More Passengers Enjoying the Ride as OCTA Leaves Troubles Behind

Orange County bus ridership has increased at a rapid pace over the last year, a sign that the furor over fare increases and radically altered routes may have subsided.

After suffering declining ridership in 2000, the number of passengers using Orange County’s bus system grew by 10% last year--the sharpest increase of any major metropolitan area in the nation, according to the American Public Transit Assn.

An unrelated Orange County Transportation Authority ridership survey released Friday underscores the apparent shift in attitudes regarding the sweeping overhaul of the county’s bus routes.

The survey, in which 12,500 riders participated, shows 54% of bus passengers are generally pleased with the system, an increase of 8 percentage points from 1998.

However, riders said they wanted more routes, stepped-up weekend service and a less cumbersome system for transferring.

“We want to have better and more frequent service, cleaner buses, better connections and more on-time service,” said Art Leahy, OCTA’s chief executive officer and a former bus driver. “If we do things right, we expect ridership to climb. We have a wonderful trend here.”

The surveys were distributed to riders as they boarded buses, and the questions related to rider preferences and demographics, not trip origins and final destinations.

Bus riders were critical and confused when OCTA rolled out its point-to-point bus routes. Passengers said the system, which carved meandering bus routes into straight lines, was befuddling, leaving them stranded or dashing across streets to transfer to another bus. OCTA has since altered some routes to make the network flow more smoothly.

“Where straight-lining worked, they kept it,” said Jane Reifer, a member of Transit Advocates of Orange County and initially a critic of the revamped routes. “Where it didn’t, they tweaked it. They’ve begun connecting some of the old routes again, and that’s pleasing.”

Ridership in 2001 increased 10%, far ahead of increases in Los Angeles (7.45%) and New York (5.65%). Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas and Denver experienced a decline in ridership through the first three quarters of 2001.

OCTA reported that more than 61 million people boarded buses in 2001.

The pattern appears to be holding. Last month, there were roughly 4.7 million bus boardings--a 20.6% increase over the same period a year ago

Passengers surveyed also expressed satisfaction with the bus books and OCTA’s Web site, though they indicated they would like more information posted at stops.

George Urch, an OCTA spokesman, said directors will probably respond to riders’ wishes at their Monday meeting.

“We plan to add more service to the busier routes,” Urch said. “We need to put more information at our bus stops and we want to make improving transfers a priority.”

Urch said 24-hour service is a possibility for some routes.

OCTA also compiled a profile of the typical bus riders. Roughly 56% are women and about 60% are Latino. Most are headed to work and do not have an available car.