VTA's annual report fro 2014 highlights accomplishments and looks ahead to 2015.

1. On the Right Track

2. Throughout all

3. This past year has been
one of the most exciting
ever for the Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Authority.
From hitting the halfway point in
construction of the BART Silicon Valley
Berryessa Extension to providing inaugural
service to the new Levi’s®
Stadium, VTA
has tackled big challenges and has realized
big successes.
At the beginning of the year, the VTA Board of
Directors established five priorities which have
guided our actions throughout 2014, and while we
have made significant progress on these priorities, there
is still more to do.
Throughout all we have done this year, the themes of
innovation and imagination have taken precedence. We
have endeavored to think holistically and organically about
the transportation network in Santa Clara County and how we
can make it even better. Through thinking
differently, being nimble and challenging
ourselves and our stakeholders, we are
working to develop solutions that make the
best of the assets we have and wisely plan
for the future.
This report will take a look at the major
accomplishments of VTA in 2014, the
progress we have made and the steps
we still need to take. We will also provide
a snapshot of the financial condition of
the organization, new endeavors we have
undertaken, and look at those we plan to
undertake to determine how our future
meshes with the future of Silicon Valley.
Join us on the ride to make getting around
our county better than ever!
Be safe,
we have done this year, the themes of innovation and imagination have taken precedence.
On the Right Track
Nuria I. Fernandez
VTA General Manager/CEO
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4. Financials
VTA is a responsible steward of the public’s
money – you wouldn’t expect anything less
and neither would we.
As of November 2014, the latest numbers before this
publication, VTA’s revenues and expenses were holding
steady. There is always some fluctuation throughout the year,
but we are on track to meet our budget targets, and maybe
even do a little better than we expected.
We have managed to hold
our expenditures steady, even
while rolling out new buses to
meet service demands and improve
the rider experience. New to the
fleet are 38 new hybrid diesel-electric
community buses, and 40 new 40-foot
low-floor buses, 20 of those with Wi-Fi for
popular Express Bus service.
As transportation funding at the federal and state levels wanes, we continue to
seek other opportunities to generate revenues that could fund transit and capital
improvements.
We are on track to
meet our budget
targets, and maybe
even do a little
better than we
expected.
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5. Bus & Light Rail Operations
$272.2M
ADA Paratransit Operations
$15.7M
Debt Service
$17.8M
Commuter Rail and Other
Contracted Services $11.8M
General Administration
$29.3M
Finance and Budget
$10.4M
Public Affairs and Marketing
$7.7M
Before Reimbursements*
Passenger Fares
$35.6M
1976 Half-Cent Sales Tax
$175.9M
Transportation Development
Act (TDA) $82.4M
2000 Measure A Sales Tax-
Operating Assistance $32.5M
State Transit Assistance (STA)
$12.6M
Federal Operating Grants
Expenses
*Note: does not reflect Engineering and Transportation Infrastructure Development or Planning and Program Development
Division expenses which are funded through capital programs, grants, federal, state, local and other funds.
Revenue
Sources
ADA Paratransit Operations
$15.7M
Debt Service
$17.8M
Commuter Rail and Other
Contracted Services $11.8M
General Administration
$29.3M
Finance and Budget
$10.4M
Public Affairs and Marketing
$7.7M
Passenger Fares
$35.6M
1976 Half-Cent Sales Tax
$175.9M
Transportation Development
Act (TDA) $82.4M
2000 Measure A Sales Tax-
Operating Assistance $32.5M
State Transit Assistance (STA)
$12.6M
Federal Operating Grants
$17.5M
Other Revenue
$16.8M
Expenses
*Note: does not reflect Engineering and Transportation Infrastructure Development or Planning and Program Development
Division expenses which are funded through capital programs, grants, federal, state, local and other funds.
Revenue
Sources
2014 Financial Picture
This data reflects calendar year 2014 through November 30th
actual Revenues and Expenditures for the VTA Transit
Operating Fund.
Financial Highlight:
Sales tax based revenues through
November 2014 were $19.8M or 7.3%
higher than the previous year.
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Financial Highlights:
Operating Revenues through November 2014 were
$12.1M or 3.3%higher than budgeted.
Operating Expenditures through November 2014
were $5.5M or 1.6%lower than budgeted.

6. Safety
VTA has always made the safety of its passengers, employees
and infrastructure a priority, and this year, we have made some
organizational changes to facilitate our focus on safety:
• Established a Director of Safety and Security position, reporting
directly to the General Manager/CEO and responsible for all VTA
safety, security and risk management functions.
• Consolidated all security functions under the Sheriff’s Office
Transit Patrol, including contracted Protective Services and
VTA’s Fare Enforcement team.
We have increased our safety awareness efforts in the
community, with outreach to schools, residences and
businesses near our light rail system. Efforts include
disseminating safety materials and educating
students on safe behaviors riding our system
and around our light rail tracks. We have
also partnered with school districts to raise
awareness about safety near our tracks.
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7. VTA’s 2014 Priorities
RIDERSHIP
VTA’S BART SILICON VALLEY EXTENSION
BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE VTA
BUS RAPID TRANSIT
LEVI’S STADIUM
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8. Up
1.3%
Up
12%
Up
17%
System
wide
Express
Bus
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Weekend
Light Rail

