light-rail
Blue Line
Accessible Features
Accessible Features
VTA’s transit centers, shelters, and most bus stops are fully accessible. Below is detailed information about accessible features to help you ride with VTA.
Guidance Surface Tiles
- Light Rail Stations have Detectable Warning Surface Tiles on their platforms to warn passengers where the platform edges are.
- Between Car Barriers pylons on the platform edges alert passengers to the spaces between Light Rail cars when they arrive at the stations.
- Directional guidance surface tiles guide passengers with visual disabilities to bus stops, shuttle stops, rail station platforms and crosswalks. They are also used to guide passengers out of a transit center to a crosswalk which will lead them to a major activity center, such as a shopping mall or a college campus. Directional guidance surface tiles are installed at the following transit centers.
- Ohlone-Chynoweth Station
- Palo Alto Caltrain Station
- Penitencia Creek Transit Center
- West Valley Transit Center
- Winchester Transit Center
- Alum Rock Transit Center
- Gilroy Caltrain Station
- Great Mall Transit Center
- Mountain View Station
- Directional tiles are used in conjunction with decision tiles and crosswalk guidance tiles. Decision tiles alert passengers with visual disabilities who use white canes that there is a choice that can be made in the direction they are walking to access a bus stop or a crosswalk.
- Crosswalk guidance tiles, installed in the center of pedestrian crosswalks, guide pedestrians with visual disabilities using white canes across crosswalks at transit centers and provide them with an indication that they are within a vehicular area. These tiles are thicker than directional tiles to withstand the weight of transit vehicles. Crosswalk guidance tiles are installed across the entire crosswalk and terminate at the bottom of the curb ramp.
Bus Ramps
VTA buses are equipped with ramps to make boarding easier for individuals who use mobility devices, or for anyone who may have difficulty negotiating steps. Ramps, and device spaces on buses are maintained at the standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide access for mobility devices.
Kneeling Feature
The buses are equipped with a kneeling feature that allows the front of the bus to lower towards the curb, reducing the distance between the vehicle floor and the curb and easing the first step into the bus.
Priority Seating
All buses and light rail vehicles have a designated seating area for the use of people with disabilities and older adults.
Stop Announcements
Internal announcements provide information to riders and announce upcoming major stops and stations. External announcements are played when the bus or train arrives to identify the route and destination.
Level Boarding
All VTA’s light rail platforms are level to the train, which allows riders to board and exit a light rail train without having to navigating steps.
Elevators, Stairs and Escalators
Eleven light rail station platforms require the use of, elevators, stairs or escalators to access the trains:
- Virginia
- Tamien
- Curtner
- Capitol
- Branham
- Hamilton
- Blossom Hill
- Snell
- Cottle
- Great Mall
- Milpitas
If you find out in advance that an elevator is out of service at the station you want to go to, call VTA’s Customer Service to help to find what transit alternatives are available to you. To check the status of an elevator or escalator operation at a station visit VTA’s Elevator/Escalator Status webpage.
Reporting Inoperability
Passengers who encounter a bus with a lift that is not working should wait for the next bus. If the wait for the next bus is longer than 30 minutes, the driver will request a special lift-equipped van to provide transport. VTA’s new low floor buses have ramps for direct wheelchair boarding.
When an elevator is out-of-service, audio and message text announcements will be broadcast aboard Light Rail vehicles, at light rail stations, and on VTA’s website giving the location of the out-of-service elevator. Passengers who must deboard a train at a station with an out-of-service elevator should let the train’s operator know. The train operator will take steps to deboard you at another station and provide alternative transportation, if needed, to your desired station.
Accessible Features
VTA’s transit centers, shelters, and most bus stops are fully accessible. Below is detailed information about accessible features to help you ride with VTA.
Guidance Surface Tiles
- Light Rail Stations have Detectable Warning Surface Tiles on their platforms to warn passengers where the platform edges are.
- Between Car Barriers pylons on the platform edges alert passengers to the spaces between Light Rail cars when they arrive at the stations.
- Directional guidance surface tiles guide passengers with visual disabilities to bus stops, shuttle stops, rail station platforms and crosswalks. They are also used to guide passengers out of a transit center to a crosswalk which will lead them to a major activity center, such as a shopping mall or a college campus. Directional guidance surface tiles are installed at the following transit centers.
- Ohlone-Chynoweth Station
- Palo Alto Caltrain Station
- Penitencia Creek Transit Center
- West Valley Transit Center
- Winchester Transit Center
- Alum Rock Transit Center
- Gilroy Caltrain Station
- Great Mall Transit Center
- Mountain View Station
- Directional tiles are used in conjunction with decision tiles and crosswalk guidance tiles. Decision tiles alert passengers with visual disabilities who use white canes that there is a choice that can be made in the direction they are walking to access a bus stop or a crosswalk.
- Crosswalk guidance tiles, installed in the center of pedestrian crosswalks, guide pedestrians with visual disabilities using white canes across crosswalks at transit centers and provide them with an indication that they are within a vehicular area. These tiles are thicker than directional tiles to withstand the weight of transit vehicles. Crosswalk guidance tiles are installed across the entire crosswalk and terminate at the bottom of the curb ramp.
Bus Ramps
VTA buses are equipped with ramps to make boarding easier for individuals who use mobility devices, or for anyone who may have difficulty negotiating steps. Ramps, and device spaces on buses are maintained at the standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide access for mobility devices.
Kneeling Feature
The buses are equipped with a kneeling feature that allows the front of the bus to lower towards the curb, reducing the distance between the vehicle floor and the curb and easing the first step into the bus.
Priority Seating
All buses and light rail vehicles have a designated seating area for the use of people with disabilities and older adults.
Stop Announcements
Internal announcements provide information to riders and announce upcoming major stops and stations. External announcements are played when the bus or train arrives to identify the route and destination.
Level Boarding
All VTA’s light rail platforms are level to the train, which allows riders to board and exit a light rail train without having to navigating steps.
Elevators, Stairs and Escalators
Eleven light rail station platforms require the use of, elevators, stairs or escalators to access the trains:
- Virginia
- Tamien
- Curtner
- Capitol
- Branham
- Hamilton
- Blossom Hill
- Snell
- Cottle
- Great Mall
- Milpitas
If you find out in advance that an elevator is out of service at the station you want to go to, call VTA’s Customer Service to help to find what transit alternatives are available to you. To check the status of an elevator or escalator operation at a station visit VTA’s Elevator/Escalator Status webpage.
Reporting Inoperability
Passengers who encounter a bus with a lift that is not working should wait for the next bus. If the wait for the next bus is longer than 30 minutes, the driver will request a special lift-equipped van to provide transport. VTA’s new low floor buses have ramps for direct wheelchair boarding.
When an elevator is out-of-service, audio and message text announcements will be broadcast aboard Light Rail vehicles, at light rail stations, and on VTA’s website giving the location of the out-of-service elevator. Passengers who must deboard a train at a station with an out-of-service elevator should let the train’s operator know. The train operator will take steps to deboard you at another station and provide alternative transportation, if needed, to your desired station.