HUNTINGTON BEACH : OCTA Starts New Commuter Route

By coincidence, the Orange County Transportation Authority launched a new commuter bus service here on the same day a citizens’ panel publicly complained that such service is lacking.

On Monday, the city’s Environmental Board told the City Council that the lack of a non-transfer commuter bus service from Huntington Beach to Long Beach was an environmental problem.

The board, a group of 15 citizens who advise the council, said that many Huntington Beach residents who work in Los Angeles County needed better commuter access to Long Beach’s Blue Line.

The Blue Line is a light-rail mass transit system that connects downtown Long Beach with downtown Los Angeles.

The board said it wanted to persuade OCTA to add non-transfer bus service between Huntington Beach and the Blue Line.

“By coincidence, we were starting a new express route between Huntington Beach and Long Beach on Monday, the same day the group brought up the issue,” said Mike Greenwood, a planner with the OCTA.

He said the new service, Route 310, travels between a park-and-ride lot at Gothard and Center streets, near the Huntington Beach Mall, and ends at the Hughes Aircraft plant in Long Beach.

One of the stops is at the Wardlow Blue Line station in Long Beach.

Route 310 has two runs in the morning and two in the afternoon Monday through Friday. The cost is $1 each trip.

The first morning run leaves Huntington Beach at 6:10 a.m. and connects to the Blue Line at 7:05; the second leaves Huntington Beach at 6:55 a.m. and reaches the Blue Line at 7:40

In the afternoons, the 310 commuter buses leave the Wardlow Blue Line Station at 4 and 5:10 p.m. and arrive in Huntington Beach at 5:15 and 6:25 p.m., respectively.

Steven Hochfelsen, an attorney who is a member of the board, said Friday he is pleased that OCTA has launched the new service, but he said the board still plans to examine the overall picture of Huntington Beach bus service to the Blue Line.

“I don’t think that we should abandon looking into the mass transit situation just because two buses are running that route,” Hochfelsen said.

“I think we should also explore the options. . . . We might want to increase the frequency of the existing routes, or we might want to add additional routes.”

Hochfelsen praised OCTA for making “a step in the right direction” and for showing “a willingness to address the problem.”