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When Palo Alto officials voted in 2020 to shut down the city’s free shuttle service, their goal was to both save money and to come up with a fresh vision for a program whose best days had passed.
The shuttle, which in its final iteration features two fixed bus routes, was losing ridership even before the pandemic made people rethink public transportation. Each of its last four years saw a decline of usage, with the number of trips dropping from about 150,000 in 2016 to around 100,000 in 2019.
The city’s replacement program, Palo Alto Link, seems to be on a different trajectory. Seen as the modern, nimble alternative to the Palo Alto Shuttle, Palo Alto Link premiered in March 2023 and has seen solid ridership since then, said Nathan Baird, a transportation planning manager in the city’s Office of Transportation. Composed of six Tesla electric vehicles and three Toyota Sienna hybrids, Palo Alto Link is the city’s answer to Uber and Lyft, except it’s far cheaper and it doesn’t extend beyond the city’s borders.
According to data from the Office of Transportation, Palo Alto Link saw 3,011 riders in its first month of existence and 4,647 in February 2024. Its busiest month was August 2023, when there were 5,348 riders.
Most users share a vehicle with other riders, according to Baird. The program has been averaging about 3.1 riders per vehicle service hour, up from 2.7 riders per hour when the program began. The busiest time for the service is in its first and last hours of daily operations, he said, which often increases wait times for users.
“We’ve steadily been eking out good efficiency, but you have the decrease in service quality in the 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. hours,” Baird said.
Yet despite these promising figures, Palo Alto Link is now at a crossroads and its fate is uncertain. So far, the program has been fueled by a $2 million grant from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority that is set to expire in October. The funding has been critical for the city’s efforts to keep fares well below those of other rideshare options. It costs most people $3.50 to use the service. For seniors, low-income individual people with disabilities and youths, the fare is $1.
The loss of grant funding creates a quandary for the city council, which will have to figure out in the next two months whether to keep the service running on the city’s dime or to pull the plug. That question will ultimately be answered in June, when the council adopts its budget for the next year.
During its April 1 discussion, most council members indicated that they favor keeping the service in place, though it may look different in its next iteration. One option proposed by staff would extend its hours, which are currently limited to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Chief Transportation Official Philip Kamhi said that as part of an effort to support Caltrain commuters, the city could expand these hours to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“We’re thinking a lot about that connection to transit as well as part of the service expansion,” Kamhi told the council.
While the VTA is footing most of the bill, Palo Alto Link has also been receiving a monthly $31,000 contribution from Stanford Research Park in exchange for fare-free rides for employees. Kamhi said that as part of an effort to retain the service, staff is talking to Palo Alto Unified School District and Stanford Shopping Center to gauge interest in similar partnerships.
While the response from the community has been generally positive — the average rating from riders is 4.8 out of 5 — it’s not clear whether popularity will be enough to save the program. Council member Pat Burt said the challenge is to take a program that has been paid for by other agencies and make it sustainable.
“It’s pretty easy to see that if you give something away that’s of significant value and you give it away for virtually free, people will like that,” said Burt, who as chair of the council’s Finance Committee will have a leading role in shaping the program’s future. “That’s not a hard deal — to come up with ways to have people like what you give them.”
Most of his colleagues were bullish about the future of Palo Alto Link. While council member Greg Tanaka wondered why the city can’t just partner with an existing rideshare provider, everyone else supported not just keeping the service but growing it.
Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims lauded Palo Alto Link for helping people like her mother, who she said was one of the first people who used the service. She lauded the fact that residents can order the service via phone calls as well as through an app, which helps seniors who may be less comfortable with technology.
Now, Lythcott-Haims wants to direct the service toward another demographic: local youth. Last month, the city began to offer teenagers free rides on Palo Alto Link to specific destinations, including the Mitchell Park Community Center, allcove Palo Alto, Cubberley Community Center and all public libraries. As the city considers the program’s future, Lythcott-Haims suggested extending it to later hours or even to the weekend to accommodate teenagers.
