TO: TRANSPORTATION AND FROM: Bicycle and Pedestrian
ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE Advisory Committee
SUBJECT: Diridon Station Status Report DATE: 5/19/25
______________________________________________________________________________ Your Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) would like to submit the following comments on the "Diridon Station Status Report":
1. We support our City’s plan for Diridon Station, and we look forward to this project’s completion.
2. Given the new and uncertain budgeting constraints, we ask you to do whatever is needed to ensure that these remain part of this project:
a. Please ensure that key elements of this plan include bike lanes, a shared use path, and ensure that this station’s interaction with adjacent roads favors vulnerable roadways users in alignment with Vision Zero goals. b. If this isn’t being done already, we ask that the “Reimagining Santa Clara Street” initiative be coordinated with VTA on the timeline, construction, and planning of the Diridon Station.
c. Given Diridon Station will connect commuters to AMTRAK, CALTRAIN, and VTA options, and there is local, regional, and statewide support of mode shift, please include bicycle parking facilities to serve the many hundreds of riders now and the thousands of the future.
d. We respectfully request that every effort be made to connect bikeways from our City’s most traveled streets to the Diridon Station, as well as to BART’s new stations, and to existing VTA transit centers—especially those within San José’s East Side and at other underserved areas of San José.
3. Because the Diridon Station is in the heart of San José’s downtown and this station will connect commuters to AMTRAK, CALTRAIN, and VTA transit options, we have a golden opportunity to convert many motorists from stressful bumper-to-bumper work commutes to a greener transportation option that will help our city achieve its Move San José and Climate Smart goals. To do this, the station must be built for people, not for cars.
These comments were appoved unanimously at the May 19th, 2025 BPAC meeting.
Sincerely,
Aarshdeep Kahlon, Chairperson