For Orange County transit riders, doomsday comes later this year: 59 bus routes and all UC Irvine routes may be cut

The financial "doomsday scenario" now has a deadline: June 2010.

OCTA just posted a dedicated section of their site outlining their cuts and explaining the budget situation. They have a list of 59 routes that they say they may curtail service on or are considering for outright elimination. Let me break it down for you. I modified their system map with these cuts (click on the image to the left; 400 kb PNG file). A summary of potential cuts:

• 59 bus routes may be cut, along with...
• All 24-hour service
• All "community bus" service
• Nearly all community shuttles
• Nearly all intra- and inter-county express buses

Santa Ana, for example, will find a lot of their bus service cut, leaving behind a skeleton of local service for the transit-dependent.

It's now impossible to get to the airport:

But I think, worst of all, it's now impossible to get to and from UC Irvine. OCTA may eliminate lines 59, 79, 175, 178 (along with 213 and 473), stranding students, faculty, employees, and, well, making the UC Irvine U-pass useless.

Of course, that's my interpretation of what OCTA posted. I've pasted the summary from OCTA's page. Got any thoughts? Make sure you send your comments to them!

The recently approved state budget resulted in devastating impacts for Orange County bus riders. The Legislature reduced the State Transit Assistance program, the only ongoing source of state funding for day-to-day transit operations, representing a loss of more than
$17 million through June. Next year these funds will be eliminated completely -- resulting in a loss of approximately $100 million over the next five years.

The continuing economic crisis and declining sales tax revenue also have reduced available funding for transit services. Even with the extensive cost-cutting measures already taken by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), these significant funding reductions mean that the current level of bus service can no longer be sustained. OCTA is planning a large service reduction program that includes the following potential service changes effective September 2009 through June 2010.


Potential Service Reductions

Night Owl Service on routes 43, 50, 57 and 60 may be eliminated.

On weekdays and weekends, there may be route adjustments and reductions of service hours and frequency on routes 26, 29, 37, 38, 42, 43, 47, 50, 53, 54, 55, 57, 60, 64, 66, 70, 71, 83, 89, 91 and 794.

On weekdays and weekends, there may be route adjustments and reductions of service hours and frequency including the possibility of discontinuation of one or more of the following routes: 01, 20, 21, 24, 25, 30, 33, 35, 46, 51, 56, 59, 62, 72, 74, 75, 76, 79, 82, 85, 86, 87, 131, 145, 147, 164, 167, 172, 173, 175, 177, 178, 187, 188, 191, 193, 206, 211, 212, 213, 216, 410, 411, 430, 453, 454, 462, 463, 464, 472, 473, 480, 482, 490, 693, 701, 721, 757 and 758.