OCTA’s New Routes May Be Leading to Fewer Riders

A sweeping overhaul of Orange County bus routes that was intended to speed service and boost ridership may, in fact, discourage people from riding on public buses, critics and transportation officials said Monday.

Seven months after the Orange County Transportation Authority replaced its network of circuitous bus routes with a straight, grid-like system, agency officials announced they are investigating whether overall ridership is shrinking because of it.

Longtime bus riders complained Monday that the new routes are driving customers away because of doubled fares, lengthened rides, befuddled passengers and commuters left stranded at pedestrian-hostile bus stops.

“I simply don’t ride the bus as often as I used to because I don’t want the hassle,” said Eugenia Gelman, a Fountain Valley senior. “Please go back to the old system.”

Gelman told OCTA officials that she used to take the bus to Long Beach on a regular basis. That stopped abruptly when the new bus system required her to change buses on a forbidding stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.

“They left me off at such a desolate spot I feared for my life,” Gelman said. “There wasn’t even a bus bench to sit on. I decided then that I would never go to Long Beach again.”

Another regular bus rider, Amanda Sharpe, complained that changing or transferring buses was becoming too complex.

Sharpe, who has cerebral palsy and uses a guide dog, said she frequently gets lost because of the changes.

“I had a real ‘Where’s Waldo?’ experience recently just trying to get to work,” Sharpe said.

She also complained that bus drivers were too quick to put the pedal to the metal, causing her to fall. “I got slammed recently,” Sharpe said. “Basically, the bus driver waited for my dog to get safe before going, but didn’t wait for me. I got slammed.”

Until recently, Orange County’s bus ridership was among the fastest-growing in the nation. Since beginning the so-called “point-to-point” route system, though, bus boardings have leveled off and officials worry the number of individual riders is eroding. “We may be losing some numbers since we went point-to-point,” OCTA spokesman George Urch said.

Usage May Be Off; Figures Are Unknown

Advocates for county bus riders have long charged that the new system is costing OCTA its riders, but only now have officials publicly acknowledged that this may be the case.

“It’s difficult for people to use the new system, so they’re opting out of it,” said Jane Reifer of Transit Advocates of Orange County, a group representing bus riders. “Instead, they’re either walking, getting rides, or just not making the trip. Some are even getting cars.”

Officials say it has been difficult to calculate the number of transit riders because the point-to-point system requires passengers to make more transfers. “We really don’t have a good handle on what’s happening to ridership,” OCTA chief Arthur Leahy said. Leahy, a one-time MTA bus driver in Los Angeles, said his agency will study ridership and will roll out a public relations campaign to encourage bus use.

Leahy said the study of ridership figures should be completed in April. The results might cause officials to alter portions of the point-to-point system so that it incorporate longer direct bus routes between key population centers--a demand that many bus riders have made repeatedly.

Monday’s hearing was held to give bus riders a chance to comment on $800,000 worth of proposed changes to the new system, scheduled to take effect in June. The changes, according to OCTA, will add almost 15,000 hours to the transit system, and feature earlier and later bus service along several lines.

Although riders said they appreciated added service hours, speakers also recited a laundry list of complaints about the system.

Criticism Rolls In for Bus Signs, Stops

Longtime bus rider T.J. Stiller said electronic signs designating bus routes are confusing.

“You’ll have signs on buses that say, ‘Costa Mesa,’ but where in Costa Mesa?” Stiller said. “You also have flashing signs that say what the bus destination is, but then the signs will change to some message like, ‘Hello,’ and cover up the destination before you can read it.”

Other bus riders have criticized the placement of new bus stops. Fullerton resident Judith Kaluzny said a popular stop on Chapman Avenue near UCI Medical Center forces patients to cross heavy traffic in order to see their doctors.

“You can’t imagine how intimidating and scary it is to cross against all that traffic,” Kaluzny said. “And imagine if you were to try and do it in a wheelchair, or on crutches or with small children or carrying an infant. . . . It’s like there’s no thought of convenience for the passengers, only for the automobiles.”

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Transit Troubles

Transit productivity has dropped since the OCTA adopted a new point to point bus route system. The drop means that while the OCTA adds more buses and hours to its transit system, the number of bus riders actually taking advantage of those upgrades is not increasing.

Transit Productivity*

*Transit productivity is a function of the number of bus boardings and total hours of bus service.