{"id":206226,"date":"2026-03-05T22:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206226\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:07:08","slug":"mallon-six-years-later-speeding-up-san-jose-transit-is-finally-paying-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206226\/","title":{"rendered":"Mallon: Six years later, speeding up San Jose transit is finally paying off"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2019, I learned about transit signal priority<\/a> \u2014 a technology that gives buses priority at intersections so they don\u2019t sit at red signals unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

At the time, I was a 22-year-old college student who rode VTA every day and wished the buses would run faster. At the time, there was a lot of discussion in other cities about flashier, more expensive transit speed improvements, such as bus lanes and bus rapid transit. Those didn\u2019t seem politically possible in San Jose at the time, but transit signal priority did. It didn\u2019t take space away from cars, and it seemed like it could be implemented quickly.<\/p>\n

In 2020, I casually mentioned my interest in a \u201ctransit first\u201d policy to San Jose Councilmember Pam Foley and her staff. A few weeks later, she brought forward a policy nomination during San Jose\u2019s annual priority setting<\/a>. The idea was straightforward: If we say we value transit, we should actively prioritize it on our streets.<\/p>\n

In August 2022, the City Council adopted a transit first policy<\/a>. That was a huge moment. But as anyone who\u2019s involved in government knows, passing something is just the beginning. Implementation, coordination, funding and implementing changes like transit signal priority across a city takes time.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re finally seeing all that work and patience pay off. Recently, Mayor Matt Mahan announced San Jose has increased bus speeds<\/a> by about 20% through LYT transit signal priority.<\/p>\n

In 2022, when I wrote that putting transit first could make buses faster<\/a> and more reliable, it was still largely aspirational. Today, those words are measurable. The transit signal priority we discussed in policy memos and council meetings is now helping residents get to where they need to go faster.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s often a lot of doomerism around transit. It\u2019s easy to say buses are too slow, transit doesn\u2019t have enough priority and change won\u2019t happen. But it\u2019s much harder to believe in something. It\u2019s harder to sit through meetings, draft policy language, support policy change and follow up year after year \u2014 and believe that all of that work will someday make a difference. It does.<\/p>\n

Transit didn\u2019t get faster in San Jose overnight. But we started. And because we started and believed that we could put transit first in San Jose, we now have measurable improvements.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one lesson I\u2019ve learned from this, it\u2019s start anyway. Advocate for what you believe in, even if people tell you you\u2019re going to fail. Bring the idea forward, even if you\u2019re only 22 and don\u2019t think anyone will listen.<\/p>\n

Real change often feels slow in the moment. But when you look back six years later, you realize the thing you spoke up for is moving buses faster and your city forward. It\u2019s worth the wait.<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight columnist Monica Mallon is a transit advocate and rider in Santa Clara County. Mallon\u2019s columns appear on the first Thursday of every other month. Contact Mallon at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or follow @MonicaMallon on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2019, I learned about transit signal priority \u2014 a technology that gives buses priority at intersections so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-206226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-san-jose","9":"tag-san-jose-headlines","10":"tag-san-jose-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}