San Jose CA 16 May 2012 Manager, Hwy. 237 Express Lanes Project 3331 N.

1st Street San Jose CA 95134-1927

95125

Dear Manager of the Hwy. 237 Express Lanes Project : I was surprised when I first heard at a Board of Directors meeting earlier this year that the Express Lanes restrictions (of having to be a carpool or pay a toll) would only be in effect during certain hours of the day. I believe Single-Occupant Vehicles (SOVs) should not be able to use these lanes for free during off-hours; in other words, I believe the Express Lanes restrictions should be in effect 24/7. As you probably know, during most of these off-hours, traffic in all lanes here, including the General-Purpose lanes, is free-flowing. When this is the case, implementing the Express Lanes restrictions would not affect the free-flowing nature of this traffic. In other words, the SOVs do not need the Express Lanes to remain free-flowing. Therefore, putting the restrictions in place would certainly do no harm. Plus, it would probably provide a little bit of toll revenue (from the SOVs who choose to pay the probably-low toll rate during these hours); every little bit helps (it may be a cliche, but it's true). Furthermore, during the rare cases when traffic in all lanes is not free-flowing outside of the certain hours that have been chosen, putting the restrictions in effect would provide the same incentives as during those certain hours (for example, the incentive to be a carpool). And I believe it would provide the same benefits as during those certain hours (for example, increasing throughput, as you pointed out at the 3 May 2012 Board of Directors meeting, and providing toll revenue). Also, this could happen more often than you think : currently, it would usually be when there is a collision in the General-Purpose lanes; but in the future, it would probably also be after (and maybe even before) a 49ers game at the team's future stadium in Santa Clara. So I believe you have missed a golden opportunity to retrain drivers to observe restrictions on these lanes 24/7; this opportunity passed when you converted the Diamond Lanes into Express Lanes by implementing the toll feature for SOVs. It would have done no harm; plus it would have provided the benefits I mentioned above. Despite this golden opportunity being missed, I still believe the Express Lanes restrictions should be put in effect 24/7 (to provide the benefits listed above, and to avoid cases with disputes over whether it is the certain hours mentioned above). These benefits will only increase as the days pass by. I will conclude by asking when you plan to put these restrictions in effect 24/7.

Sincerely, Michael Ludwig CC : either Greta Helm or Patrick Griffin VTA Board of Directors G.M. Michael Burns