CAMARILLO : Council Considers New Bus Routes

Camarillo buses would come more frequently and travel a more convenient route for residents if the City Council approves changes to the municipal system proposed by the city traffic division, a city official said last week.

The proposal, scheduled for a March 25 council vote, comes after residents criticized the existing two-bus system that serves about 100 riders a day, six days a week.

The buses, which run between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., do not operate on Sundays.

The municipal system now operates buses on two looping routes that go through the eastern and the central parts of the city, both finishing a full run every 75 minutes, traffic engineer Tom Fox said.

Under the proposal, the two buses would travel only one route, but a bus would come every 50 minutes, he said.

Travel time would be shortened by removing from the route mobile home parks on Central Avenue and Pleasant Valley Road, whose residents rarely take the bus, Fox said. It takes 15 minutes round trip for each bus to visit one of the parks.

Under the new route, buses would still hit the same central shopping areas and the Pleasant Valley Hospital, he said.

The city has submitted a grant application to the federal Transit Authority for $250,000 to buy three new mini-buses to replace the two full-size buses running now, Fox said.