CAMARILLO : Bus Routes May Change Under Plan

Camarillo residents who depend on the bus may see reorganized routes next year if the City Council approves a five-year plan to improve public transportation.

At the request of students and seniors, who ride the bus the most, the city is considering adding an early-morning trip to serve students at Monte Vista Junior High School and restructuring existing midday routes to serve Camarillo Plaza and other shopping centers, a transit report states.

The restructuring would allow the buses to serve the heavily used stops more frequently and to drop the infrequently used ones, said Daniel Greeley, the city’s director of engineering.

The transit plan, which incorporates many suggestions and requests made by bus users in recent years, calls for bus fares to remain at 50 cents during the five-year period.

The route restructuring is designed to serve the people who need public transit most, Greeley said.

“Camarillo has a higher percentage of seniors, with Leisure Village and our mobile home parks,” he said. “They are the ones who use the transit system.”

After 1992, the city will be required to replace its aging buses, but the city has no plan yet to finance such a purchase. Among the options being considered are borrowing money, seeking grant funds, using county sales tax money if a half-cent hike is approved by voters or replacing city service with the regional buses from South Coast Area Transit. That agency now serves the cities of Ventura and Oxnard.

The City Council will review the proposed five-year plan at a public study session 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. The council will vote on the plan at its June 27 meeting, Greeley said.