The Caltrain station in downtown Palo Alto serves as a major transfer point between SamTrans (serving San Mateo County to the north), VTA (serving the rest of Santa Clara County to the south), the Dumbarton Express to the East Bay, and the Stanford shuttles. Currently, buses can only access the transit center via University Avenue, which is often congested with car traffic in downtown Palo Alto on the other side of the Caltrain tracks.

For my many years of commuting, due to the usual traffic delays in and out of the transit center, if I missed a bus there, I could walk a short distance to another stop on El Camino and catch the same bus I missed.

When the bus transit center was rebuilt around 2005, there was an opportunity for it to be directly connected to El Camino and Quarry Road via a driveway, but for years, nothing happened. With a direct connection, buses would bypass traffic congestion, saving time for transit riders and bus drivers. Pedestrians and bicyclists on University Avenue would have fewer encounters with transit vehicles making tight turns, creating a safer environment.

However, this November, voters in Palo Alto will decide whether a driveway will finally be constructed through Measure D.

Usually, voters aren’t directly asked to approve individual transit projects, let alone a project as small as this one. The reason it required a ballot measure is that the land the driveway would occupy is technically a part of El Camino Park in the City of Palo Alto (under a long-term lease from Stanford University), and the city charter requires voter approval to undedicate that small portion of undeveloped parkland to build the transit driveway. As part of the driveway project, the protected bike lanes will be installed at the intersection of El Camino and Quarry Road.

So far, this ballot measure has no significant opposition. Some residents in Palo Alto expressed concerns about the loss of parkland and want some kind of replacement, but they have no issue with the driveway itself. The project is mostly funded and should proceed quickly if city voters approve.