Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/category/news/transportation/)
TCA directors in March dropped a slew of controversial proposals to extend the 241 toll road. Now they’re using paid lobbyists to oppose a state bill affirming their own move.
Toll revenues have fallen with the traffic by about 60%, according to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), which operates the 91 lanes and will operate the I-405 Freeway toll expansions when they open up.
While bus drivers and operations employees directly employed by OCTA get to keep their jobs and even their pay as some stay home, bus drivers employed through two private contractors the agency gives money to have been laid off, and will see their benefits follow their jobs out the door.
It’s the first round of cuts to bus service transportation officials have made responding to the public safety crisis, which has caused sharp drops in bus boardings for an agency that sees ridership fall year-by-year.
Transportation officials in just the past couple of days are reporting sharp declines in bus ridership amid orders by the governor and local health officials for people to avoid public gatherings and stay at home.
A resolution approved by the city council at their Tuesday meeting advocates expansions to the route north up Harbor Blvd to Anaheim’s tourist-heavy resort district, and down Bristol St. toward John Wayne Airport.
The existing OC Streetcar project has faced scrutiny by some city and transportation officials who say the it is too expensive for its relatively short, four-mile route, when there are less expensive options like buses.
Third District County Supervisor Don Wagner vented his frustration Tuesday over tickets he says were issued by SAPD to parents dropping their high schoolers off along Santa Ana Boulevard to attend a weekend event he hosts about local government. Santa Ana City Councilman Juan Villegas fires back at Wagner over his public criticism.
Construction of the Orange County Streetcar has begun in Santa Ana, and it’s forced closures along 4th Street that downtown business owners say plummeted their sales.
Marnie Primmer, Executive Director of FuturePorts, writes that freight railroads are key to facilitating the economic power of Orange County our region’s ports and the larger SoCal economy.