OCTA to axe 130 jobs, cut bus service in March, likely cut more service in September
Just a round-up of some even more grim news:
Erik Holmes at the newly-launched Orange County Local News Network wrote last week that OCTA's about to lay off "60 bus drivers, 15 mechanics and 43 administrative workers" this February to coincide with the massive 150,000-hour service cut. This March, OCTA will eliminate 24-hour service, 7 routes, some weekend service, reduced frequencies, plus introduce "new routes." OCTA has already posted the final cuts happening (kudos to the poor web designer who had to HTML and PDF-ize all this), and the bizarre routes they've spawned in North County and Irvine that will actually force riders to transfer. Routes 129, 143, 153 are such examples (on the right) that have been carved out of existing routes.
(My take is that once an OCTA route becomes a 100-series "Community Route," it becomes so infrequent (like the 90-minute-frequency route 175 in Irvine) that it becomes mighty tempting to eliminate.)
Even worse, OCTA CEO Will Kempton throughout the Transit Forum alluded to another round of cuts this coming September because it is very likely Governor Schwarznegger will get his way and steal all transit money once again. Holmes explains in "More bus cuts likely in fall":
A service cut in September would be the fourth such reduction since the beginning of 2009.
The agency cut 133,000 hours last March, 100,000 hours in September and 150,000 hours in November.
[OCTA CEO Will] Kempton said he is hopeful – but not necessarily optimistic – that state lawmakers will shoot down Schwarzenegger’s proposal and restore transit funding. Kempton is trying to delay for as long as possible the decision on whether to cut bus service further, hoping the political tides will turn against elimination of the gas tax. There has been some opposition to the idea from lawmakers, he noted.
But Moira Topp, a lobbyist who represents OCTA in Sacramento, told the OCTA board of directors Jan. 25 that Schwarzenegger’s proposal likely will prevail because of the state government’s dire financial straits.
“The sentiment … has been, ‘We’ve already made a decision [to cut] transit, and we will take the money,’” she said.
*sigh* Here's the complete list of cuts happening this March courtesy of OCTA:
Night Owl Elimination
All Days – Routes 43, 50, 57, and 60. No service from 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. .
Route Elimination & Options
Weekdays – Routes 62, 74, 75, 131, 147, 164, and 693.
Saturdays – Routes 24, 76, 86, 172, 193, and 693.
Sundays – Routes 24, 51, 76, 82, 85, 172, 193, and 693.Frequency Reductions & Options
Weekdays – Routes 24, 25, 30, 35, 37, 50, 55, 64, 66, 71, 72, 76, 82, and 145.
Saturdays/Sundays – Routes 29, 50, 55, 66, and 89.Route Restructuring & Options
All Days – Routes 29, 43, 47, 53, 59, and 70. New routes: 90, 129, 143 and 153 will be added.
Trip Reduction & Options
Weekdays – Route 21, eliminate midday service from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m..
ACCESS Service & Options
Learn how will ACCESS service be impacted and your available options.
Route Changes by City
OCTA Weekly Update: Irvine-Corona Expressway tunnel, train grade separations, HSR funds
Submitted by Steven on 7 February, 2010 - 10:18am
OCTA's weekly update was posted a few days ago. Just a few highlights I've found interesting with my opinion in italics:
- California Awarded $2.34 Billion In High-Speed Rail Funding.
- San Clemente Considers Wayside Horn System at Rail Crossings: could this be another "transit" project to benefit homeowners in the area?
- Orangethorpe Rail Corridor near Placentia and Anaheim to grade-separate 5 different crossings: could this be another "transit" project to benefit motorists in the area?
- OCTA's still throwing a few million dollars away in studies to evaluate building a several-billion-dollar freeway/tollway tunnel beneath the mountains separating Corona and Irvine. I'll post more about this later.
- OCTA will likely cut deeper into bus service in September. More about this later.
