Due to inappropriate behavior in the form of personal threats to me from users of this site, the comments system has shut down. I apologize for the inconvenience.

I've fallen behind these past few weeks in transit news for the past few weeks because of difficulties with school. I'll decide what to do with this site next month in September, but for now, my postings are officially on hiatus. Thank you for riding transit, bicycling, and walking Orange County. For now, I leave you with some good, uplifting news:

OCTA is giving away free Angels tickets for those who subscribe to their OCTA Bus page on Facebook and answer a simple question Wednesday morning. The first 25 fans to post an answer to the question will each receive 2 Angels games tickets.

From their Facebook page:

  read more→

OCTA gave a preview of their bus system's proposed minor schedule and routing changes for this coming September 2010. OCTA staff are considering changes to 19 bus routes.

CEO Will Kempton wrote in a letter to the Transit Committee on June 24, 2010 on some of the proposed changes:

• Line 1 (Pacific Coast Highway): Restore winter schedule all days
• Line 20 (Imperial Highway): Adjust running time (operates weekdays only)
• Line 21 (Valley View St): Trip deletions weekdays due to low demand.
• Line 24 (Malvern Ave/Chapman Ave): Trip deletions weekdays due to low demand.
• Line 29 (Beach Boulevard): Adjust connections all days; increase service frequency on weekdays.
• Line 30 (Orangethorpe Avenue): Revise Anaheim Hills turnaround loop
• Line 43 (Harbor Boulevard): Adjust connections all days ; increase service frequency on weekdays.
• Line 47 (Anaheim Boulevard/Fairview Street): Adjust connections all days
• Line 50 (Katella): Increase service frequency on weekdays.
• Line 59 (Kraemer/Glassell/Grand/Von Karman): Saturday-Sunday improve headways from 90-minutes to 65-minutes
• Line 60 (Westminster Avenue/17th Street): Adjust weekday running times Line 64 (Bolsa Avenue/1st Street): Add weekday afternoon trip westbound
• Line 64 (1st St): Increase service frequency on weekdays.
• Line 70 (Edinger Avenue): Adjust weekday running times; revise turnaround loop at Tustin Station during construction all days of the week
• Line 76 (Talbert Avenue/MacArthur Boulevard): Revise route to allow connections with Line 79 to/from UCI; adjust weekday running time (operates weekdays only)
• Line 79 (Irvine Boulevard/Culver Drive/University Avenue): Revise route to operate on campus at University of California Irvine (UCI)
• Line 83 (Santa Ana Freeway/Main Street): Extend weekday evening trip southbound to originate at Disneyland instead of downtown Santa Ana; revise route to serve Orangewood Avenue all days of the week
• Line 90 (Irvine Center/Moulton Parkway/Golden Lantern): Adjust weekday running time; weekday mornings extend one short trip and add one full length trip; revise turnaround loop at Tustin Station during construction all days of the week
• Line 129 (La Habra/Brea/Birch/Kraemer): Adjust weekday running time; trip deletions weekdays due to low demand; Saturday-Sunday improve headways from 90-minutes to 65-minutes
• Line 143 (Whittier/Harbor/Brea/Birch): Weekdays add one evening trip; other possible trip deletions on weekdays; Saturday-Sunday improve headways from 75-minutes to 65-minutes
• Line 153 (through Anaheim): Trip deletions weekdays due to low demand.
• Line 175 (Yale Avenue – Campus Drive): Revise turnaround loop to better serve Mariposa Villa
• Line 211(Seal Beach-Irvine 405 Express): Revise route at Golden West Transportation Center
• Line 213 (Brea-Irvine 55 Freeway Express): Revise route to serve UCI campus

Some of these changes are shown in the map OCTA released below:

  read more→

It’s not everyday that a City launches a website dedicated solely to the transit options available, whether they be bus or rail.

It’s certainly not a normal day when an Orange County City launches a website dedicated solely to the transit options available, whether they be bus or rail, or in this case, rapid buses, high-speed rail, and monorails.

The City of Anaheim has recently launched a new website called AConnext, highlighting the future of transit in the Resort Area, as well as providing information for options currently in place, such as OCTA, Metrolink, Amtrak, and Anaheim Resort Transit (ART). The website serves as a one stop shop for residents and transit geeks alike to find all the information they need related to the new and upcoming projects that are sure to excite any diehard transit fans, along with the average businessman looking for ways to get around the Resort Area without driving. read more→

OCTA will begin charging $1.00 for the Bus Book — which contains all of OCTA's and Orange County transit operators' bus and train schedules — due to budget shortfalls.

