budget

Transit Advocates: Spread the word about Sunday's bus cuts

read more→

Transit Advocates: Call your legislators today to save transit; Thanks for the meet & greet!

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. - Lea este mensaje en español.
Take Action! Bus
                        Cuts Info
Make a phone call to save transit.

Call local legislators today and Friday to save transit service.

It’s especially important to call your State Senators today or tomorrow to ask them to vote for transit funding in the budget. Since almost no one knows about this new effort, your calls will have a huge effect! The Senate is scheduled to vote on this on Monday. Download a list of your representatives to contact.

Ask them to support the alternate tax swap transportation funding proposal that doesn’t eliminate public transit funding. Ask them to support a budget package that includes all of the following elements:

 

●   The infusion of $400 million in one-time funding for the State Transit Assistance (STA) program.

 

●  An annual allocation of a minimum of $350 million with a 75%/25% split in favor of STA.

 

●  Protect the above from being reduced through line-item veto.

 

●  Extremely important to include contingency language to restore the current funding structure if all or part of the tax swap is declared invalid or otherwise unenforceable. Since there is a real risk of legal challenge to the tax swap, we urge the Legislature to include contingency language now to insure against such a scenario.

Be sure to mention that OCTA is cutting service 30% even on the busiest, most crowded routes, and that people won’t be able to get to work, school, or medical appts.

If you have the time, you can also call your State Assemblymembers, because they will have to vote on this issue again when it comes out of the Senate.

Download a list of your representatives to contact.

If you’re not sure who your legislators are, enter your zip code at:

 

Lastly, you could also call:
Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg           (916) 651-1529
Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass                            (323) 937-4747          
Speaker-elect of the Assembly John A. Pèrez               (213) 620-4646

 

Please drop us a quick e-mail to let us know who you called. Thanks!

Thanks for coming to our Meet & Greet.  

It was great to meet all of you in a more informal situation than an OCTA Board meeting. For those of you who couldn’t attend, you can still write us with questions. Also, let us know if you would like to attend a future meeting.
 

New: March 14 2010 Bus Books and Bus Service Change brochures are now both online!

Many routes are being severely reduced or eliminated.
It’s best to have both documents since the new concepts are explained in detail in the brochure, but the actual timetables are only in the Bus Book, etc.

The new Bus Service Change brochures are available online at www.octa.net/marchchange and are already on the buses. Bus Books are now available online and will be on the buses March 5. Please preserve your copies or use the online versions as OCTA is printing only limited amounts.

Important: Additional routes with smaller schedule changes, not mentioned in Bus Service Change brochure, but in Bus Book: 33, 55, 60, 79, 86, 167, 211, 411.

  read more→

Transit Advocates of Orange County - www.transitadvocatesoc.org - (714)607-0012

To unsubscribe from this list, reply to this e-mail and let us know.

Lea este mensaje en español.

Transit Advocates: Tonight! Meet & Greet, 6pm @ Depot At Santa Ana

Tonight's the night! Doors open 5:30pm; we'll start the meeting at 6pm. Light refreshments will be served. Attached is the agenda, and here are some more details:

Santa Ana Depot (train station), 5th floor.
To arrive by transit: OCTA 59, 62, 83, 206, 462, 463, 464, Metrolink, Amtrak

Please attend; We'd love to meet you! You'll hear the latest on the bus funding situation, the bus cuts situation, and what can be done to help save our bus service. You can let us know your concerns and questions. Refreshments will be provided at no charge. Please let us know ASAP if you can volunteer as a greeter or translator.

read more→

OCTA Weekly Update: Meetings meetings meetings, Metrolink track closures, and reduced Metrolink service

actually, not a whole lot to note except for Metrolink track closure dates (listed below) and the upcoming ARTIC meeting, which I'll post about in just a few minutes... read more→

New student transit advocacy group! Meets Mon, Feb 22, 4pm @ UCI Social Ecology 306

Students of UC Irvine's about to get more active, thanks to David Weinreich, a masters candidate for Urban & Regional Planning. He writes:

I received a very enthusiastic response to my first email [to other Urban & Regional Planning students], looking to set up a group to advocate for students' interests in preserving our transit through OCTA's next wave of service cuts.

It is too late to do anything about the 150,000 service hours being cut on March 14, but we'll be organized to for the next round.  Many students (myself included) have no other way to get around.  As transit planners, I think it is crucial that we advocate for transit dependents--perhaps even find some solutions-- in the face of a very ugly situation.

