VTA 44 (Milpitas BART — McCarthy Ranch via Alder)

rest in peace, 44 bus - you might be missed

44 is the first pre-discontinuation special writeup that I’ve done for this, and hopefully the last (though we know that’s not happening). The 44 is scheduled to be merged with the 47, which is essentially the other half of a Milpitas circulator route, in January 2025. Rest in peace.

I have reviewed the 47 here. I did these two on one trip, as the bus from the 47 becomes the 44 at McCarthy Ranch — no transfer needed!

the route

The 44 is a short, short route. Just 15 minutes from McCarthy Ranch back to Milpitas! We started back out at McCarthy Ranch, going down McCarthy and eventually onto Alder. This side of I-880 is tech business park land, and not suburbia land. It’s a distinct feeling of soullessness! I took this picture on the bus, as the 47 just directly turns into the 44.

We pass by Alder LRT station on our way onto Tasman and Great Mall Pkwy. This is where the extended 47 will terminate, as the remainder of 44 is paralleled by the Orange LRT line.

The other unique portion of this line are the two stops on McCandless, which bring 44 onto Montague. These are not going to be preserved in the new service changes.

in review

This route gets surprising ridership. For just a short shuttle between McCarthy Ranch and Milpitas, three people were riding the whole way on a Sunday, nonetheless. The route is direct, the ridership is respectable, and the places served are important. It runs through more business park hell, but if I took off lots of points each time for business parks, there would not be many good routes in this county.

The frequency is… acceptable, let’s say, for a small suburban circulator route. Every half hour, it’s alright.

It’s fine that this route is gone. It’s essentially just another arm of 47, and it streamlines operations that way, so on and so forth. It is strange, however, that the segment from Alder back to Milpitas is not being preserved. This bus needs to get back to Milpitas either way, and this loop is way, way more effective than having deadheads from Alder back to Milpitas or out-and-backs to Alder.

Furthermore, the service changes plan to cut back service on the 44 branches to weekdays only. This is simply a baffling decision. I rode this on a Sunday evening in January. There were riders the whole way from McCarthy to Milpitas. It’s absolutely the wrong decision to be cutting service back to weekdays only, full stop.

final thoughts

6/10. It’s a fine suburban feeder route into a transit center. Frequency is meh, especially considering it actually gets ridership.

Extend 47 to loop all the way back to Milpitas, you cowards.