Bid to Restore Bus Route Rejected : Oxnard: A county commission refuses to overturn a decision by the City Council, which cited low ridership.

Despite a petition signed by nearly 500 residents and businesses demanding that a defunct Oxnard beachfront bus route be restored, the service will not be resurrected, the Ventura County Transportation Commission decided Friday.

In agreeing not to reinstate service, the commissioners said they wanted to avoid overturning a transportation decision made by Oxnard.

The Oxnard City Council in March voted to do away with the beach bus, citing low ridership and its failure to generate cash.

“We have a problem of setting a precedent in terms of taking a situation determined by a local government and changing it,” said Commission Chairman Frank Schillo. “It’s a particularly difficult situation.”

In June, the board of the South Coast Area Transit, which runs the bus service, agreed to discontinue service. The move saves Oxnard $60,000 a year, the city’s annual subsidy to meet operating expenses.

Residents who signed the petition argued that the service is essential because many school children, workers without cars and elderly residents depend on the bus as a main method of transportation.

“This is a very important bus line,” said Oxnard resident Bernadette Reedy, a 17-year passenger who helped launch the petition drive to restore service. “People are walking many, many miles just to get to school and to work.”

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Transportation Commission Executive Director Ginger Gherardi suggested that the commission subsidize the line for one year with $70,000 in SCAT and state transportation funds.

But the commission declined, saying it did not want to give preferential treatment to one failing route without considering ailing routes in other cities which might also qualify for the funding.

The commission instead directed its staff to work with Oxnard officials to devise a plan for creating a more successful route before committing public funds to the project.

“There is a concern if the commission starts picking and choosing who gets this money that this is not the right way to go about it,” said Commissioner Vicky Howard, who is also a county supervisor.

In its on-again, off-again years of operation, the bus route never made more than 10% of its operating costs from fare receipts, transportation officials said.

State transit standards require bus systems to make at least 20% of their revenue from passengers.

But individual routes may fall below that if other routes bring in better returns and the average for all routes exceeds 20%.

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For example, buses to Ojai, Santa Paula and the Ventura harbor all bring in revenue at or below the amount generated by the beach line. Overall returns on the SCAT system average 22.4%.

But the cities in which low-revenue bus lines operate are required to subsidize service.

“It is unfortunate that we had to discontinue the bus,” said Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez. “But there is only so much funding to go around.”