The Palo Alto Transit Center

PATC South Platform.png

The Palo Alto Transit Center (PATC) is the mobility hub of Palo Alto, serving as a major regional transit hub, strategically located near the border of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and adjacent to Stanford University. This unique location makes it one of the few stations in the Bay Area served by five distinct transit providers: Caltrain, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), SamTrans, Dumbarton Express (AC Transit) and the Marguerite Shuttle (Stanford University). The station has the second-highest Caltrain ridership on the corridor (pre- and post-pandemic), and the bus service at the 10 bus bays in the Transit Center complements Caltrain service, connecting Palo Alto to San Mateo County, the rest of Santa Clara County, and the East Bay. Additionally, Stanford’s Marguerite shuttle service and other private shuttles provide last-mile connections from the PATC to campus and office facilities for employees and visitors. Altogether, there are about 6,330 average weekday daily boardings in 2025.

VTA Ad Hoc Committee

In 2024, VTA initiated a Palo Alto Ad Hoc Committee of the VTA Board to meet quarterly and discuss all issues related to the Palo Alto Transit Center. It includes three elected officials from Santa Clara County: Pat Burt, City Councilmember of Palo Alto, Magaret Abe Koga, Santa Clara County Supervisor, and Sergio Lopez, Mayor of Campbell. The Ad Hoc Committee will also provide input on an upcoming planning study looking at medium- and long-term recommendations for transit center improvements. Additional details on the Ad Hoc Committee will be available in the near future.

Urban Land Institute Visits the PATC

The partnership between the City, VTA, and Stanford University invited the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to kick-start medium- and long-term planning at the Transit Center. During a one-week period in late October 2025, a panel of experts recruited by ULI studied the Transit Center area and interviewed approximately 60 local stakeholders, producing both land use and transportation ideas for the station area. Among many other suggestions, the ULI Panel recommended the partnership:

  • Address the recent State passage of SB 79 by distributing density across a newly-defined Transit Oriented Zone bounded by Alma Street, Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto Avenue, a part of the Stanford Shopping Center parking lot, and already-identified housing sites on El Camino Real on the Staford Campus;
  • Design and construct the Quarry Road connection to the station to improve transit travel times;
  • Relocate the MacArthur Park Building and extend the bus transit center closer to the station; 
  • Reconfigure travel lanes on University Avenue earlier and eliminate the Alma Street clover leaf to create a more pedestrian oriented area immediately adjacent to the station;
  • Improve pedestrian and bicycle access on the bus loop on the west side of the station and direct buses to access the Transit Center via the new Quarry connection; and
  • Implement paid parking on-street in the Downtown to more efficiently use structured parking and consider re-use of surface parking lots.

The ULI’s work is a starting point for further planning for the study area, and VTA will issue a request for proposals for additional planning support for the partnership to evaluate the ULI recommendations. A final report will be available in early 2026. The following are materials generated as part of the ULI visit:

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