Mayor Greer Stone was also open to the idea of having more Palo Alto Link hours for local youth, particularly on Friday nights or even Saturdays. He encouraged staff to partner with the school district to offer subsidized rides to local students and suggested that the city should do more to promote the city’s recent effort to connect teenagers to popular local destinations.
“It’s a great service. It’s a wonderful program,” Stone said. “When I’m out and talking to people about it, they’re very excited about it. But I’m concerned that not many know that they have free access.”
Correction: The original story listed an incorrect dollar amount when describing Stanford Research Park’s contribution to Palo Alto Link.
The old program had 100,000 riders and that was considered a reason to shut it down. This new program had a peak of 5,000 riders and that is considered a success? What am I missing here?
Maybe there is a perception issue that the bus/shuttle is not a dignified way to get around?
@AllenE, you’re conflating annual and monthly rider statistics.
In its final year the Cross-Town Shuttle had 39,377 riders, with an average of 3,938 riders per month.
In comparison, in its first year, Palo Alto Link had 50,219 riders, which averages to 4,185 riders per month.
These statistics are from the staff report, available at: https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/api/compilemeetingattachmenthistory/historyattachment/?historyId=09bba5e6-a558-4d2e-97b4-1b5f08143f40
It appears valid however to consider the cost per ride between these two services. I can see the city’s costs for the cross-town shuttle but I don’t know if there were additional funding contributions from outside the city that would affect these numbers. Based only on the city’s funding, in its final year, the cross-town shuttle rides cost about $380K/39K riders = $9.65/rider, whereas in Feb 2024 (for which detailed costs were provided including VTA grant, SRP funding and fares) the average total cost was $30.27/rider. So there’s possibly as much as a 3x difference in price per ride between the Shuttle and Link.
However the Shuttle was on fixed routes and schedules, whereas Link is point-to-point and on-demand, which has a better potential to serve more users, especially those with mobility issues that can’t get to the fixed shuttle stops.
Thanks for doing the math! Very useful to lay it all out!!!
Thank you.
The Link has been fabulous for my children to use as a commute option to school and it feels safe given it isn’t a ride share service and run by the city. Realize that it needs to be fiscally sensible. Maybe there is some pricing flexibility to pass on to users. For e.g. it was made free for teens recently; buses aren’t free, then what was the rationale for making it free? Maybe some fixed routes with a “monthly” pass during busy hours – which eliminates the capacity issues during the early morning and later in the day hours. Love the idea of extending the times they are available. Fingers crossed that it is lasts.
I don’t understand why the city isn’t looking at contracting with Lyft and Uber. Without the multi-million dollar grant, the program doesn’t work, and even with it, it this the best use of VTA money? Moreover, PA Link has limited hours and long wait times during key hours.
Many cities have contracted for the same service. For a city that normally requires competitive bidding and extensive analysis, I don’t understand why staff and the council aren’t exploring this alternative, particularly given the fiscal cliff they face with the grant ending.
Palo Alto Link has employees that can be vetted, they use marked electric vehicles that meet a certain standard. Uber and Lyft would be less trusted by parents to let their kids go across town by themselves. Link is a more closed system, if you will, and is less of a liability risk. As Julie LH pointed out, the elderly can access Link using telephones, too.
Point to point, using technology to combine rides, and efficient electric vehicles that remain within city limits, is more efficient energywise than the shuttle and more useful for residents. It’s fantastic for the elderly for whom a shuttle becomes too difficult because they can’t manage long walks on either end.
As a human being, I prefer a model where employees drive Link vehicles and get paid a decent wage, and we don’t make money off less wealthy individuals by using vehicles they bought themselves and where they don’t even necessarily make minimum wage.
Maybe VTA should add more bus service to our city so we don’t need this service.
Able bodied folks , Kids and teens can walk a bit to catch the bus or cycle improving their mental and physical health.
Seniors also enjoy taking the bus and for those that require more mobility aid we get a proper paratransit service with trained individuals.
