Orange County provides the latest development in the ongoing experiment with transit in Southern California, hoping that a high-frequency bus grid can reverse slumping ridership numbers.
Meghan McCarty reports on recent developments in the bus transit planning arena in Orange County, California.
According to McCarty, "Orange County has seen among the biggest drops in ridership within the region, recording about a 30 percent decrease since 2008." (Similar news about declining transit ridership recently focused on Los Angeles, but Orange County is faced with similar trends. Be sure to read the comments of the earlier story for commentary on the data used to create the story.)
Earlier in November, however, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) proposed an overhaul of the system based on the Houston examples of "increasing frequency for popular lines while reducing or cutting others altogether," as McCarty wrote at the time of the proposal's release to the public.
Fast forward to February, and OCTA officials have revised the November proposal due to public outcry. Here McCarty describes the changes made to the original plan: "In response to the public outcry, officials have proposed a new plan that restores service to 14 lines that would have been cut. But to keep the budget on track, the plan also scales back some of the increases in service proposed for other lines."
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