According to officials, the number of people using buses is at its lowest in years. Some changes were made last year and those routes that were augmented saw a general rise in users, however the overall number of bus riders still went down by 1.5% by the end of 2018. The OCTA hopes that the changes made this year will increase ridership by 107,000 boardings in 2019.
Eric Carpenter, a spokesman for the OCTA, stated:
“Former riders have found other ways of getting around, including by transportation network services such as Uber and Lyft, and have purchased their own vehicles.”
If the changes are approved, they will be implemented starting in October. A combination of improvements and cuts are planned, which means that the OCTA’s revenue will not increase nor decrease. Bus riders will still be able to buy tickets from located at bus stations in cities such as Placentia.
Some of the changes that Orange County bus riders can expect to see implemented include:
- Yorba Linda will get its first bus line after years of it being suspended. Route 26 coming from Fullerton will go all the way to Yorba Linda’s city center
- Routes 21 and 24 will be replaced with Route 123
- Route’s 56 and 72 will increase their number of weekend trips
To keep everyone informed, such alterations are often publicized with flyer or poster printing.