Orange County Transit

I finally launched an improved version of this blog at www.transitrideroc.com . This should help separate all of my personal content from real issues, and help promote transit in Orange County, and give us a place to discuss issues on the forums. Sorry for the wait!

Come on by and register for an account! See you at TransitRiderOC.com.

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I'll be resuming posting on some news (e.g. the Irvine shuttle cuts, the cancellation of the Irvine streetcar, the Metro Green line link to Santa Ana, etc). In the meantime, you might be interested in this e-mail I got this morning from the Transit Advocates of Orange County:

Please Attend Bus Service Reduction Public Hearing – Friday 9 am
 
· Friday, May 22, 2009 – 9 am, at OCTA Headquarters, 1st Floor, Rm. 154, 600 S. Main St., Orange
 
It is Item 2 on the agenda, so arriving early is a good idea.
 
If you can only attend one meeting – this one is the most important.
 
Even if you can’t speak, your presence will make a huge difference. The community meetings were reasonably well attended, but only 1 or 2 board members were present at them. Most of the board of directors should be attending this meeting where they’ll get a chance to hear directly from riders and develop a feel for what riders are saying are the best solutions. Let OCTA know what effect these cuts will have for you and your best suggestions on which cuts would hurt least. For example, cuts in span [how early and late a bus runs], including night owl service, are a strong theme we’re hearing. Also let them know that you’d like them to support finding ways to make bus capital funds available for bus operations.
 
To see the proposed September service cuts: http://www.octa.net/proposedservicechanges.aspx
(Remember, there will be more cuts this June, and also Dec., March and next June)
 
To comment by phone: OCTA Customer Relations at (714) 636-RIDE, ext. 2, or (800) 636-RIDE, ext. 2.
To comment online: www.octa.net/servicefeedback
 
Transit Advocates will meet after the public hearing. We’ll gather just outside the OCTA building where the public hearing is held ; please RSVP if you can attend. read more→

While I was struggling to sleep last night, I got this in my inbox from the Transit Advocates of Orange County.

CALL TODAY!

Federal Representatives Daniel Lipinski and Russ Carnahan have written a letter urging the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and theSubcommittee on Highways and Transit to allow public transportation systems to use their federal transit funds for operating assistance purposes in this time of emergency.

As far as we know, this is the ONLY federal effort to restore transit operating funds! Please help!

Please CALL your federal Representative TODAY (before Friday May 15) and urge them to sign on to the:
Lipinski / Carnahan Operating Assistance Letter.

Let them know that the local effect is that OCTA is cutting bus service almost 40%, what that means to you, and that it’s happening all over the country.

   Orange County Representatives In Congress

   40th District – Ed Royce (R) (714) 744-4130
   42nd District – Gary G. Miller (R) (714) 257-1142
   44th District – Ken Calvert (R) (949) 888-8498
   46th District – Dana Rohrabacher (R). (714) 960-6483
   47th District – Loretta Sanchez (D) (714) 621-0102 (Sanchez has already signed on!)
   48th District – John Campbell (R) (949) 756-2244

If you’re not sure which of these is your federal Respresentative, call the Registrar of Voters - OC: 714.567.7600
or enter your zip code at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

For your reference, a copy of the letter is at the bottom of this e-mail. read more→

Still frantically studying (17-hour work days) but wanted to post a few news updates:

• One of my June projects: launching transitrideroc.com. The link works at the moment, but just redirects to my website.
• I'm trying to get in touch with CALPIRG at UC Irvine (thanks to UCI journalism student Elaine Wong who relies on line 79). Elaine says that CALPIRG will be running a campaign to stop the bus cuts.
• I'll be at the May 22, 2009, 9:00am public hearing at OCTA Headquarters.

I also found an important message in my mailbox from the Transit Advocates of Orange County. I'm posting it here since they don't have a website up (yet, at least!). Give it a read. read more→

Abe Ahn, who writes for the UC Irvine student publication Forest Fire, has graciously allowed me to re-publish his article, which gives some insight into the politics of Orange County's public transit, and dives into the stories of people who ride OCTA.

Santa Ana College professor Roy Shahbazian has not owned a car in over a decade, an impressive feat in a county that embraces private transportation. As a member of the non-profit Transit Advocates, he lobbies city council meetings and citizen advisory boards for improved services. But in Orange County, it’s difficult for Shahbazian to persuade people to leave their cars.

“When I say I’m taking the bus home, people who don’t know me are sort of alarmed and they want to help me out and ask me, ‘What’s wrong? How come you’re taking the bus home?’” said Shahbazian.

This kind of reaction is typical in the county. In the 1990s, transit advocates pushed for the construction of the CenterLine, a nine-mile light rail system running from Santa Ana to Irvine. But in 2005, lack of public support resulted in the suspension of all plans for the rail. Instead, the county reallocated its funds to improve express bus services and the Metrolink train system. read more→

OCTA's severe transit cuts have made traveling by bus much more unpredictable, spontaneous affairs, and since I need a bicycle to get to places the bus doesn't, I often wait at the bus stop and wonder if the next bus's bicycle racks, like this photo on line 43, will be full. I've been refused to board at least twice within a month because of this unfortunate scenario, and unfortunately, one bus can only carry two bicycles at a time (unless the bus driver generously lets you take your bicycle on board). What to do about it (besides resorting to driving)?

Solution: folding bicycle! read more→

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! read more→

Serena Maria Daniels wrote in this Monday's OC Register that union leaders and students protested a cut in mass transit. My take: The ones who hold the purse-strings — namely, local government officials — should also receive this feedback from bus drivers, students, and riders.

I wish I could organize a coordinated student response; unfortunately, studying for the licensing exam through end of May is taking about 15 hours out of my day. I'll post as frequently as I can with any new news about this issue. read more→

UC Irvine's weekly student newspaper, The New University, published an op-ed highlighting one UC Irvine's student viewpoint on OCTA's bus service cuts. Minhquan, a 5th-year journalism student, takes the 29 and 178 from Huntington Beach to UC Irvine each day. Republished here with Minhquan's kind permission.

OCTA Cuts Leave Riders Stranded

by Minhquan Nguyen - Volume 42, Issue 23 - Apr 06 2009

When the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) posted its annual report for 2008, the figures seemed promising for the county’s central transportation agency. Despite sharp increases in the price of gasoline – or, perhaps, because of it – bus rider-ship reached an all-time high of nearly 69 million, a very decent figure for a county as car-obsessed as ours.

Yet despite the growth of riders, OCTA continues to face budgetary stresses, which are exacerbated by the Great Recession sweeping the country at the moment. It should be understood that in addition to the bus system, OCTA is responsible for the improvement of streets and highways as well as improving the service of Metrolink rails within the county. Although OCTA draws funds from fares, tolls, interest on investments and federal support, most of the money in its 2008-09 fiscal budget comes from its own reserves (28 percent), state sources (23 percent) and local sources (29 percent). The latter two sources are largely derived from a state quarter-percent sales tax and a county half-percent sales tax, which were, respectively, originally estimated to total almost $400 million out of a $1.06 billion budget. read more→

And it's accessible by bus (see below for the bus pass deal)!

It was a little over a month ago that my friends and I held our Grand Opening with the Chancellor of UC Irvine, along with many special guests. The UC Irvine Outreach Clinics serves the growing uninsured population in Orange County, those who can't afford basic primary care services. Our clinic has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Southern California Public Radio KPCC, and on the front page of UC Irvine's main website.

  read more→