Disabled, Needy Urge Extended Bus Service

Ventura County’s disabled and needy residents require buses that run evenings and weekends and that stop more frequently, a handful of speakers said Monday afternoon during a hearing in Thousand Oaks on the county’s unmet public transportation needs.

“We need VISTA service bad here on the weekends,” said Thousand Oaks resident Mary Harris, who is disabled and whose husband is blind. “On weekends it’s hard to get out. . . . We really need to get out of town.”

VISTA, or Ventura Intercity Service Transit Authority, connects regional bus lines, such as South Coast Area Transit (SCAT) and Thousand Oaks Transit, allowing riders to get from one end of the county to the other.

However, VISTA service is only available Monday through Friday and the buses and vans don’t run on holidays.

Thousand Oaks resident Paula Neustadt said scheduling and route information for the county’s various public transportation lines is often inaccurate, and that the intervals between buses aren’t frequent enough.

“I’m interested in shorter intervals between trips,” Neustadt said. “If I miss my bus by a couple minutes, I have to wait a couple hours for another bus.”

The hearing before Ventura County’s Transportation Policy Planning Committee is required by law and intended to ensure that the county meets the needs of residents dependent on the public transit system before spending state funds for improving streets and roads.

Sandy Walters, who came from Oxnard to attend the first of two hearings before the advisory committee, said extending hours of operations would be a boon to those dependent on public transit.

“We have a thousand people who live in the east county who are disabled either mentally or physically, and their biggest complaint is getting from one city to another and the length of bus service,” Walters said.

Walters said extending bus line hours beyond 6 p.m. across the county would allow riders to attend night classes at nearby community colleges, enjoy evening activities and make more money by working later into the day.

The committee will hold a second hearing Feb. 19 at 1:30 p.m. at the Ventura County Government Center, 800 S. Victoria Ave., in Ventura.