More Riding Bus by Choice Rather Than by Necessity

More Orange County residents who can use cars to get where they’re going are instead opting to ride the bus, but most of the riders still are low-income minorities, according to a survey released Wednesday by the transit officials.

The results were encouraging to Orange County Transportation Authority officials. Though most riders are still dependent on public transportation, the authority is reaching more people who choose to ride the bus.

“The people whom we are attracting now tend to be in higher-income brackets than our longtime customers,” said Sabrina Gates Schaffer, an analyst for the authority. “But our primary customer remains the transit dependent.”

The survey, which is conducted every four years, helps transit officials make

decisions about bus service and rider needs. The authority has one of the fastest-growing bus systems in the country, with ridership increasing 12% since 1992 to 53 million boardings last year.

Still, the picture that emerges of bus commuters in the county is far from a mirror image of county residents. About 75% of riders are minorities and nearly 80% of those who responded live in households with an annual income of less than $35,000.

Nearly all weekday bus riders--95%--said they use the bus more than five days a week.

The new statistics are based on nearly 15,000 surveys collected systemwide in October and November. Surveys were distributed in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Among the results:

* No cars were available to 37% of the bus riders, a dramatic drop from 55% four years ago.

* Riders using the bus to get to work made up 55% of the total ridership.

* Nearly three-quarters paid cash each time for a single ride instead of buying monthly passes, indicating that most riders can’t come up with a lump-sum payment to take advantage of the money-saving monthly passes.

* About half said they have been riding the bus at least three years. In the last survey, 42% said they had been riding the bus for three years or more.

“We are heartened by the results,” said transit spokesman John Standiford. “There seems to be generally positive feelings about the bus system by the people who use the system.”

But there also were complaints. About 60% of the respondents said they would use the buses more often if service were more frequent. Some also wanted expanded weekend service.

The survey results will be presented to the transit board Monday. Earlier this month, board members approved new bus fares--the first price hikes in eight years.

Some transit officials are worried about the effect that higher fares will have on customers’ habits. Most now pay $1 to get on and then take advantage of free transfers to board other buses.

Under the new fares, the authority killed the transfers, kept the $1 basic fare for each boarding and introduced a $2.50 day pass, which allows riders to unlimited rides for the day. It is giving riders time to get used to the day pass by keeping the cost at $2 through the end of the year.

The new fares should provide an additional $1.5 million a year in revenue. The agency plans to use the new money to help fund 60,000 more hours of service--a 10% increase--starting in July.

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Riders Differ

The ethnicity of Orange County bus riders differs substantially from the county as a whole:

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Riders Countywide White 25% 58% Latino 60 28 Asian 5 12 Black 6 2 Other 4 -

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Sources: Orange County Transportation Authority, Cal State Fullerton Center for Demographic Research