Evening Buses, Pooling Lanes in 5-Year Plan

The Orange County Transportation Commission on Monday approved a five-year, $582-million plan that envisions some expansion in evening bus service and greater emphasis on car pools and van pools to help relieve rush-hour freeway congestion.

The spending plan reflects a clear commitment to bus service, the primary focus of transit planning after county voters last year defeated a local sales tax increase that would have helped finance a light rail system linking Orange County’s major employment and tourist centers.

Yet the plan clearly signals an end to the heydays of bus ridership growth that saw passengers increase from 985,000 in 1972 to more than 30 million this year.

Growth to Level Out

Because of dwindling employment growth and more limited expansion of available routes, passenger growth--which occasionally had surpassed 10% a year--is expected to level out at 3% to 4% annually during the next few years.

For the first time, Orange County Transit District officials will be de-emphasizing new bus routes and focusing on neighborhood dial-a-ride service, a taxi-like network of vans summoned by telephone. Ridership on the dial-a-ride is expected nearly to double during the next five years.

“It has become a more attractive option in some of the outlying areas of the county, the lower density areas, where there’s not enough ridership to support a fixed line,” said Brian Pearson, director of development services for the Transit District. The district’s five-year plan proposes to increase the dial-a-ride fleet from 131 to 156 vehicles.

Another focus of attention will be car-pooling and van-pooling programs, coinciding with a long-range program to build new bus and car-pool lanes along Orange County’s major freeways as an alternative to a major rail transit system.

While a smaller-scale rail system eventually may be developed in the core of the county, the so-called high occupancy vehicle lanes are proposed for more immediate development, costing anywhere from $275 million to $640 million and serving up to 140,000 commuters a day.

To Buy Fleet of Vans

To encourage use of the lanes once they are built, the Transit District plans to buy a fleet of 10 vans that would be available temporarily to large employers seeking to launch company van-pool programs. Transit officials estimate that 60% of the demand for new lanes will come from car pools rather than buses.

The Transit District’s existing ride-sharing program, which has arranged 6,080 car pools through computer match lists, already has saved commuters an estimated $8.2 million, according to the Transit District’s estimates.

A key focus during the coming fiscal year will be expanded evening bus service. Most of the district’s routes do not operate after 8:30 p.m. on weekdays, a difficulty for those who depend on buses. About a third of the district’s proposed route changes for next year will be geared to expand evening service, though the district’s overall service hours will not be increased.

The district also is proposing “modest” fare hikes, roughly paralleling the rate of inflation at 4% to 5% a year, probably beginning with a hike from 75 cents to 80 cents during either 1985 or 1986, Pearson said.

Bus Service for Elderly

Other operations covered in the five-year plan include the Laguna Beach Municipal Transit Lines--a local bus service which proposes to expand its bus garage and maintenance facility at a cost of $250,000 --and the Consolidated Transportation Services Agency, which provides bus service for elderly, handicapped and developmentally disabled passengers.

The latter increased handicapped ridership 3.4% last year and proposes boosts in service for both the handicapped and senior citizens over the next five years. The agency’s budget runs about $3 million a year.

The Transportation Commission also included a request from the City of Irvine for $560,000 in federal funds for additional track siding to accommodate a new multi-modal train station. The city currently is negotiating with Amtrak and the Santa Fe Railroad for Amtrak service via its Los Angeles-to-San Diego route once the station is built.