VTA Introducing New Limited Stop Line 323 on October 1st

Frequent service and fewer stops

September 24, 2012

San Jose, CA – On October 1st, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) will launch a new bus line that will provide faster and more direct service between De Anza College and Downtown San Jose – introducing Limited Stop 323! Currently, VTA operates Line 23 in this corridor which is the third most used bus service by VTA commuters, carrying 9,800 daily riders or about 10% of VTA’s overall bus ridership. New Limited Stop 323 will supplement Line 23 on weekdays which will relieve the over-crowding experienced by Line 23 passengers. Line 23 will return to a 12-minute service frequency while Line 323 will operate every 15 minutes on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.  

There will be 28 stops that will be spaced out about one-half to a mile apart compared to the 94 total stops on Line 23. Line 323 will continue down Stevens Creek Boulevard to San Carlos instead of detouring to the Valley Fair Transit Center on Forest Avenue.  There will be a 323 bus stop on Stevens Creek conveniently located for easy access of the Valley Fair and Santana Row shopping centers. In addition, the De Anza College stop will be located on the southbound side of Stelling, adjacent to the De Anza parking lot.

With Line 323, VTA is laying the groundwork to accommodate the recent surge of Santa Clara County residents using public transportation.  Line 323 is the first step towards building an effective Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line along San Carlos Avenue and Stevens Creek Boulevard. The benefits of BRT include dedicated lanes that bypass automobile congestion, 10-minute (or faster) frequencies, new stations and vehicles, and faster boarding options. VTA’s Stevens Creek BRT Project is in the planning and early design phase with a delivery date of 2017.

In addition to the launch of Line 323, quarterly service changes will feature bus schedule modifications to further improve system on-time performance, reliability and passenger connectivity to other public transit systems. All service change information can be found on the VTA website at www.vta.org/nbs or by calling VTA’s Customer Service Center.  VTA's Trip Planner powered by Google will have the latest schedule information when the service change takes place on Monday, October 1, 2012. 

For more information on service changes or for a customized trip plan, contact VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300; for the hearing impaired only call (408) 321-2330. You can also log onto www.vta.org and sign-up to receive VTA email updates. Find VTA on Facebook at “SCVTA”, Twitter at “SantaclaraVTA”, and YouTube at www.youtube.com/scvta.