We'll hold our first meeting this coming Monday to organize:
SE 306 Monday at 4:00pm

Here's a map of the campus. SE, I think, stands for the Social Ecology building, which is marked as "210" on this map. You can take OCTA lines 59, 79, 175, and 178 to get there. read more→

Transit Advocates: Come to our free Meet & Greet! Wed Feb 24, 6pm

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. - Lea este mensaje en español.
Take Action! Bus
                        Cuts Info
We'd like to meet you.

 

You're invited to our free Meet & Greet: Wed Feb. 24, 6pm (doors open at 5:30).

Santa Ana Depot (train station), 5th floor.
To arrive by transit: OCTA 59, 62, 83, 206, 462, 463, 464, Metrolink, Amtrak

Please attend; We'd love to meet you! You'll hear the latest on the bus funding situation, the bus cuts situation, and what can be done to help save our bus service. You can let us know your concerns and questions. Refreshments will be provided at no charge. Please let us know ASAP if you can volunteer as a greeter or translator.

Check out more event info on the Transit Advocates' Facebook page.

OCTA Service Reduction –
Be sure to check your routes!

Many routes are being severely reduced or eliminated.
March 14, 2010.

The new Bus Service Change brochures are now available online at www.octa.net/marchchange and on the buses. Schedules will be available in the online Bus Book in late February, and on buses early March. Please preserve your copies or use the online versions as OCTA is printing only limited amounts. read more→

Transit Advocates of Orange County - www.transitadvocatesoc.org - (714)607-0012

To unsubscribe from this list, reply to this e-mail and let us know.

Lea este mensaje en español.

Transit Advocates: Tell your senators that public transit saves jobs!

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. - Lea este mensaje en español.
Take Action! Bus Cuts in 49 days
We need your help.

 

Tell Your Senators that Public Transit Saves Jobs.

The draft being circulated of the Senate's $85 billion jobs bill doesn't have a single dollar to address the crisis in transit funding, which threatens severe cuts to essential service and the loss of thousands of jobs.

We're joining our partners at Transportation for America, asking everyone to write your senators TODAY!

And it's not just transit that's been left out of the Senate jobs bill - there's no funding for innovative projects that can move us away from foreign oil, not a dime for high-speed rail or Amtrak, no reform of highway funding...the list goes on.

 

But a recent analysis of the previous economic stimulus package shows us that investments in public transportation have produced twice the jobs of highway projects.

If we are serious about creating and saving jobs, our senators need to insist on investing more in public transportation. Transit operating assistance - the emergency dollars that make sure America's bus drivers, rail operators, and station agents can get paid - keep all Americans moving.

When they don't get funded, bus routes are eliminated, weekend and evening service is reduced on trains and subways...millions of people are stranded at the station. And in difficult times, the economy suffers even more.

Don't let your senators squander this opportunity to make it right - demand that they fund transit operating assistance and other key transportation proposals!

 

  • To call Senator Dianne Feinstein: (619) 231-9712
  • To call Senator Barbara Boxer: (213) 894-5000
Please urge your friends and family to get involved.

 

Save the Dates

Transit Advocates Meet and Greet + Bus Cuts Update
Wednesday, February 24, 6 pm - 8 pm
Santa Ana Depot (train station)
We will have our first 2010 public meeting with bus service change updates and refreshments. Please attend; We'd like to meet you!

OCTA Service Change - Be sure to check your routes!
Many routes are being severely reduced or eliminated.
March 14, 2010

The new Bus Service Change brochures are now available online and on the buses. Schedules will be available in the online Bus Book in late February, and on buses early March. Please preserve your copies or use the online versions as OCTA is printing only limited amounts. The link to the online brochure is broken but you can access the information this way: read more→

Visit www.octa.net. Click on "Bus", "Service Changes", "March 2010 Service Reductions".
Transit Advocates of Orange County - www.transitadvocatesoc.org - (714)607-0012

To unsubscribe from this list, reply to this e-mail and let us know.

Lea este mensaje en español.

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

  read more→

OCTA Weekly Update: Irvine-Corona Expressway tunnel, train grade separations, HSR funds

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

(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→

Syndicate content

About TransitRiderOC

TransitRiderOC is a website that promotes and critiques sustainable transport in Orange County. We report on, share, and discuss news that affects bicyclists, pedestrians, the car-free, and transit riders (including but not limited to OCTA, Metrolink, Amtrak, Santa Ana light rail, Anaheim Resort Transit, the Irvine Shuttle, and Laguna Beach Transit). We support improving Orange County's transportation with complete streets and public transit to improve our communities' health, economies, and environment. Find out how you can participate.

Syndicate

Syndicate content

Recent comments