9. Ridership
It’s no secret that in Silicon Valley, the automobile reigns supreme!
But we are working tirelessly to modify behavior and have a self-
imposed goal of improving ridership by 10 percent in 5 years.
We have made significant inroads this year alone on this endeavor. Our ridership
systemwide has experienced a 1.3 percent increase, with a total of 483,183 more
boardings in 2014 than in 2013. Although there is still a long way to go, we have developed
a combined marketing and operations strategy aimed at achieving increased ridership and an
improved fare box recovery.
Here are a few examples of actions we are taking:
Partnering with large employers to be their choice for the Bay Area Commuter Benefit Program,
which requires them to offer their employees a benefit for using alternatives to driving;
Increasing our outreach to Millennials, a generation known for their preference for
public transportation;
Expanding and aligning our service to accommodate ridership demand; and
Evaluating our service to refine it where necessary, to make public transportation a more attractive
commuting option.

10. VTA’s BART Silicon
Valley Extension
We have reached the halfway
mark on construction of the first
phase of the BART Silicon Valley
Extension, which brings the regional
rail line to the Berryessa neighborhood
of San José.
We also reached a number of milestones
associated with the project. These include the
opening of Warren Avenue after a year-long closure
to build a trench for
BART trains to pass
under the roadway, the
completion of the grade
separation at Hostetter
Road, and significant
progress on the foundations
for the two future stations.
This is the largest
public works project
in Santa Clara
County history.

11. This is the largest public works project
in Santa Clara County history, and we
could not have funded it alone. We are
using proceeds from the 2000 Measure A
sales tax, passed by voters who chose
to tax themselves to pay for the project,
as well as state and federal money.
This year, we received a $150 million
allocation from the Federal Transit
Administration New Starts Program, as
well as our last allocation from the state
for $39 million.
Even before we finish Phase I, we
are resuming work on Phase II. We
are engaging with the community
as we prepare the state and federal
environmental documents, an essential
step to qualify for federal funding.
Milpitas Station
View from Montague Expressway
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12. Building an Inclusive VTA
VTA is part of the community, and we
want to make sure the community
has opportunities to participate in our
processes and that we engage in others’
processes so that everyone has a seat
at the table and a voice to influence
the outcomes that will affect us all.
In order to enhance community engagement,
we have reorganized our Community Outreach
department, focusing staff on specific
geographic regions, rather than specific
projects, so they can be a one-stop shop for
information and input for the community.
These representatives are out in force.
Whether holding a meeting for a particular
community or attending a community’s
already-established meeting, they are making
The transportation system in the County belongs to everyone, and
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13. Envision Silicon Valley,
will give us a road map to
follow when planning service
in the future and when possibly
asking the public to support
a tax to fund transportation
improvements.
We also established a Minority and
Women-Owned Business Enterprise
Program that helps ensure that small,
minority-, and women-owned businesses
are afforded an equitable opportunity to
compete on VTA contracts and subcontracts.
The transportation system in the County
belongs to everyone, and enhancing
engagement will result in a system that is
useful and thoughtful.
sure our neighbors and partners know their
faces and can ask them questions or give
them feedback that has been heard.
Silicon Valley is a wellspring of some of
the brightest, most creative minds in the
country. VTA challenged these minds to
develop ways to improve the transportation
experience with our first-ever hackathon,
“Hack My Ride: VTA’s Transportation Idea
Jam.” The event was a success, and we
are now examining the feasibility of the
ideas participants proposed.
We are engaging the minds of stakeholders,
elected officials and Board members as
well in helping us determine where the gaps
in our County’s transportation network are
and how best to fill them. This effort, called
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enhancing engagement will result in a system that is useful and thoughtful.

14. Bus Rapid Transit
This has been a busy year for VTA and for bus rapid transit, the
bus service that is essentially like light rail on rubber tires. VTA
broke ground in March on the first bus rapid transit project
in the Bay Area, to stretch from the Alum Rock area of east
San José to downtown San José by the SAP Center arena.
We also released the draft environmental document on the bus rapid
transit project that is to pick up where the first project leaves off.
Stretching from the SAP Center to Palo Alto, the El Camino Real
Bus Rapid Transit project will begin the implementation of the
Grand Boulevard Initiative, which cities along El Camino Real
have adopted to make the corridor more people-centered
instead of car-centered.
This bus rapid transit project will improve service on
the busiest line in our system; provide faster, more
frequent and more reliable service for everyone
traveling the King’s Highway corridor; and will
accommodate the growth anticipated along
that line, helping to take cars off the road
and thus reduce congestion for everyone.
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This bus rapid transit project will
provide faster, more frequent and
more reliable service.

