“Including weekends, there were 4.75 million boardings of OCTA buses in June,” but Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach “said OCTA’s board should look at whether the agency should even offer bus service,” according to the O.C. Register.
Is Moorlach deranged? Almost five million boardings in June and he wonders if we should have a public bus service?
He also asked “Is there a point where maybe a bus system isn’t even necessary?” Don’t the usage numbers answer that question?
It is true that the state has cut funding and that ridership is down 20%, but that just means that the OCTA needs to be run as lean as possible. Hiring a new CEO for $250,000 was questionable if indeed running lean is a goal.
It is also true that bus fares only fund 20% of public transit costs. The County picks up the tab for the rest. The state does not allow the OCTA to charge more for rates.
But studies show that poor residents really need bus transportation to get to and from work. And if we want to get folks out of cars then buses are a great way to go.
How else can we save money? Well, I can only hope that the OCTA is using computer software to assess where routes need to go.
Red County’s Matt “Jerbal” Cunningham wants the OCTA to replace buses with jitneys. What an idiot! Santa Ana is already number one in accidents involving pedestrians and vehicles. Adding jitneys to the mix will just cause more accidents!
Here’s a thought – let immigrants get driver’s licenses! Many of them uses buses because we won’t let them drive. BUT, Republicans like Moorlach and Jerbal oppose letting immigrants drive. Well, you can’t have it both ways boys!
Seniors and students, as well as working class people, need public transportation. We should not be surprised to see a gaggle of well-heeled Republicans questioning the need for buses – but we should not let them get away with that either.
Of course we need buses – it is stupid for Moorlach to even ponder getting rid of them!
When the employment situation improves bus ridership will go back up.
Does Moorlach need a mental checkup?
I have a car but I even use the bus once in a while to save gas or to get somewhere if the car is out of service.
Many do not have a car or cannot drive due to eyesight, lack of a licence, disablity etc.
One of the dumbest ideas I have heard of in quite sometime
Moorlach’s affluent constituents may get upset if they find out that he is proposing to eliminate the transporation their hired help – nannies, housekeepers, etc. – use to get to those rich folks’ houses in places like Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Huntington Harbour, etc. Good grief, those folks might have to learn how to do those chores themselves!
Libertarians do not believe in public transportation. It is wealth redistribution.
Do a public-private partnership like Foothill Transit at least. That is my solution to Supervisor Moorlach. Eliminating OCTA Bus service will only backfire.
I have traveled the world and can not name any major county that does not offer public transportation options.
The register makes a critical point:
“Federal and state laws require the county to offer bus service or lose highway funding, but maybe the trade-off isn’t worth it”, he(Morrlach) said.
Our two teenagers have utilized the U-Pass offered by OCTA this summer. They have had the freedom to travel throughout the county during the summer for a reasonable price of $50.00 for three months unlimited use.
The public bus/transportation system is vital to a healthy democracy.
Actually, before it got higher bureaucratic aspirations and sprouted wings, the OCTA was basically a glorified bus operator. That’s what it should go back to being.
John M. said the OCTA should “look at it”: not the same thing as advocating it – yet. If he does he will be wrong. I respect original thinking, but busses are a necessity for a lot of people.
Buses are a necessity for a lot of people, too.
5 million rider trips, and only 20% of them pay their way? So 4 million bus rides a year are paid for not by the rider, but by the OC taxpayers, and nobody except John Moorlach and me sees anything wrong with this picture?
Look at the numbers, folks! In order to provide 5 million passenger trips, OCTA has a $1.2 BILLION dollar budget, of which just 20% comes from the fare paying passengers. That comes out to $192 out of the taxpayers’ pockets every time someone gets on a bus or a train in Orange County. It would be cheaper for the OC taxpayers to buy each of those riders their own car, pay their tax, license and gas for a year, and scrap the OCTD than to continue down this ruinous road!