budget

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→

I'm catching up on all the transportation stories over the past month, and came across two Orange County Grand Jury reports that criticize OCTA for failing to protect transit commuters while spending a disproportionate amount of money on freeways and Metrolink. Within the same period, they criticized Santa Ana's City Council for a lack of government transparency in awarding a $4.85-million contract to the least-qualified firm for their pet Santa Ana streetcar project.

The OC Register, L.A. Times, and other blog outlets have articles that summarize the findings:

• Grand jury says OCTA fails low-income bus riders: After a 20 percent reduction in bus service, the grand jury wants OCTA to re-examine its spending decisions. (Orange County Register)
• O.C. Grand Jury criticizes Santa Ana council over transportation contract: A report says the bulk of a $4.85-million consulting agreement for a streetcar project went to a firm that experts had rated the least qualified of all the bidders. (Los Angeles Times) 
• Grand Jury Exposes Santa Ana City Countil...Now What! (TheLiberalOC.com)
• Well-connected firm got 'flawed' contract: Grand Jury finds that Santa Ana officials used a 'compromised' process to award a contract worth nearly $5 million. (Orange County Register)

Some choice tidbits from the Orange County Grand Jury report on OCTA's shortcomings: read more→

 There will be a public hearing on next year’s 2010/2011 OCTA budget Monday, June 14, 9 am.

A fare increase, planned years ago, is part of this budget, but OCTA has indicated that the board believes there may be a way to hold off on it for at least another year. We will monitor the hearing for an update.

Also on the agenda (second issue on the Regular Calendar, item # 27) is a report on the June service change (a day after the service change!) and warnings that the September change may include “resource reallocation” – there would be the same amount of hours systemwide, but some “low use” routes:

 21, 24, 129, 143, 153

 may be reduced to add service on routes with pass-bys and late buses:

 29, 43, 50, 53, 57, 59, 60, 64, 70, 90, 129 (not a typo), 143 (not a typo)

Come and urge the board to find a way that service can be improved where necessary without cutting already devastated routes even further - the 5 routes to be cut run every 60 – 85 minutes, even during rush hour! Some of the methods OCTA may use to cut are “span” reduction (earliest and/or latest trips), reducing frequency, and short turns. More info: http://atb.octa.net/AgendaPDF/8126.pdf

June service change tomorrow, Sunday!

Routes 60 and 129 are having the most significant changes, but they’re just schedule adjustments. Click here for a full list of changes: http://www.octa.net/june10sc.aspx

OC grand jury asks OCTA to improve bus service

Click here: http://www.ocgrandjury.org/pdfs/octa-mission/octa-mission-report.pdf to see the report and get back to us with your comments – Thanks!

  read more→

Connections between Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley will get more difficult if Foothill Transit proceeds with its proposed service cuts. Simon Oh's blog pointed out that two remaining bus lines — 285 and 286 — are slated to get the axe. Foothill Transit does not provide a date when this will happen, but they are soliciting feedback in March and April about these cuts.

This news came out a week or two ago, but it's no less important for those requiring mobility in Southern California. Just to put things in perspective, here's a generic map of what we're talking about, with "service areas" by the fragmented transit agencies in Southern California:

Black arrows show regularly-scheduled bus lines that connect from one transit agency's service area to another. The red arrow is Foothill Transit's proposed cuts, and you'll notice that those are the only two bus lines that help riders go between Orange County and San Gabriel Valley. (I did not include peak-period express buses (such as OCTA's 757 and 794) because so few of those buses run that they're virtually useless for many of us who don't have 9-to-5 weekday jobs.)

Darrell Johnson, OCTA's new deputy CEO, recently crowed, “We have an incredibly diverse portfolio of transit services – buses, trains and vanpools. We have a world class freeway system and the most successful toll facility in the United States.” Notice how he says nothing about Orange County's increasingly unreliable transit system. read more→

OCTA just sent out its usual weekly update. In essence, the latest laws signed by Governor Schwarznegger will make a further deep cuts in bus services unlikely this coming September. OCTA's also pushing ahead on new freeway construction along the I-5 carpool lane. And Mayor Cavecche of my very own city of Orange helped guide seniors at a local center on how to use Text4Next, how to navigate the buses, and more.

Relatively benign weekly update. But very good news overall. read more→

 OCTA released its weekly update a few nights ago, and here's my take:

• OCTA CEO Will Kempton and two of the Board of Directors recently flew to Washington, D.C., to continue their advocacy work on the federal level for public transit. They've asked for flexibility in funding so that public transit in Orange County can continue to operate (operating funds) instead of having funds locked in for just construction (capital funds).
• Disneyland hired some of OCTA's laid-off drivers and is renting some of OCTA's unused buses in order to serve a new Disneyland parking lot. OCTA is spinning this as a service to the "community," but I partly disagree: these buses don't serve Anaheim's community nor do they serve the rest of us living in Orange County, and only further encourages auto-centric behavior.
• There's a fairly long list of neutral-to-negative articles towards the end regarding the most recent cuts that OCTA took. 

  read more→

Metrolink's proposing some massive service cuts — along with a possible increase of up to 13% in fares plus elimination of some discounts — to solve a plunge in state and local transit funding. I've put together a map showing all of the proposed cuts to date, combined with the recent service cuts that put Orange County transit service in a hole:

The Transit Coalition says it best. In their most recent newsletters, they've summarized it as follows:

Metrolink is preparing for another round of service cuts and/or fare hikes. While the last round of cuts focused on trimming weekend service, current proposed cuts appear to decimate the Antelope Valley Line and the Ventura County Line, which may lose eleven and eight weekday trains, respectively. The San Bernardino Line would lose two trains on weekdays and Sundays and four trains on Saturday. The Inland Empire-Orange County Line would see four trains disappear on weekdays, and one train will terminate in Laguna Niguel instead of Oceanside. 

Riders may also see a fare increase between 3% and 13.1%, depending on station pairs. Aside from the usual 3% to 6% increase, discounts would be eliminated or tempered for 10-trip and monthly passes, as well as senior/disabled, student, round-trip and weekend tickets. The proposed plan would also see the 80-mile cap on tickets lifted, meaning that the highest fare, Lancaster to Oceanside, would rise from $14 to $23.50. Those who wish to comment on the proposed fare hikes and/or service cuts may do so online at theMetrolink web site or in person at the public hearing on Friday, April 2.  ...

Metrolink is one of the Southern California agencies proposing drastic service cuts to nip a $17 million budget shortfall. The Ventura County Starand the Los Angeles Daily News have provided coverage and editorials. Transit advocates have been meeting with Metrolink staff and directors to propose cost efficiencies by linking the spoke and hub train system into a series of corridors. For Ventura County and Antelope Valley Line riders that want to help save the service, you may join the TTC campaign, as we need volunteers aboard the trains to circulate line specific post cards linked above. Contact TTC to help. 

If you'd like to comment, attend the Metrolink Board of Directors meeting on April 2, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), 818 W. Seventh Street, 12th Floor, Board Room, Los Angeles, CA 90017 read more→