Thomas Keller

Every Day is a Spare the Air Day for Thomas Keller

hen Tesla Motors relocated to the Stanford Business Park in Palo Alto, Thomas Keller quickly discovered he was able to take VTA Express Bus Line 101 from his home in Campbell to work.

After a year of doing so, the first benefit Thomas cites about his experiences is the opportunity to read the Mercury News in peace and quiet during the morning portion of his commute.

“My only concern in the morning is getting to the bus stop on time,” notes the Swiss-born manufacturing engineer. “After that, I can relax until I get to work.”

Thomas is quick to highlight a second benefit: His daily log places the distance not driven in his car to work during the past 12 months at over 9000 miles. It’s a cost saving for him, but just as importantly not driving means less pollutants in the Bay Area atmosphere.

“I had no idea how much I would able to contribute to the community I live in by not driving my car to work! I live here, I work here, I play here. Helping improve the air quality of the Bay Area is very important and rewarding. Every day a Spare the Air Day for me,” notes Thomas.

His strong support of public transportation leads him to actively recruit other Tesla employees to ride the bus to work. From the positive results, he apparently is equally adept at advocacy as engineering.

   Co-worker Azadeh Morrison is a Tesla employee who now rides a VTA bus to work, thanks to the prompting of Thomas.  

“I actually had never ridden a VTA bus before Thomas got me to give it a try,” notes Azadeh, who is an environmental health and safety engineer for Tesla. “I can get a half hour of work in when I ride the bus,” she explains.

As we conclude our story, some final words from Thomas the super-enthusiastic transit advocate: “as so many people are becoming aware of our environment, the time is right to give VTA a try. Please exchange your personal car seat for a VTA bus seat. I’m asking you to give it a try.”

Anyone moved to do so can contact VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300 for more information.  

Or, if you work at Tesla, just ask Thomas.

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