VENTURA : City Keeps Bus Route From Harbor to Mall

Pelted with heartfelt requests from disabled residents, the Ventura City Council has elected to keep SCAT Bus 12 running between Ventura Harbor and the Buenaventura Mall--at least for now.

City analysts had asked the council to request cancellation of the route to the South Coast Area Transit board. The SCAT board usually accedes to such city requests.

The bus carries about nine riders an hour and recoups only about 8% of its cost, city officials said. Ventura could face up to a $250,000 public transportation budget deficit next year, and eliminating the route would have saved the city $95,000, city officials said.

But on Monday night, the council watched as resident after resident approached the microphone to explain how SCAT Bus 12 gave them transportation to the first good job they have ever had. Most of the speakers have some form of mental disability and work as housekeepers at the Colony Harbortown Marina Resort, through a program organized by Goodwill Industries.

Tammie Wheatley, the hotel’s general manager, capped off the appeals.

“To take this bus away from (my employees) now would be a cruel and devastating thing to do,” she said. “Housekeeping is the hardest job on my staff to do, the hardest and the lowest-paid, and these people are so proud and happy to do it.”

In the end, the council members decided to retain the bus service.

The council also authorized the mayor to meet with officials from other west county cities, to devise a plan to cut the cities’ contributions to Metrolink, the commuter train connecting Ventura County with Los Angeles.

Ventura city officials maintain that west county residents are paying a disproportionately high share of Metrolink costs, since west county ridership is not very high.