15. 13
Levi’s Stadium
The San Francisco 49ers
built a new stadium right
alongside VTA’s light rail
line, and VTA is an integral
part of the transportation
network serving the high-
tech stadium.
We knew providing transit service
to this new facility would give us
an opportunity to shine, and after
buffing out some scratchy parts, we
have been able to do so.
In this instance, preparation was
key. We designated a project
manager to plan, coordinate and
oversee front-door transit service
to the stadium; we convened a
committee of members of the
Board of Directors to discuss policy
issues and offer guidance; we
constructed a light rail
pocket track to facilitate
game-day operations and
meet ridership demand
not just from the stadium,
but also from our upcoming
BART Silicon Valley Berryessa
Extension; we even launched a
mobile ticketing app, EventTIK, to
allow riders to purchase their VTA
tickets on their mobile devices.
This preparation, and the delivery of
service itself, is complicated choreography,
and our employees, from operators to fare
staff, from ambassadors to supervisors, have
been able to execute the dance with precision.
We continue to be nimble, refining our plan and
our service based on customer feedback and
observations from employees.

16. Farther Down the Line
VTA has many accomplishments from
2014 to be proud of. However, there is
still much more to do.
The landscape of Silicon Valley keeps changing,
and we need to have systems in place to meet
those changes, which range from planned
higher-density land uses to a projected
significant increase in population to a variety of
one-time events. We are preparing to meet the
challenges and opportunities of the future.
Some of what we are planning for includes:
Phase II of the BART Silicon Valley
Extension
While we are still building Phase I of the BART
Extension, we must plan for Phase II, which will
extend the line farther into Santa Clara County,
connecting it with important destinations,
including the San José Diridon Station, which will
be the largest transit hub in Northern California.
Identifying and securing funding is an ongoing
process that must start early. We hope to enter the
race for federal dollars in 2016, and will continue to
pursue local and state funding where possible.
We also must integrate this new service with
our existing transit system, and our plan for
that should be completed by 2017.
Super Bowl 50
VTA will have a chance to shine once again
with Super Bowl 50 in early 2016. The event
is expected to attract more than 75,000 inside
Levi’s Stadium. Security will be heightened, and
eyes from around the country will be on us.
Even though this is more than a year away,
we have begun preparing now to make
sure we have the right service for this
momentous event.
Future Diridon Station
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We must find the willingness

17. Exploring the Future Through
Technology and Alternative
Services
The world is changing fast, and Silicon
Valley is leading the way. To keep up with
change into the future, we need a world-class
transportation system where new, innovative
options are the norm.
Our charge, then, as we march deeper into the 21st century,
is to develop new ways of moving people, to move past the
20th century fixation on the car and to think of modes that no
one else has thought of before.
We are at the world’s heart of innovation; we have the brainpower to
do it. Now we must find the willingness to move past business-as-usual
and into business-as-never-before. We must adopt new and emerging
technology quickly and apply it to new methods of delivering service and
improving infrastructure, and we must make the best, wisest use of public
dollars to continue to be responsible stewards of the public’s money.
San Francisco’s Bid for the
2024 Olympics
The city of San Francisco is in the running to host
the 2024 Olympics, a great honor for the city
and a great responsibility for the Bay Area. While
the city is still forming its plan, it is expected that
many of the events would take place around
the Bay, including in Santa Clara County.
These Olympics are a decade off, but building
new infrastructure or repairing what we
already have can take time – time to find
funding, as well as time to build and repair.
We need to have this on our radar, and if
the city is successful, we will need to form a
plan to move throngs of sports fans quickly,
efficiently and safely. The international
committee will make its final decision in 2017.
to move past business-as-usual and into business-as-never-before.

18. The Track to the Future
VTA sits on the cusp of something bigger in the
world of transportation.
With younger generations moving away from the car, with
more focus on creating people-centered communities
and with an abundance of brilliant technological and
creative minds in our midst, we have the opportunity
to create transportation that is the envy of the rest
of the world.
This is a great place to live, and with multiple,
competitive transportation options, VTA
stands poised to make it even better.
We look forward to the future with
excitement and encouragement, and
hope that all of Santa Clara County
will join us in creating a future where
transportation forms the basis of
freedom to move and access to
opportunities for success.
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19. 17
2014 VTA Board of Directors
Ash Kalra, Chairperson, City of San Jose
Perry Woodward, Vice Chairperson, City of Gilroy
Xavier Campos, City of San Jose
Rose Herrera, City of San Jose
Johnny Khamis, City of San Jose
Donald Rocha, City of San Jose
Gail A. Price, City of Palo Alto
Rich Larsen, Alternate, Town of Los Altos Hills
Jason Baker, Alternate, City of Campbell
Joe Pirzynski, Town of Los Gatos
Larry Carr, Alternate, City of Morgan Hill
David Whittum, City of Sunnyvale
Jamie L. Matthews, Alternate, City of Santa Clara
Jose Esteves, City of Milpitas
Cindy Chavez, County of Santa Clara
Dave Cortese, Alternate, County of Santa Clara
Ken Yeager, County of Santa Clara
Sam Liccardo, Ex-Officio, MTC
Board of Directors Email: board.secretary@vta.org

20. vta.org
Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Authority
3331 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95134
Administration (408) 321-5555
Customer Service (408) 321-2300