IN THE MIDDLE OF CENTERLINE If you believe in CenterLine, Orange County's proposed light rail project, we need you in the next four weeks! A June 3 Irvine special election will probably make or break the CenterLine effort. There are 2 competing initiatives, one in favor of building CenterLine in Irvine (Measure A), and one against (Measure B), which would prohibit the City of Irvine from participating in the Centerline project or any other future rail projects.

How You Can Help:

• Write a brief "Letter to the Editor," including your name, address, and phone number:

  OC Register – Letters to the Editor, PO Box 11626, Santa Ana CA 92711 letters@ocregister.com Irvine World News - P.O. Box C-19512, Irvine, CA 92623 http://www.irvineworldnews.com/letterform.html

  LA Times – Letters to the Editor, 202 W. First St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 letters@latimes.com

• June 3: Irvine voters - Vote Yes on A, No on B
• Tell 5 Irvine friends how crucial this vote is
• Let us know you endorse the CenterLine project
• Volunteer to help the Yes on A campaign at (949) 254-0327 or (866) 4-SOCATA, ext. 4

SOME CRUMPETS WITH YOUR AFTERNOON TEA-3? What is TEA-3? It's a 6-year bill by which federal funding is authorized for transportation projects, including transit. It is currently up for re-authorization, and will distribute about $300 billion. Please write Representative Gary Miller, member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, asking him to:

• Increase the transit share in the new TEA-3 legislation
• Preserve the flexibility to spend federal transportation funds on either roads or transit
• Increase the authority local and regional bodies have in deciding priorities
• Level the playing field for federal/local match funding; Federal funds shouldn't pay for 80% of highway new starts but only 50% of transit new starts

ANOTHER QUIRK OF THE CALENDAR… …Puts the 2nd Wednesday of the month after the 2nd Saturday, allowing us to plug the May meeting of the Transit Advocates of Orange County within the May "Transit Advocate". The next TAOC meeting will be on Wednesday, May 14, 6:30-8:30pm, at the UCI Medical Center, 101 The City Drive South, just south of Chapman in Orange. We'll be in conference room 2103 and 2104, in Building 22-A above the Medical Library. The place is accessible by OCTA buses 47, 54, 57, and if possible the UCI Shuttle, or you can park free across the street at The Block.

OCTA Service Change Plans – June 2003

• 1 – Officially permanently re-routed out of "Kmart Plaza"; Special summer schedule June-September (extra running time for beach traffic)
• 29 – Weekday headways south of Artesia Blvd. will be reduced from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes between noon and PM Peak, and to every 12 minutes from then until 7:00 PM. Service north of Artesia will be reduced from every 40 minutes to every 30 minutes between noon and PM peak. Current weekday southbound trips leaving Artesia Blvd. 5:49 PM and 6:59 PM will start from Brea Mall.
• 53 – Southern layover to be moved to West Yale Loop at Alton Pkwy.
• 54 – New weekday WB trip leaving Rancho Santiago College 9:31 PM
• 64 – Weekday headways reduced. Eastbound buses scheduled at the 1st/Harbor timepoint between 11:20AM and 1:20PM will operate every 12 minutes. Westbounds scheduled at the 1st/Harbor timepoint between 11:40AM and 1:40PM will run every 12 minutes, and about every 8 minutes between 5:28 and 5:56 PM
• 89 - Special schedule June-Sept (extra running time for beach traffic)

Public hearing for the September changes is scheduled for the Thursday, May 29th, OCTA Board Meeting, County of Orange Hall of Administration, northwest corner of Santa Ana Blvd. and Broadway in Santa Ana, across from the Santa Ana Transit Terminal. Meetings start at 9:00 AM. Or, register your comments with Customer Relations at 636-7433, ext. 2, or via eek-mail at customers@octa.net

• 21 – Drop last trip each direction
• 24 – Drop last weekend trip each direction
• 29 – Add one earlier and one later trip weekends each direction
• 37 – Add later trip weekdays
• 51 – Drop last weekday trip each way
• 79 – Drop first trip weekends both directions
• 167 – Eliminate all Irvine short turns; Add full-length evening trips: 2 northbound and 1 southbound weekdays, and 1 northbound weekends
• 172 – Drop all short-turns, keep full-length trips at hourly headways; Drop last 2 evening trips weekdays; Change from large buses to to mid-size buses
• 175 – Drop last southbound trip
• 205 – Move northern terminus to Fullerton Park and Ride, via Katella/Walnut/I-5
• 206 – Add 1 later trip, southbound morning and northbound afternoon
• 454 – Switch from small and medium buses to large buses
• 757 – Discontinue, due to low ridership and high operating cost.