamTrans has no light rail.
In other words the increasingly central node between San Jose and San Francisco, is also one of the least centrally connected.
With SamTrans focused on how to bring commuters to San Francisco from San Mateo county suburbia, and ValleyTransit focused on how to bring suburban Santa Clara county residents to downtown San Jose: both systems lack an overall peninsular focus that ought to recognize the increasing prominence the peninsula has in terms of the job market! Too bad.
This means buses in Palo Alto coming from the north, terminate there. It means buses coming from the south also terminate there!
And it means Palo Alto is not even reached by ValleyTransit's light rail, while SamTrans has no light rail.
In other words the increasingly central node between San Jose and San Francisco, is also one of the least centrally connected.
With SamTrans focused on how to bring commuters to San Francisco from San Mateo county suburbia, and ValleyTransit focused on how to bring suburban Santa Clara county residents to downtown San Jose: both systems lack an overall peninsular focus that ought to recognize the increasing prominence the peninsula has in terms of the job market! Too bad.