I read with interest your story published April 12, 2024, titled “Irvine Launches New Shuttle System as OC Bus Service Continues Shrinking” and was disappointed by the misleading headline and mischaracterization throughout.
OC Bus service, run by the Orange County Transportation Authority, has a more than 50-year history serving Orange County, and it continues to grow and thrive – not shrink.
Over the past decade, OCTA has made painstaking efforts to evaluate and reshape the OC Bus system to better serve the county. It’s true to say some routes have been scaled back or eliminated but highlighting that lacks context and fails to acknowledge that service was shifted to areas where there is demand for it. This is not a sign of a shrinking bus system but rather of a public agency that responds to community needs and smartly spends taxpayer dollars.
We have provided better access to transportation by providing free fares at all times for all Orange County youth and community college students. Our Youth Ride Free and Community College Pass program generated more than 4.7 million trips in 2023 – that’s more than 15 percent of all trips taken last year on OC Bus. These innovative programs are attracting new riders, providing opportunities to better access education and we’re showing them how to become lifelong riders of public transit.
Through this work, Orange County ridership is recovering from the numbers that plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The OC Bus system regularly served approximately 120,000 riders per weekday before the pandemic, fell to less than half of that during, and has gradually recovered. In March, it averaged nearly 114,000 riders on weekdays and continues to trend upward.
Similarly, OCTA is adding back revenue vehicle hours – the amount of time OC Buses are actually out on the street serving passengers. That means budgeting for about 1.5 million hours, approaching the pre-pandemic 1.6 million hours. In the past two fiscal years, OCTA has added back more than 207,000 revenue vehicle hours and continues to add as demand increases.
The story also leaves a false impression that OCTA is failing to make money from riders to cover the cost of the bus system. The fact is by its nature public transit is heavily subsidized. Paying for transit service is a public benefit, reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality, and enhancing accessibility for all residents, workers, and visitors. Like public schools, police and fire departments, parks and recs programs – to name a few – transit is a public service offered to create healthier, more equitable and thriving communities.
In fact, LA Metro, the largest transit agency in the region, has a farebox recovery ratio in the most recent year of just more than 7%, meaning for every dollar spent they recover 7 cents from fares. On OC Bus our farebox recovery is 10.5%. Measuring the success of public transit by the revenue generated overlooks the nature of the service and broader benefits it provides to the community.
Routinely running empty 40-foot buses in areas of the county where there is little demand, is a poor use of taxpayer dollars. Because of this, we make funds available through OCTA’s Measure M half-cent sales tax, for community shuttles. These funds are available on a competitive basis and help cities provide local transportation tailored to cities’ individual needs. Great examples of this local transit can be seen in Dana Point, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano – and in Irvine.
The story simply left the wrong impression. OCTA allocates more than half of our $1.7 billion annual budget to transit, and we will continue working to provide a robust, efficient, and sustainable transit system for all of Orange County.
Darrell E. Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Orange County Transportation Authority, which develops and delivers transportation solutions to keep Orange County moving safely and efficiently.
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