Palo Alto's Last Ride Open to Everyone Ends Friday

Tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 30, Palo Alto Link makes its last trips. The on-demand rideshare launched on March 7, 2023, and anyone in its service area could book it on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The city isn't replacing it with another service of the same kind. Starting Monday, the help Palo Alto offers for getting around town goes through nonprofit programs, and those programs are built around who you are: your age, your income, whether you have a disability, whether you work downtown late at night.

For a lot of households that's a bigger change than losing one app. For the first time since the city's free shuttles began, no city-backed local ride is open to everyone. This post covers what each replacement program covers, what it costs, and which trips nothing covers.

What ends tomorrow, and the number that still works today

Link worked like a shared, subsidized rideshare. Its fleet of nine vehicles charged a $4 standard fare and a $2 discounted fare for seniors, riders with disabilities, low-income riders and youth, according to the city's March 2026 staff report. Through Friday you can still book by phone at 650-505-5772. During school arrival and dismissal, the service stays unavailable within about a quarter mile of Palo Alto High School, Gunn High School, Fletcher, Greene and JLS.

From March 3, 2023, through January 31, 2026, Link completed 145,808 passenger rides, according to the city's performance data portal. For comparison, the city's old fare-free Crosstown and Embarcadero shuttles carried about 140,000 riders in 2019 alone, roughly 550 a day. Those routes ended July 1, 2020. So Link took nearly three years to carry what the fixed shuttles carried in one. That ridership gap sat behind every budget debate that followed.

Why a $4 ride cost the city so much more

The city puts Link's operating cost at about $26 per ride. Grants covered the cost from the start: VTA's Measure B Innovative Transit funds paid for the launch, and a partnership with Stanford Research Park plus two Transportation Fund for Clean Air grants carried the pilot through October 2026. The March staff report found that fares recovered under 5% of operating costs. Once the one-time grants ran out, the program would need substantial ongoing support from the General Fund, at a time when the city faced a $14.9 million structural deficit.

The savings from ending Link turned out smaller than they first looked. Staff estimated gross savings of about $250,000 in fiscal year 2026–27 and about $700,000 a year after that. Ending the service also meant losing Stanford's cost-sharing, which cut net savings to an estimated $125,000 to $275,000. The same report found that bringing back fixed-route shuttles would cost more than Link, and that earlier shuttle-funding partnerships with Caltrain and Stanford Health Care were no longer available.

When the council first took up the question in March, Palo Alto Online reported a split. Councilmember Greer Stone praised Link's value for last-mile trips but said the end of grant funding and the coming deficits meant hard choices. Councilmember Ed Lauing favored keeping the service while the city looked for partners. Councilmember Keith Reckdahl called the program unsustainable and suggested vouchers instead. The voucher idea won. In June, the council voted to end its agreement with Via, the company that operated Link, citing the roughly $700,000 annual subsidy the service would need, Palo Alto Online reported in September.

The trips Link handled that buses don't

Where riders went shows why buses can't stand in for Link. The staff report lists these among Link's top destinations:

• Palo Alto Transit Center
• Stanford Research Park
• Cubberley Community Center
• Midtown shopping
• Rinconada Park
• Stanford Shopping Center
• The VA hospital and Stanford Health locations

Rides also went to homes throughout the service area. The report's key finding is that existing transit could replace only about 6% of Link trips. Most Link rides were neighborhood to neighborhood: home to Cubberley, Midtown to a medical office. Fixed bus routes along El Camino or out to the Research Park don't make those trips.

At a council meeting in September, one resident called Link "a lifesaver for many parts of the Palo Alto community," as Palo Alto Online reported. Another resident told the council the voucher approach was "not a like-for-like swap."

After Friday, your ride depends on who you are

To make up for Link, the council added $100,000 to the Palo Alto Transportation Management Association's budget this summer, bringing the city's total contribution to the nonprofit to $500,000. PATMA started in 2014 to cut solo-car commuting among local employees. Now it's also the city's main resource for residents who need a ride. Its expanded programs started October 1. PATMA executive director Justine Burt described the focus to Palo Alto Online as "older adults or people who live independently, who are starting to feel like it's harder for them to get around and to stay connected."

Here's what each program covers and who it's for, as the providers describe it:

PATMA says staff will respond to an accessible-ride enrollment request within one business day. The two nonprofits are working together. PATMA is giving Avenidas $45,000 to hire another part-time driver, and when people sign up for PATMA services, Avenidas can see the applicant list and offer door-to-door rides as needed, according to Palo Alto Online.

Booking Avenidas if you've never used it

Avenidas runs differently from Link. You need to book ahead, and the fares cost more. Here's how it works, according to its Door to Door page:

1. Call 650-289-5411 or email [email protected].
2. Book at least 24 hours ahead. You can schedule up to five weeks out.
3. If you need a same-day trip, Avenidas may arrange a Lyft when possible, at the regular fare plus a $5 service fee.
4. A wheelchair-accessible round trip is listed at $85. Round-trip procedure rides and assisted-transport rides are $65 each.
5. If you cancel with less than 24 hours' notice, there's a $10 fee.

The service area stretches past city limits. It covers a 10-mile radius that includes East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Los Altos, Atherton, Redwood City and Sunnyvale. That makes a doctor's visit in a neighboring city easier than it was with Link.

Who these programs don't cover

Burt acknowledged the gaps to Palo Alto Online. Avenidas focuses on older adults, so younger residents with disabilities will likely need other options. PATMA plans to point some of them to the paratransit services run by SamTrans and VTA. The city lists VTA Access Paratransit, SamTrans Redi-Wheels and the VA's shuttle for veterans among its alternatives.

If you don't qualify for any of these programs, you have fixed routes. Link and the old shuttle were open to every resident, worker and visitor. The voucher model is aimed almost entirely at vulnerable riders. Here are the routes that still serve Palo Alto, according to VTA's route list:

• Route 21 between Stanford Shopping Center and Santa Clara Transit Center
• Route 22 and Rapid 522 between Palo Alto Transit Center and Eastridge
• Route 89 between California Avenue Caltrain and the Palo Alto VA Hospital
• Express 101, 102, 103 and 104, peak-hour commuter routes to Stanford Research Park from south San Jose, Camden, Eastridge and Milpitas BART

VTA's latest bus service changes took effect Monday, Oct. 26, so check the current timetables at vta.org/servicechange before your first post-Link trip. Stanford's Marguerite shuttles, SamTrans and the Dumbarton Express also stop at the Palo Alto Transit Center. Questions about the end of Link can go to the city's program manager, Nathan Baird, at [email protected].

If a parent, a neighbor or a neighbor's college student took Link to Cubberley, Midtown or a Stanford Health appointment, the most useful thing to do this week is help them enroll with PATMA or save the Avenidas number before Monday. Over two decades of helping families settle into Palo Alto, Jerylann Mateo has seen how much day-to-day routines depend on simple things like a reliable ride across town. If you're working out how changes like this one fit your household's plans, Let's Connect.