Effective Date: March 20, 2019
Welcome to www.vta.org brought to you by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (“VTA”). Your privacy is important to us, so please take time to read through this Privacy Policy and familiarize yourself with it. VTA wants you to be clear how we collect, use, and protect your information.
This privacy policy applies to our website located at www.vta.org (our “Website”) and to the Products (“Products”) and services (“Services”) provided through our Website. It does not apply to any third party site, application, or services linked through our Website. Additionally, this Privacy Policy does not apply to any third party site or service linked to our Website or recommended or referred by our Website, through our products or services, or by our staff.
Personally Identifiable Information
Personally Identifiable Information (“Personal Information”) is any information that can be used to identify an individual. Personal Information includes, but is not limited to: name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, credit card number, identification numbers, and photographic IDs.
Information We Collect
Usage Information:
This information may include (but is not limited to) your IP address, device address or ID, operating system, the content you view or interact with, and the dates and times you visited the Website and/or used our Products or Services. If you have created an account with us, we may link this information to your account in order to prevent fraudulent activity and to provide you with a better user experience.
Personal Information:
This is information you voluntarily provide us. Examples of Personal Information are listed above. Personal Information is provided by a user when creating an account or when contacting VTA regarding any issues or concerns.
Cookies and Webserver Logs:
Like many commercial websites and software applications, VTA utilizes cookies and webserver logs to collect information from our Website, Products and Services. Cookies are a feature of web browsers that allow web servers to recognize the particular device that is accessing a website. Cookies remember the information your device accessed on a web page and make it easier to access the same page, or related page, the next time you visit. Cookies help to personalize the experience for the user and streamline your visits.
Cookies and webserver logs gather usage information (described above) such as length of time spent on the Website, links you clicked, the date and time of visits, IP address, and pages viewed. We may gather other information as that will help to improve your user experience. We also use cookies and webserver logs to monitor traffic on our Website and usage activity (which parts of the Website are being most used); this information help us to improve the functionality of our Website.
If you create an account with VTA, cookies allow our servers to remember your account information for future visits and provide you with the information you are most likely to need. For example, when you return to our Website, cookies identify you and prompt the Website to provide your user name (but not your password) so that you can sign into your account more quickly and easily. We may associate the information stored in cookies to Personal Information that you voluntarily submitted to us while using our Website.
Your browser should have a setting to disable cookies. Please consult your browser’s help section to learn how to disable cookies. Disabling cookies may limit some of the functionality of our Website.
Third Party Information
We may obtain information, including Personal Information, from third parties and sources other than our Website, Products, and Services. If we combine Personal Information obtained from third parties with Personal Information we collected from our Website, Products, and Services, we will treat that Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
How We Share Information
VTA does not sell your Personal Information to third parties. We may share or disclose your Personal Information as follows:
Disclosure of Personal Information as Required by Law
In the State of California, laws exist to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by state and local government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public’s right to access public records. These exception serve various needs, including maintaining the privacy of individuals. Both state and federal laws provide exceptions. All information collected at this Website becomes public record that may be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless an exemption in law exists.
Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement
Your Personal Information may be shared if we believe, in good faith, that it is reasonably necessary to;
- investigate and defend VTA against any allegations or claims made by a user or a third party;
- respond to claims and other legal processes such as subpoenas, court orders, or government requests;
- to take precautions against liability and protect the property, rights and safety of VTA as required or permitted by law;
- to enforce our Terms of Service, or other agreements;
- to prevent and/or stop activity that we believe is illegal, abusive, unethical, fraudulent, legally actionable, or that may cause imminent harm to persons or property; and
- to prevent and detect fraud, and to ensure the security of our Website, Products, and Services.
Service Providers and Third Parties
VTA may share your Personal Information with third parties who provide services to VTA. Such services may include information technology services that VTA has contracted out to a third party. Service providers are required to only use or disclose the Personal Information they process on our behalf as necessary to perform the services contracted for. Service providers must also comply with all legal requirements.
Aggregate and Non-Identifying Information
Aggregate and non-identifying information may be shared with third parties in order to improve the overall experience of the user. We may publically share aggregate data about how users interact with the Website, Products, and Services.
Other Disclosures
We may also disclose your information with third parties with your consent.
Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information
If you have provided Personal Information to VTA, it can be accessed and corrected by contacting:
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
ATTN: Customer Service
3331 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95113
Children's Privacy
VTA does not knowingly collect information from children under 13 years of age. Any Personal Information from a child under the age of 13 that has been unknowingly collected and stored by VTA will be deleted upon written request from the child’s parent or legal guardian. Deletion requests should be sent to:
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
ATTN: Customer Service
3331 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95113
Data Security
VTA maintains reasonable technical, physical, and administrative safeguards to protect the Personal Information that we have collected against accidental, unlawful, or unauthorized destruction, alteration, loss, access, disclosure, or use.
Third Party Websites
Our Website, Products, and Services may provide links to third party websites. These links are provided for your convenience and ease of navigation. The third party websites operate independently of VTA and are not bound by this Privacy Policy or any other VTA policies. The third parties websites may have their own policies which we recommend you review, should you choose to visit the third party websites. VTA is not responsible for the third party websites’ content, their privacy practices, or their use of data collected.
Amendment and Updates to the Privacy Policy
We reserve the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, to amend this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting a new version on this page or on a successor page. The new version will become effective on the date it is posted, which will be listed at the top of the page as the new effective date. Please review the Privacy Policy periodically to check for updates.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
ATTN: Customer Service
3331 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95113