Orange County Committee Mark Strickert (TAOC) and Barry Christensen (RAOC)

Transit Advocates of Orange County (TAOC) elected Kyle Minnis as their new chair, for the remainder of 2003. TJ Stiller was appointed to the new post of Parliamentarian.

OCTA has been working on its website, at http://www.octa.net. As with the redesigned Bus Book, well, it looks nicer but takes a bit of getting used to. The Riders Alerts, for instance, are now much harder to find online.

This is ironic, as they seem to be easier to find onbus :) They have begun to appear in the form of a weekly newsletter, in English and en español, and I saw them on nearly all of the OCTA buses I've taken the past couple weeks. You CAN find them online eventually, or more quickly direct to http://www.octa.net/busrail/routes/alerts.asp.

Speaking of information, the first of the new schedule cassette inserts are in place. They will give the departure times for the time check prior to each stop. Look for them now along the Night Owl routes, and later this year on the rest of the system. The inserts can only hold information for one route each, so OCTA is testing "transit tubes" for multi-route stops. Already being used by Foothill and Culver CityBus, these "tubes" can hold info for up to 5 OCTA routes.

OCTA is also beginning to experiment with night-lights at bus stops. One brand has been installed at four stops along Harbor Blvd., including Westminster Blvd., with several more to be put in place by mid-July.

There were a number of changes to OCTA's September 2003 changes:
01 - As-is (return to "winter" schedule)
21 - As-is (delete last round-trip)
24 - Weekend last trip will NOT be deleted
29 - Weekends, add one earlier round-trip, one later northbound trip, and extend one southbound Brea-LaHabra trip to Huntington Beach
37 - Weekday, add 1 evening round trip
38 - Weekday, add 1 eastbound AM tripper from Brookhurst to State College, school days only
43 - Saturday midday headways to :12 on shorts
47 - Change Brea Mall stop to northbound side
51 - As-is (delete last weekday northbound trip)
66 - Weekend midday headways to :12 on shorts, :24 Tustin to Irvine
70 - Weekday eastbound leaving Goldenwest 6:29am will become a "long short" (to Moulton/El Toro)
79 - No trip deletions
89 - As-is (return to "winter" schedule)
147 - Change Brea Mall stop to southbound side
167 - Weekdays, delete all evening shorts; add 2 northbound and 1 southbound full trips, adjust time of current last full southbound trip
172 - Weekdays, increase headways to :60 east of Euclid, delete last 2 round-trips, extend last 2 westbound trips to Huntington Beach (all these moves essentially eliminates shorts on the 172); Daily, switch to mid-sized buses
175 - As-is (delete last southbound trip)
205 - Revision of new routing north of Katella/Clementine: Northbound - R Clementine-Manchester, L Harbor, R Katella, R Walnut, R Ball, L Disneyland Drive on to I-5, R Magnolia off-ramp, L Magnolia, L Fullerton P&R to Dock 12. Southbound - Fullerton P&R, R Orangethorpe, R Magnolia, L I-5 on-ramp, R Disneyland Dr off-ramp, R Ball, L Walnut, L Katella, L Harbor, R Manchester-Clementine, L Katella. This change allows the 205 to use the Harbor/East Shuttle Area stops.
The mystery remains, however…0.0 additional service hours?! [I try to avoid rumors, but there's been as-yet unsubstantiated talk of putting off the 205 extension plan, as it would cost extra vehicle service hours after all? More when I know more]
206 - As-is (add later trips each way)
211 - Southbound re-route, to use new Avenue of the Arts off-ramp, then L Sunflower.
454 - As-is (switch to large buses)
470 - Slight schedule adjustment afternoons
471 - Route revision at Irvine/Newport Beach end; slight schedule adjustment afternoons
480 - Slight schedule adjustment afternoons
482 - Slight schedule adjustment afternoons
490 - Route revision at Aliso Viejo end
757 - No trip deletions; Change Brea Mall stop to southbound side

OCTA staff will be presenting various options to the OCTA Board concerning light rail, bus rapid transit, Metrolink and road improvements. This meeting was rescheduled for Monday, July 21st, 9 am, at the County Hall of Administration in Santa Ana. Please plan now to attend and give public comment in support of the CenterLine project. Your letter of support to the board and newspaper would also be very helpful.

The Costa Mesa city council voted 4 to 1 on June 16 to have their city enter into a cooperative agreement with OCTA on the CenterLine project. The agreement specifies roles and responsibilities during the current preliminary engineering and environmental impact report phases. For more information, ask for a debrief at http://www.railadvocates.org

The Irvine City Council voted unanimously on June 24 to send a letter to OCTA supporting construction of CenterLine to John Wayne Airport. This was agendized by Mayor Agran in response to a request for clarification from Tim Keenan, OCTA board chair. Councilmember Christina Shea commented that Irvine's Prop 116 funds would be eligible for this truncated alignment.

The Long Beach Press Telegram reported in their front page headlines of June 23rd that a joint powers authority is in formation for the LA-Orange County "Orange Line" corridor. This line would use the former Pacific Electric right of way now owned by the MTA and OCTA. Leaders quoted in the article envision a financially self-supporting 150 mph maglev operation. Check out http://www.presstelegram.com

An excellent powerpoint presentation was given by OnTrac director Chris Becker at the June Rail Advocates of OC meeting about the "Orangethorpe Corridor." This included grade separation projects and related rail improvements in north Orange County. Contact info@railadvocates.org for an informative debrief of the meeting. A colorful info packet is also available on a first come first served basis.

Metrolink's newly approved budget includes several improvements in Orange County commuter rail service. One enhancement is an additional round trip on the Inland Empire-OC line beginning this fall.