Mobility: Public Transit

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Why is this a Climate Smart indicator?

Transportation generates over half of city-wide greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2024 communitywide inventory. Reducing the number of miles driven by cars in San José is key to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.
This is why one of the four key strategies in the 2025 Climate Smart Plan Update is to move to reduce the miles we travel in our vehicles by at least 20%.
More people traveling by public transit would help reduce our transportation emissions by reducing vehicle miles traveled. It would also reduce traffic, air and stormwater pollution and crashes.

What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator?

Completed

Transportation Analysis Policy to shift the focus of developments’ transportation improvements to pedestrian, bicycle and transit facilities (adopted in 2018, updated in 2022)
BART Silicon Valley Phase I (began service in 2020)
Transit First Policy (adopted August 2022)
Hired the City’s first Transportation Demand Management coordinator to manage the City’s existing employee commute programs, such as VTA’s Smart Pass Program, as well as expand and improve the program (2022)
Connect North San José: The North San José Multimodal Transportation Improvement Plan (adopted April 2026)

In Progress / Ongoing

Implementation of the following:
- En Movimiento: A Transportation Plan for East San José
- Promote Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) through implementation of the Envision San José 2040 General Plan and urban village plans
- Connect North San José
Development of the following:
- Diridon Integrated Station Concept plan with regional partners
- Reimagining Santa Clara Street for corridor-level planning that incorporates comprehensive transit priority and complete street elements
Construction of the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC), which will extend light rail approximately 2.4 miles from Capitol Expressway from the Alum Rock Station to the Eastridge Transit Center (expected completion by 2028)
BART Silicon Valley Route Phase II to extend BART regional rail service six miles from the Berryessa/North San José Station into downtown San José (expected 2037)
East San José Mobility Equity Project to support various programs, including a $1.3M Mobility Wallet Pilot for 350 low-income families, school-based bike programs, Viva Calle and Viva Escuela events, workforce development (Promotoras) and electric microtransit planning
Climate Smart Challenge and GoGreen Teams programs for San José residents, which encourage taking transit

Planned

Electric microtransit pilot in East San José (expected 2026)
Diridon Station to Airport Connector, which would use electric, automated transit to carry people across San José and neighboring cities without interruptions from traffic (construction anticipated to begin in 2027)
Mobility hubs along East San Fernando Street, making it easier for people to walk, bike, scoot, or ride transit (expected 2028)

Evaluating

Expanding transit signal priority and other operational improvements along key corridors to improve transit speed and reliability
Expanding mobility hubs, particularly Downtown, to improve transit access and first/last mile connections
Improvements to transit stop amenities and accessibility to enhance rider experience
Coordination with VTA to consolidate underutilized transit stops to make buses run faster

About the data

Sources & Methods

Public transit ridership and total trip data are both derived from Replica. Replica mode share data is generated using a combination of mobile location data, land use information, and travel behavior models to estimate the number of trips taken in San José via various transportation modes (such as public transit) within a given region. The data is calibrated against “ground truth” observations—such as traffic counts, transit ridership, economic activity reports, and other public datasets—to improve accuracy.

Last updated

May 2026

City of San José