OCTA service cuts, fares rising

OCTA's new quarterly schedule (in effect today) doesn't look too hot. Bus schedules have been trimmed, and service has become less frequent. On line 57, for example, buses will arrive every 10 minutes instead of 8 minutes. Fares have raised from the once-cheap $1.25 so they're on par with other transit agencies at $1.50.

Even a whole bus terminal has been cut out, forcing riders to board curbside. If you're not familiar with this terminal, let me put it a different way: it's equivalent to demolishing John Wayne Airport and making passengers wait for their airplane under a thin roof shelter.

According to the Orange County Register, "The budget crisis in Sacramento has prompted officials at the Orange County Transportation Authority to slash about 30,000 service hours a year from the bus system – amounting to a 1 percent reduction in service."

So this month is a very good time to stock up on those pre-paid day passes and 30-day passes before the fares rise in January! No word yet on how this will affect UC Irvine's U-pass program, which provides their students with free transit passes encoded on their student ID cards.