On Jan. 14, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) launched a new plan that provides less expensive service and slightly altered bus routes and schedules.

One of these changes includes a reduction in service for the VTA Route 88 Bus, which brings many Gunn students to and from school. The VTA changed prices from an original general $1.50 for a youth fare, $25 for a monthly youth bus pass and $1.75 for an adult fare to 50 cents, $20 and $1, respectively. The monthly passes are still available for sale in the Student Activity Center (SAC). “I used to ride the [Palo Alto] Shuttle a lot, but now I can just take the bus because it’s a lot cheaper than before,” senior James Lee said.

Now, the Route 88 Bus service only runs one hour before school and after school. The VTA has also added a 40-foot “school tripper” bus in addition to the regular Route 88 20-foot bus. The “school tripper” bus provides extra service during peak hours before and after school and is the only run that goes to and from Louis Road and Fielding instead of along San Antonio Road.

The regular VTA Route 88 bus travels along Charleston and Louis Road, but only to East Meadow, where it continues on Fabian to San Antonio Road to the San Antonio Road train station and Showers Drive transit center.

The VTA agreed to revise the plan and implement new changes in July 2008, because of complaints from several Palo Alto officials. The new plan will include the implementation of a route that circles around the Midtown Shopping Center on Middlefield Road and increased service on the Route 88 bus. “The Jan. 2008 plan only has one bus per day home to the Louis Road stretch from East Meadow to Fielding,” Planning and Transportation Commission member and Gunn parent Arthur Keller explained. “The July 2008 plan has much better before and after school service along the main run, which goes all the way along Louis Road to Oregon Expressway, with more school-tripper routes.”

If the VTA adopts the proposed changes in July, the free Palo Alto Shuttle will no longer serve Gunn. The new changes will bring forth a number of key issues for students.

Keller said that the struggle Palo Alto has recently fought with the VTA over the changes has been worth it. “The VTA will be more responsive to school transit issues, as Palo Alto made clear this is a high priority for us,” Keller said. “Plus, we now have better lines of communication with the VTA.”

The new VTA 88 bus schedule and the free Palo Alto Crosstown Shuttle schedule will remain unchanged through June. Keller encourages students and parents to e-mail him with comments and concerns about the new bus service at 88bus@kellers.org. “This is clearly a work in progress,” Keller said. “Without community involvement and a big effort by city and school district officials, we’d be in a lot worse position now.”