Countywide : New Bus Routes Will Serve Train Station

Train commuters to Fullerton will have a little more help getting to work after Monday. That’s when the county starts a bus service connecting with the Commuter Rail and Amtrak trains during peak travel hours.

Orange County Transportation Authority officials announced that the agency will add two routes, both serving the Fullerton Transportation Center/Amtrak Station.

Route 324 will operate six trips daily and deliver riders to and from the Hughes Aircraft and Hunt-Wesson plants by way of Commonwealth Avenue and Gilbert Street.

Route 328 will operate six trips daily serving Cal State Fullerton, Kaynar Microdot and other east Fullerton employers via Commonwealth Avenue, Nutwood Avenue, Placentia Avenue and Valencia Drive. Buses on both routes will be accessible to people in wheelchairs, officials said.

“This is a good example of agencies cooperating . . . (to make) public transportation more attractive (to commuters) than staying in their own vehicles,” said John Catoe, director of OCTA operations.

The 17-passenger, propane-fueled mini-buses are scheduled with arriving and departing trains in mind. Their drivers will even wait for late morning trains to ensure that commuters get to work, OCTA officials said. The regular fare will be $1, but if riders buy a monthly rail pass or a 10-trip ticket book, the fare drops to only 30 cents.

“With these two routes, we’ve met our goal to connect all the county’s train stations with bus service,” said Mike Greenwood, associate service planner for the bus link program.

OCTA’s next project is to connect bus service to the new Metro Line stations when they open in late 1993.

Greenwood said commuters have been eager to use public transportation instead of their cars but have complained that the train gets them to work too early. Trains that service commuters from Oceanside and South County are scheduled to arrive in downtown Los Angeles by 8 a.m.

“So, for instance, people who get off in Irvine are getting to work by 6:30 or 7 in the morning,” Greenwood said.

Once the Metro Line stations are complete, more trains will be in service and that problem will be solved, he added.