The Weekly Update follows: read more→
Southern California Transit Forum: transit screwed, plus videos, photos, & Twitter transcript
Submitted by Steven on 6 February, 2010 - 11:51pm
(Above photos by Simon Oh.)
Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity at the Southern California Transit Forum, a huge conference with over 350 attendees, including politicians, transit managers, coach operators, union representatives, lobbyists, and transit advocates. I'm still trying to digest it, but if I could describe my impressions in a few words:
- Transit staff get it. They know what needs to be done to address the massive bus cuts. The CEOs of Metro and OCTA know what's politically practical and feasible.
- Politicians don't get it — and if they do get the transit funding crisis, it's not a hot topic on their radar. They continually made references to how great foreigners think Orange County's freeways are, made up lots of inside jokes, and talked about shiny projects like California High Speed Rail while photos of happy, smiling patrons on the bus and train flashed in the background.
- There are few practical solutions left. OCTA and Metro are preparing rounds of massive cuts. Most politicians and staff are resigned to let the cuts happen because California state cuts are likely to happen. Instead, they're looking to do a statewide initiative to protect local funds, and more county-wide initiatives.
Photos, video, and more after the break. (Edit 1: Added CAHSR video below.) (Edit 2: Added OCTA's recap video below.) (Edit 3: Added Simon's photo above.) read more→
Southern California Transit Forum now on at Chapman University
Submitted by Steven on 5 February, 2010 - 9:25am
At the Southern California Transit Forum right now. This is a huge event. Metro and OCTA are here.
You can watch the forum live online at Chapman University's site.
and follow the Twitter feed at #TransitForum at http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23TransitForum
Will be updating TransitRiderOC as the day progresses.
Transit Advocates: 2 easy ways to help save bus service
Submitted by Steven on 29 January, 2010 - 9:59pm
Ask for Bus Funding In The New Jobs Bill
Our partners at Transportation for America are asking everyone to sign on to their letter asking President Obama to make sure transit jobs and America's bus and rail systems are a priority in the upcoming jobs bill. They’ll deliver the letter in person during a meeting with administration officials. With your help, they’ll urge the President to make sure the jobs bill includes funding to stop the hemorrhaging in our transit agencies and prevent layoffs, loss of service and draconian fare hikes. Here are their 3 principles to ensure funds go to where they’re most needed: read more→
OCTA Weekly Update: High Speed Rail investment, Amante & Kempton's 2010 goals, & new Metrolink cars
Submitted by Steven on 28 January, 2010 - 6:12pm
A ton of news packed in OCTA's weekly e-mail newsletter. I've pasted it here below, and you can also view the original post here. In a nutshell:
- OCTA cheers for the new $2.34 bil investment in California High Speed Rail (the bullet train to link Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Francisco). Improvements to existing track should bring Metrolink and Amtrak up to a max speed of 110 mph.
- Amante & Kempton talk goals. OCTA Chairman Jerry Amante wants to stabilize bus operations, but most of his details talk about further reducing bus service to an "efficient" level. CEO Will Kempton wants to further integrate Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, Coaster, and Metrolink Orange County Line / Ventura County Line services.
- Santa Ana is hosting two Go Local meetings next week about its planned freeway offramp through Garden Grove & the streetcar linking Garden Grove and Santa Ana's depot.
- OC Register takes a pessimistic view of the Irvine Shuttle, claiming that Irvine spends $19 per rider on a shuttle service that serves the Irvine Business Complex.
California to receive $2.35 billion stimulus for rail and High-Speed Rail
Submitted by Steven on 27 January, 2010 - 10:48pm
Obama is set to announce tomorrow a whopping $2.35 billion in federal funds dedicated to improving intercity transit infrastructure in California. Here's what California's getting, according to Robert Cruickshank's comprehensive California High Speed Rail Blog: read more→
Anti-transit freeway/tollway-building politician now in charge of OCTA: welcome, Tustin Mayor Jerry Amante
Two Mondays ago at the OCTA Board Meeting, Jerry Amante — mayor of Tustin — was unanimously elected as chair of the OCTA Board. Amante served on OCTA's Board of Directors since 2006.
