Orange County's Bus Cuts are Bad for Health

I wrote this editorial for UC Irvine's New University newspaper. You can also read the edited version, which was published today. Although I will say the edited version contains an erroneous name for the OCTA, I'm thankful that their editors allowed my piece to be published.

Watch out, UC Irvine students. Traffic's about to get a lot worse.

OCTA will cut transit service by up to 25% this year. Students now pay $95 more for a UC Irvine U-pass. In fact, earlier this year, OCTA staff proposed to slash all routes to and from UC Irvine, which would have left students with no choice but to purchase a $10,000 car and a $500 parking pass, and add congestion on 2-lane-wide Peltason Drive. OCTA has also proposed to:

• Cut all 24-hour service, stranding blue-collar workers.
• Severe reductions in frequencies, resulting in longer waits for passengers.
• Cut back express and Metrolink-connecting StationLink shuttle routes.

Part of this is attributable to the economic downturn and our state government's illegal $1 billion raid on transit funds. I understand that OCTA staff say they're doing the best they can with the scant resources they've got for transit operations.

On the other hand, OCTA is pushing forward massive freeway expansion projects, despite decreased automobile traffic. Orange County's expansion projects include a possible double-decker 55 freeway, an extension of the 57 freeway on top of the Santa Ana River — or even underneath the river — and fattening highway 91 to a Texas-sized 15 lanes. All these projects have zero transit components despite OCTA's stealthy misuse of the term "transitways." I'm baffled as to why we UC Irvine students and Orange County bus riders put up with such poor transit service and imbalanced, short-sighted transportation planning with these ludicrous projects despite the 51% plunge in Orange County automobile purchases in June and a drop in nationwide automobile traffic: the Associated Press reported last month that "the average U.S. driver languished in rush-hour traffic for 36.1 hours in 2007" down from 37.4 hours in 2005. Fewer drivers are hitting the streets.

And, as a future physician, I am dismayed by the public health implications of Orange County's transportation projects, as medical journals consistently point to (1) chronic lung disorders and asthma, (2) obesity, (3) cancer, (4) heart disease, and (5) shortened life spans of those breathing automobile exhaust fumes and otherwise depending on the automobile. In fact, a UCI and UCLA study recently found that pregnant women living within 2 miles of such roadways in Long Beach and Orange County had a 42% increased risk of preeclampsia and a 128% rise in early preterm labor — leading to preemie babies born with complications. OCTA claims that freeway expansions are necessary to get cars moving, but history has shown that such freeway expansions quickly fill to capacity. Witness the heavy traffic on the recently-extended 210. Simply put, OCTA's current projects are unsustainable and unhealthy.

And historically, OCTA has given UC Irvine students — pardon the phrase — the shaft. OCTA's cuts hurt UC Irvine, where buses are so popular that lines 79 and 175 whose seats are so packed that riders are forced to stand every morning. OCTA has cut UC Irvine bus service to and from Balboa Peninsula. OCTA has also cut on-campus service via Peltason Way. OCTA's new "Bravo!"-branded rapid transit travels from Anaheim, to South Coast Plaza, to the airport, and to Irvine's Amtrak station — but completely bypasses UC Irvine!

We students should stop tolerating worse and worse transit service. There's a reason why Orange County doesn't have BART-like rapid transit or even true bus rapid transit: it's because we students haven't spoken up.

Tell OCTA's Board of Directors to stop hurting us UC Irvine students and cutting transit service in favor of expanding freeways. Learn about CALPIRG's transit campaign at UC Irvine (http://www.clubs.uci.edu/calpirg/). Sign up for news from the Transit Advocates of Orange County (http://advocates.transitrideroc.com), which brings together students from UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, plus working professionals and bus riders. Even if you bicycle or drive a car, OCTA's cuts to bus transit will make it harder for you to quickly get home after work or school.

Steven Chan is a third-year student physician at the UC Irvine School of Medicine and the Merage School of Business.