The Santa Clara County Transit District's first significant attempt at expansion was in 1974, when dial-a-ride service was introduced, with Santa Clara County divided into 18 zones. But the dial-a-ride service proved to be grossly inadequate, and in 1975 was replaced with a new comprehensive fixed route bus system throughout the county.
In addition to expanded bus service, a new light rail line opened in 1987. And commuter rail service in the area has been upgraded. The result is a comprehensive system bearing little resemblance to that inherited from the private operators. Thus no attempt is made to compare historic routes with the present routes, and only the historic routes from the days of prior ownership are listed.
Streetcar routes in San Jose were originally introduced by several different companies, which by 1909 all came under the same ownership, becoming San Jose Railroads. In 1933, San Jose Railroads acquired the local trackage and operations from the Peninsular Railroad, which at the time was abandoning its interurban railway service.
The Linda Vista line originally used steam dummy trains, until electrified.
San Jose City Lines used route numbers for its local bus routes, which are the only route numbers listed.
Routes listed here are divided into three groups: San Jose city routes, Peninsular interurban and Palo Alto city routes, and suburban and interurban bus routes introduced by Mayfair Bus Lines.
San Jose Route Original First First Bus Notes Route Name Company Horse Electric New or Number (streets) Initials Car Streetcar Convert Stockton PHR 1879 ---- -------- Discontinued 1890's North Side NSHR 1875 ---- -------- Discontinued 1901 South East Side SESHR 1877 ---- -------- Discontinued 1901 1 Santa Clara SJ&SC 1868 1890 4/10/38 1 Linda Vista AR 1896 1902 4/10/38 Steam 1896-1902 2 First Street FSR 1872 1891 7/25/35 2 Tenth Street SJ&SC ---- 1895 2/23/35 3 Willow Glen FSR 1883 1894 7/25/35 4 Delmas MS&WG 1877 1892 2/23/35 4 Naglee PR ---- 1907 2/23/35 5 Bascom PR ---- 1907 4/10/38 5 Seventeenth Street PR ---- 1907 4/26/36 6 San Jose-Airport SJCL ---- ---- 1940's 7 Park Avenue PR ---- 1906 6/28/35 Hanchett Park SJ&SC ---- 1906 1924 Discontinued 4/26/33 Santa Clara Depot PR ---- 1913 -------- Discontinued 1/27/23 Julian SJR ---- 1894 -------- Discontinued 3/21/33 Seventh Street FSR 1894 1894 -------- Discontinued 1927 Hobson FSR ---- 1891 1918 Discontinued 1920's Oak Hill FSR ---- 1894 8/25/18 Discontinued 4/26/33 Peninsular Original First First Bus Notes Interurban Company Horse Electric New or Route Initials Car Streetcar Convert San Jose-Saratoga-Los Gatos SJLG ---- 3/19/04 3/12/33 Peerless Stages bus San Jose-Campbell-Los Gatos SJLG ---- 11/26/04 4/ 1/32 Peerless Stages bus Saratoga-Congress Springs SJLG ---- 11/26/04 -------- Discontinued 4/ 1/32 San Jose-Cupertino PR ---- 1907 10/ 1/34 PR then PAT bus Cupertino-Mayfield PR ---- 3/ 5/10 10/ 1/34 PR then PAT bus Mayfield-Palo Alto PR ---- 3/ 5/10 10/21/29 PR then PAT bus Cupertino-Los Gatos PR ---- 1/ 4/14 -------- Discontinued 1933 Berryessa Road PR ---- 9/12/13 -------- Discontinued 1934 King Road PR ---- 1923 -------- Discontinued 1934 Palo Alto/University Ave. SCIR ---- 11/15/06 7/20/25 PR then PAT bus Palo Alto/Waverly St. SCIR ---- 11/15/06 9/28/25 PR then PAT bus Palo Alto/Stanford University PR ---- 3/ 5/10 10/21/29 PR then PAT bus Mayfair Bus Lines Route Introduced Story Road 8/ /53 McKee Road 1956 San Jose-Agnews-Alviso 7/ /57 San Jose-Loyola 1957Between 1953 and 1957, Mayfair Bus Lines, later Mayfair Suburban Lines, introduced four suburban bus routes serving San Jose. One route to Loyola was acquired from Peninsula Transit. In 1961, Mayfair Suburban Lines was sold to Peerless Stages.
AR - Alum Rock Railway Co.
FSR - First Street Railroad
Mayfair - Mayfair Bus Lines/Mayfair Suburban Lines
MS&WG - Market Street & Willow Glen Railroad
NSHR - North Side Horse Railroad Co.
PHR - Peoples Horse Railroad Co.
PR - Peninsular Railroad
SCIR - Santa Clara Interurban Railroad
SJ&SC - San Jose & Santa Clara Railroad Co.
SJCL - San Jose City Lines
SJLG - San Jose-Los Gatos Interurban Railway
SJR - San Jose Railroads
SESHR - South East Side Horse Railroad Co.
Bus companies listed in early reports of the California Railroad Commission, which began regulating intrastate motor transportation in 1917.