Public Transit Policy, Analysis, Advocacy and Education
Newsletter of the Southern California Transit Advocates
Vol 10, No. 3, March 2002

Disclaimer: The Southern California Transit Advocates is not affiliated with any governmental agency or transportation provider. Names and logos of agencies appear for information and reference purposes only. 

After several years of passing over having a KRTS trip as our day after Thanksgiving study tour at our Oct. 13, 2001 meeting it was decided that this was the year to attempt it. I volunteered to act as trip planner. My first step was to request the relevant KRTS schedules plus get the current schedules for Santa Clarita Transit and the Metrolink Antelope Valley line. My first surprise was to discover KRTS recently had combined what had been two routes when Charles Hobbs took his trip (Mojave to Tehachapi and Tehachapi to Bakersfield) into a single route. This salutatory change eliminated a mid-trip transfer (and hour long wait). The schedules also revealed the two morning trips of the East Kern KRTS route departed Lancaster/AV Mall earlier than when Hobbs rode it. There was no way via transit to get to the AV Mall from downtown Los Angeles in time to catch either trip. We instead would have to catch the mid-day run. The advantage of this was our departure from L.A. on Metrolink would be at the civilized hour of 9:55 a.m. (versus some years when we had to catch buses or trains at 6 a.m.).

About 9:30 a.m. we gathered near the Metrolink information window in Union Station. Members present included: Andy Novak, Craig Weingarten, Edmund Buckley, Alan Michelson, Robert Meinert, Woody Rosner, Hank Fung, Charles Hobbs and Dana Gabbard. Our group made its way to track 4 and boarded Metrolink cab car 608 on Metrolink train 205 for the trip to Newhall. We were in the last passenger car, upper level so any members who boarded during the trip could easily find us. The train departed on time at 9:55 a.m. and our Metrolink experience was fairly uneventful, as group members enjoyed the scenery and camaraderie. Kymberleigh Richards boarded at Burbank and shared packets of Chex Morning Mix-Fruit/Nut for those who hadn't had breakfast.

We arrived in Newhall circa 10:30 a.m. Lionel Jones was waiting for us at the station and revealed he had gotten there from Wilmington via local transit (including a reverse commute Santa Clarita Transit trip from the San Fernando valley). Soon our bus connection arrived - Santa Clarita route 795, #229 (an MCI D-4000R). There was a small crowd gathered of people like us who were using this bus to make a mid-day trip to Lancaster/Palmdale. Loading bogged down when the driver had trouble using the lift to board a wheelchair passenger and we didn't depart until 11 a.m. (with about half the seats taken).

On the way to the Antelope Valley we drove along SR-14 and remarked what a horrible commute that would be: a very desolate/hilly landscape. We also saw the California Aqueduct and went thru an extensive road construction area. Only one person deboarded at the Acton Metrolink station. Despite our late start we arrived at AV Mall only about 15 minutes behind schedule (11:45 a.m.). This gave us an hour until our next bus. Some brave souls decided to seek refreshment at the Mall. Most of us didn't like the long walk this would entail thru the parking lot plus were uncertain about logistics (such as where the food court was, whether the mall was jammed with shoppers, etc.). Happily a near-by alternative presented itself: mere steps from our bus stop was a Denny's.

Around Noon the East Kern KRTS bus we would ride arrived and went to its layover. By 12:45 p.m. we had regrouped at the bus stop and were ready to board the Econoline Champion cutaway B251 (21 seats plus wheelchair lift). Most of the seats were taken when we left the Mall, then the bus went by the Lancaster Metrolink station, a senior center,and the Walmart/Outlet Mall area in Lancaster. We had a full seated load and a number of standees in the aisle by the time we left Lancaster. It was a fairly uncomfortable trip, given the circumstances. I did notice some Joshua Trees alongside the road we travelled.

A few people got off in Rosamond (the first town in Kern County served by the East Kern route), but everyone got off at Mojave, as the bus was going out of service. (The passengers continuing to California City and possibly Ridgecrest boarded a waiting bus). This location was the de-facto transit center for Mojave, where the KRTS local circulator connected with the East Kern route. Also Amtrak Thruway buses stopped here. Next to the drop off was a Carl's Jr., which we availed ourselves of for relaxation, refreshments and use of the facilities (our next bus trip would be two hours long). A few members went out to explore Mojave (and seek KRTS schedules) and soon came back with the news that one of the KRTS bus yards were nearby. And KRTS schedules were available at the counter.

At 3:10 we boarded KRTS route 58 Express, a cutaway Chevy Van 30 Startrans bus (#250) along with a few additional passengers. Antifreeze was leaking from the engine and it soon developed the door wouldn't close. So the driver drove over to the bus yard and dropped us off streetside before going in the yard to get a replacement vehicle. While we waited Craig Weingarten went to the counter to ask for schedules and was told they had never had so many people request schedules in person in a single day before. Meanwhile we found ourselves with a much better bus than the dinky cutaway: an El Dorado RE-26 (#B171), which Charles Hobbs described as being "like the old DASH buses". Now riding a top of the line bus we delightedly departed for Bakersfield via Tehachapi.

On the way to Tehachapi we passed a horrible automobile accident on the opposite side of the road with a helicopter ambulance sitting beside the twisted metal of the vehicles along with numerous law enforcement units and officers handling the accident scene. Traffic in the opposite direction was backed up for miles (due to a center divider they couldn't cross onto our side of the road).

Tehachapi was eerie - you would be in the midst of a commercial area at an intersection then moments later down the road amidst an empty landscape. Charles Hobbs called it "one of those weird towns, half suburb, half rural." After leaving Tehachapi (where we had three boardings) the bus continued on State Route 58 towards Bakersfield. As golden twilight fell I stared at the most beautiful scenery of the trip - miles of stark rolling hills. And I wondered whether its fate would be someday to be covered with urban sprawl or to be preserved.

About 5 p.m. we arrived at the Golden Empire Transit Chester Street Transit Center in downtown Bakersfield. It turned out the information counter there also had some KRTS schedules, and members took advantage of this to fill holes in their collections (the Mojave yard only had certain ones).

Some thought had been given to riding GET route 2 along Chester. But we decided instead to have a leisurely meal and give ourselves plenty of time to get to the Amtrak station. During our 1999 trip we ate at Lorene's Ranch House near the Transit Center and were glad for the chance to have dinner there again, discussing the day and all we saw. We debated whether to walk to the Amtrak station or catch a GET bus there. In the end we decided to walk. After a stroll of about 10 blocks we arrived at the station circa 7 p.m. This was my first chance to see the new Bakersfield Amtrak station (for many years they had made do with a small trailer for a station) and was impressed.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m. the train arrived and we began boarding Thruway buses (except Lionel who opted for Greyhound) for various destinations. By 9:30 p.m. I was at Union Station and grateful to ride the Red Line to connect with a Wilshire bus, thence home to a well deserved rest.

So, where should we go next?

[special thanks to Charles Hobbs and Andy Novak whose narratives of the trip provided some details in this report]