SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose’s transit agency, the Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority, is proposing the closure of a little-used light rail line as part of a series of budget cuts.
The 2-mile Ohlone/Chynoweth-Almaden branch would be replaced by bus service under the authority’s New Transit Service Plan, which will go before the authority board for approval in May.
The International Railway Journal reports ridership on the branch was an average of 141 weekday passengers at Almaden and 166 at Oakridge, the one intermediate station on the branch.
Other light rail changes will see the Blue Line from Santa Teresa to Alum Rock, via the San Jose city center, cut back to the intermediate station at Baypoint. A new Orange Line service will connect Alum Rock to Mountain View.
The changes are part of a series of 65 cuts to bus and rail service as the agency attempts to reduce a $26 million operating deficit. Ridership on the bus and light rail network fell by 23 percent between 2001 and 2016.