The irony is that Amante is now in charge of making decisions for OCTA's bus system. Why is this bad news?
- Amante has been unabashedly vocal about his preference for road-building over bus and rail.
- Amante wrote an opinion piece bashing Los Angeles's Metro Rail system and squawks about how awesome Orange County's freeways are.
- Amante's platform says nothing about the crowded, unreliable bus system that he currently runs. Instead, he wants to see money funneled into streets and roads.
- Amante has great enthusiasm for freeway and tollway committees. He's part of:
- OCTA's Central County MIS committee, which is proposing to extend the 57 as a freeway UNDER THE SANTA ANA RIVER. OMG.
- OCTA's State Route 91 Advisory Committee, which is using OCTA funds to add lanes to a freeway that's largely clogged with Riverside County commuters.
- OCTA's Highways Committee.
- the board of directors in charge of the 241, 261, and 133 toll roads in Orange County (the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency). He blew his top when he found out that activists successfully blocked the extension of a tollway through San Onofre State Park, claiming that anti-road activists will "mire our residents in a poor quality of life" and threatening national security. Uh-huh. At least he didn't invoke Godwin's Law.
- Amante has hardly lifted a finger to help with the current transit crisis. He's voiced his desire to effectively double the cuts to OCTA's bus system this March 2010 — from this March's 150,000 hours to the full 300,000 hours of cuts. "...Better, he said, to make drastic cuts now and restore later. It's the old pull-the-bandaid-off-quickly theory."
OC Transit Riders Left in the Rain… Literally
Submitted by jaisuazo on 24 January, 2010 - 8:25pm
Finally, we’ve arrived at a bright, sunny Orange County weekend. It’s what we needed, especially since we’re still recovering from storms of epic proportions that Southern California residents rarely experience. This past week’s storms have definitely impacted many people’s commute; whether it’s from flooding, traffic accidents, or uprooted trees and cars due to the high winds.
The news media has been pretty gracious to us, giving us way more coverage than we really deserved; yet many folks couldn’t help but stay home and tune in to “Storm Watch 2010.” As thorough as they may have been about these freak tropical storms, while flipping through the basic news channels, I noticed one huge topic that was left out; you guessed it- transit.
In the midst of all the shots of flooded streets, stranded cars, and (oddly enough) tornadoes, it was rare to see footage of how transit riders were coping with the weather. Our brothers in LA were more fortunate (or unfortunate) to get coverage of the fallen tree landing on the Gold Line, but beyond that, not much else. I find it disappointing that news channels claim to cover “your commute,” but of course that always pertains only to the car culture. I would love for a news channel to tell me which major streets or surface areas were beyond flooded (if you were commuting in Santa Ana, that’s every street corner), that way I could avoid waiting for a bus there during torrential downpours. read more→
OCTA Weekly Update: High Speed Rail open house meeting, Metrolink construction, bus meetings
Submitted by Steven on 24 January, 2010 - 1:01am
I (the Steve) helped Ted Nguyen at OCTA out with some photographs from the California High Speed Rail Los Angeles-Anaheim segment meeting, a packed auditorium well-attended by 150 or so folks whom, I noticed, were at least 40 years of age and above. Anyways, I'll write tomorrow more on it.
Below is pasted a copy of OCTA's latest Weekly Update newsletter. The most interesting part of the newsletter is this:
Policy Committee to Meet about Major Investment Study
Thursday, Jan. 28 – The Central County Corridor Major Investment Policy Advisory Committee meeting will take place at OCTA headquarters in conference room 103 / 104 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Contact Fernando Chavarria at (714) 560-5306 or fchavarria@octa.net.
If you recall, this is the proposal to extend the 57 freeway underneath the Santa Ana River, or even operate light rail/buses near the river. I think anyone interested in future of Orange County's transit should attend this meeting. read more→