According to OCTA staff, their Bus Book is the most preferred source of bus information versus online, texting, bus stop information, and even printing out schedules with their e-Busbook website feature. 

"An important part of the OCTA marketing program is the provision of public information. The Bus Book identifies all of the bus routes and schedules and provides details about how to ride the bus, fares, passes, etc. Staff is identifying ways to continue to provide this level of printed customer information during times of significant budget constraints. A pilot program, charging $1.00 for the bus book is being tested in September 2010. The purpose of the program is to offset marketing costs so that this type of information can continue to be provided."

Several recent OCTA marketing surveys in the past few years indicated that a majority of bus riders would purchase a bus book to manage costs.

The Orange County Register has other details on OCTA's $1 fee: read more→

This press release landed in my inbox last night; a new contract between the Teamsters and OCTA's Board means that there's one less wildcard in terms of bus operations. According to a news post at Voice of OC: “ The poor economy has forced 156 coach operator layoffs and 44 administration layoffs at OCTA in less than two years. The pact, retroactive to May 1, holds salaries for 903 drivers at current levels for at least two years, but leaves the door open to renew contract talks in the third year if the economy improves. Currently, beginning drivers earn $15.22 an hour, and the top pay is $23.92, plus medical and retirement benefits.”

Here's the press release:  read more→

OCTA is soliciting ideas for improving the Metrolink parking experience. You have the chance to rate their ideas, which include:

• More parking spaces
• Valet parking
• Reserved pre-paid parking spaces
• Real-time freeway signs and Internet info showing parking availability
• Vehicle amenities (car washes and oil changes)
• Commuter amenities (coffee shops, restaurants)
• Better bus access
• Better pedestrian & bicycle access

Interestingly, the bus, pedestrian, and bicycle options have been buried at the bottom of these lists (see questions 14 and 19). But you can imagine what options I told OCTA to prioritize! Take OCTA's Metrolink survey now.

  read more→

The California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) Authority met today and released a supplemental alternative analysis for the tracks between Los Angeles and Anaheim. They did this after a year of conducting meetings among railroad companies, city planners, and — of course — vociferous homeowners such as the tense, angry Anaheim folks I saw that attended a high-speed rail meeting. In a nutshell:

• 2 mainline dedicated passenger tracks between Fullerton Junction and Commerce (largely within the existing 3-Track BNSF right-of-way).
• 2 existing at-grade shared-use tracks within the OCTA right-of-way from Fullerton Junction to the new ARTIC terminal in Anaheim. These are called "shared-use" because they plan to let both passenger and freight trains that are "temporally separated" run on these.

Doing this alternative — as opposed to building new dedicated bullet train tracks — unfortunately will cut the number of bullet trains that can run from 5 to 3 bullet trains per hour. This arrangement will require that Metrolink runs about 3-4 trains per hour and Amtrak runs 1 train per hour. Also, all trains — including the bullet trains — will be maxed out at 90 mph to prevent train conflicts (or "overtakes" in train parlance). Here's a map of the area:

I personally can't believe that OCTA is honestly going to try and squeeze Metrolink, Amtrak, CAHSR, and freight onto 2 lines. In New York, some corridors run 8 tracks of passenger trains, and when an accident on one track happens, it wreaks havoc on a lot of people's commutes. Imagine if one track gets shut down.

The good news: it'll cost less to build because fewer homes will be taken, and the Federal Railroad Administration recently allowed a similar arrangement to occur for Caltrain, a 2- to 3-track railroad on the San Francisco Peninsula, to allow them to run "mixed-use" passenger train service. Caltrain can now plan to run lighter, more sleeker electrified trains.

Their documents are unfortunately buried in their website; you can read their Press Release after the break, take a look at the Los Angeles to Anaheim presentation, alternative report, recommendations presentation, and their briefing memo.

....and more visuals. Here's a map of the Anaheim study area in particular:

  read more→

OCTA's taking more and more steps to open up data for mobile transit applications. Their new webpage on Mobile Apps feature mobile device applications that let you plot trips for OCTA's transit services. Most of the applications available are for Apple's iPhone OS (soon to be iOS), but the biggest application of all is Google Maps, which you can download for Blackberry OS, Android OS, Windows Mobile, Java, Palm's WebOS, and, of course, iPhone OS/iOS.

Currently, they offer Google Transit Feed files — which includes bus stop schedules, bus stops, and bus routes — and GIS mapping data. In the future, they will offer XML schedules and a Rider Alert RSS feed. read more→

• OCTA Mobile Apps — http://www.octa.net/MobileApps.aspx
• OCTA Resources for Developers — http://www.octa.net/OpenDataFeeds.aspx