How much do you use the bus? I hate using the bus. Link is far better, and it makes clean transit possible for many people who do not fit your utopian ideal that ignores the disabled and the poor state of our city’s sidewalks, etc. Around 20% of the population has a mobility problem, which includes far more people than would need or qualify for paratransit.
That said, Link could get people from their homes to the train or to the bus that goes right to the airport so they don’t have to take their cars.
“I don’t understand why the city isn’t looking at contracting with Lyft and Uber. ”
Aside from union and other labor issues, that would be a terrible idea. Lyft and Uber drivers are paid by the ride and drive dangerously fast to get to the next fare. Link drivers are not paid by the rider miles and are much better drivers because they are not rushing as fast as possible. They have also learned Palo Alto very well by now, which helps them to be better and safer drivers.
VTA cut bus service in Palo Alto because it wasn’t used. It makes more sense to me for VTA to subsidize Link than to drive empty buses around town. I have used Link more times than I ever used VTA and City shuttle buses put together.
Not enough data points for my liking. Even if teens are using it is it helping with the school commutes? The old shuttles were useful for school commutes and they were full of students using them on a regular basis. Gunn has a bus route, basically Paly does not have good public transit options.
As for the timing of the shuttles, it may get people to where they are going during the day, but if they get delayed they will have to Uber home. Also the Link is only for Palo Alto which is fine, but doesn’t help with those who live close and want to get here for medical or shopping. Weekend use could be worth investigating, but how about asking riders rather than council members?
Another data point, are people using these for Caltrain connections? Getting home from Caltrain station after a ballgame or theater in the City is not easy without someone meeting the train with a car.
Bring back the VTA buses.
As a child and teenager growing up in Palo Alto in the 70’s and 80’s, we took the bus everywhere. School, Stanford shopping center, mayfield mall, San Antonio shopping center. Difference was Palo Alto had many more bus lines than now. County Transit (the old name for VTA) had Bus lines that served all the residential areas within a couple blocks.
Unfortunately once they started cutting service, ridership declined, routes were eliminated and ridership declined further, creating a downward spiral.
Palo Alto needs to return to more fixed route bus lines with frequent service.
This is the only way to reduce traffic and improve the quality of life in the city, and help reduce pollution and global warming.
Electric Cars and ride share are not a viable alternative, from a Cost or efficiency option. They are expensive and wasteful.
Amen!!!!
I can’t say I was impressed with this service.
First time I used it was to go to an appointment at PAMF. I had a broken foot, on crutches and it was pouring rain.
First. The driver literally did loops around downtown picking up and dropping people off. When I asked about timing he said I should use Uber or Lyft if I have appointments. What? Isn’t that what this service us for?
Second. The driver ran 2 stop signs.
Third. He dropped me off in front of Whole Foods and made me crutch with a broken foot in the pouring rain under the underpass and through the PAMF campus. He refused to take me to the main entrance.
When I called and wrote to complain, not one person responded to me.
Never used it again and never will!
This is a great program when someone else (the VTA) is paying for it. If we keep it and are paying for it as a city, let’s add means testing. I’m all for subsidizing public transport for truly needy people, but honestly that does not include most Palo Alto residents — they can pay for their own Uber/Lyft.
Seniors, youth, and low income pay minimal fares. Charge the 18-64 year olds $15. It will reduce the overall subsidy requried and you may need fewer cars because working adults may decide to take Uber or Lyft.
I used PA link for the first time to go to SFO the other day, and I loved it. They picked me up from my home, and it took me less than 10mns to get to Caltrain on University ave. From then, the train/Bart ride was a breeze, and it took me less than an hour door-to-door. A fantastic and green alternative to Uber/Lyft. I hope we find a way to keep the program afloat. Perhaps a partnership with an autonomous driving company ?
I never understood why you have to walk several blocks to get picked up, and then they drop you off several blocks from your destination. I emailed them this question and they never replied. And yes as Tanaka asked, why can’t they just subcontract Uber? I guess not all questions have answers…