New Bus Route Not the Way to Go

As Orange County expanded with the automobile, public transportation has provided the link to get service workers to jobs in spread-out, affluent communities.

Now, in the name of efficiency, the Orange County Transportation Authority has announced plans to eliminate a bus route that delivers nannies, maids and hotel workers from downtown Santa Ana to Newport Beach.

This change would add 20 minutes each way to a commute that already takes more than an hour. This is not the way to serve customers. OCTA should reconsider its planned changes to Bus Route 57.

OCTA is getting ready to make its bus routes run north-south or east-west, not in patterns covering more points of the compass, as some do now. That sounds fine, but neat grids do not necessarily fit the patterns of how the county’s workers deal with their lives. The agency did solicit public comment, which was the right thing to do. The next step should be listening to what riders said.

Riders on Route 57 managed to get an impressive 900 signatures on a petition opposing revamping the route. Rather than the current 70-minute ride from the bus terminal in Santa Ana to the one in Newport Beach, the new route would require more than 90 minutes. Instead of one bus, a rider would have to take two.

Most bus riders work for residents in and near Newport Beach. Adding an extra 40 minutes or more to their round-trip commute would be a burden.

The riders, most of them women, earn around $300 a week. That’s not much money, but they say it’s more than they could earn working closer to home, if they could find jobs at all.

Adding a bus transfer also could boost the fares. While monthly bus passes allow unlimited rides, the bus passengers say they often do not have enough money for a pass. Instead, they pay day by day, bus by bus.

Most bus riders in Orange County ride out of necessity. They cannot afford a car or obtain a driver’s license. But the community benefits as well. Fewer cars mean a better traffic flow and less pollutants spewed into the air. Regular riders, like Vilma Batres, a native of El Salvador, have said that the buses are packed each day. Clearly there is a need, and employers who benefit in the coastal communities should lend their voices to supporting the retention of bus service.

Environmental benefits aside, OCTA has to serve those who depend most heavily on the buses. That means that when flexibility is required, the agency should show some.

Consideration must be given to those whose labor buoys the economy. The county public transportation system serves a needy population in a sprawling region. At some point, the efficiency envisioned by planners must give way to doing the right thing as a matter of enlightened public policy.