SIMI VALLEY : Bus Route to College May Be Eliminated
Simi Valley residents who use the city bus to get to Moorpark College may have to find another form of transportation.
Because of the low number of riders on buses between the city and college, the City Council may discontinue the service, said Jim Wolfe, city deputy director of community services.
“The city’s been running service out to Moorpark College for nearly 11 years,” Wolfe said. But “ridership always has been poor.”
The council considered canceling service to the college last year, but city and college officials decided to continue it with modified hours through Friday, the last day of regular classes for the spring semester.
On June 10, the council will consider how the trial program went and whether to restart bus service to the college in the fall, Wolfe said.
Under the modified hours, a city bus stopped at the college 14 times between 7:51 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. each day classes were held. The program cost $65,822, with about half paid by federal funds and the remainder split between the city and college, said Ray Turpin, city transit administrator.
But the bus averaged only about 40 riders each day of service, Turpin said. They paid fares that amounted to about 12.5% of the cost of running the service.
Turpin said the council’s goal is for fares on each route to cover at least 20% of the cost of running that route.
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