Attention Evergreen Valley College students, faculty, and staff! There are many students at Evergreen Valley College that take night classes as much as 4 days a week and are desperate to have bus 42 available at night time as late as 10pm to be able to have bus transportation to get home in a smoother, accessible, and faster way. 

Unfortunately, EVC has not been able to have bus 42 available till 10pm because the last time that bus 42 picks up students at EVC is at 6pm, which is not beneficial to students taking night classes past 6pm because they are forced to take bus 31 causing their bus ride to have multiple transfers (up to 4-5 transfers) and arrive at home as late as midnight. For example, a student has reported many times that their ride home from EVC till their Morgan Hill home requires 3 buses and 1 light rail to get home. This student would take bus 31 till Eastridge Transit Center, take bus 522 to go to downtown San Jose on 1st street & Santa Clara, take blue line VTA light rail till Santa Teresa Station, and finally take bus 68 to go to Morgan Hill. This student’s bus ride should not have to be so complicated because if bus 42 was available till 10pm, then this student would have less transfers in their bus ride as well as other students that live in Morgan Hill or Gilroy.

Another student has reported that they have to take 4 buses at night to get to their home in San Jose on Story Rd due to not having bus 42 available past 6pm. Overall, the lack of bus 42 not only affects students that live in Morgan Hill/Gilroy (outside of San Jose), but also students that live in San Jose. Students do not deserve to have very complicated bus rides at night time because bus transportation until 10pm needs to be available to students taking night classes, if EVC wants to have night classes. Not all students have a car because they can’t afford to buy a car, can’t drive, or don’t feel safe to drive at night. Having bus 42 available till 10pm will allow students to feel more safer and assured that they will have a smooth ride home. 

Many students, especially female students, have reported not feeling safe at night taking multiple buses because there are a lot of homeless and drunk people on the buses, especially in downtown San Jose. One student reported that a drunk guy was trying to talk to her and she was so terrified that she ran away, but the drunk guy kept following her. 

Another negative impact of not having bus 42 available until 10pm is that students are then forced to take Uber/Lyft 4 times a week, which is extremely expensive for a college student’s budget because they cannot afford to spend more than $200+ a week just for transportation due to not having bus 42 available until 10pm. Students also have to have money to be able to pay for their tuition, books, food, housing, basic needs, and other college fees. If students keep having to spend hundreds of dollars a week on Uber/Lyft transportation due to not having bus 42 available till 10pm, then students are not going to be able to afford their education and basic living needs expenses due to having to spend so much money on transportation. In other words, when students are not financially stable, then they are less likely to succeed in their education because they constantly have to worry about having money to pay for transportation instead of being able to study calmly without having to worry about how to pay for transportation.

If bus 42 does not become available till 10pm at EVC, then students will have a lack of safety at night getting home, lack of transportation options, pay more for transportation through Uber/Lyft, and have more complicated bus rides at night. However, extending bus 42 hours at EVC till 10pm will solve all of these problems because students will feel more safer not having to take multiple buses at night, have more transportation options, and spend less money on transportation. 

I’m kindly asking the Financial Aid Office and the Associated Student Government (ASG) at Evergreen Valley College to please allocate transportation grants that could be used for students that need money for Uber/Lyft transportation when buses are not available at EVC. Although the Financial Aid Office has done a great job at allocating grants such as the FifteenforFree grant and many other grants to help students pay for textbooks and school supplies, they can help students pay for their Uber/Lyft transportation by either giving them Uber/Lyft gift cards that would last them the entire semester or give out transportation grants to help students pay for Uber/Lyft. I’m also asking the people that are in charge of Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) transportation for Evergreen Valley College to please work with VTA to persuade them to have bus 42 pick up students from Evergreen Valley College and take them all the way till Santa Teresa Station. 

It is important that students at Evergreen Valley College use their voices by signing this petition to extend bus service for bus 42 till 10pm at EVC to take students to Santa Teresa Station because this issue has been going on for a very long time and students deserve to have accessible transportation options! Please sign this petition to extend bus 42 hours till 10pm on Monday-Fridays at EVC and to take students to Santa Teresa Station. Your signatures will help me make a positive impact at Evergreen Valley College to provide better bus transportation availability to all students! 

Also, please no donations because we just want your support by signing this petition!