All blog posts for April 2009

Abe Ahn, who writes for the UC Irvine student publication Forest Fire, has graciously allowed me to re-publish his article, which gives some insight into the politics of Orange County's public transit, and dives into the stories of people who ride OCTA.

Santa Ana College professor Roy Shahbazian has not owned a car in over a decade, an impressive feat in a county that embraces private transportation. As a member of the non-profit Transit Advocates, he lobbies city council meetings and citizen advisory boards for improved services. But in Orange County, it’s difficult for Shahbazian to persuade people to leave their cars.

“When I say I’m taking the bus home, people who don’t know me are sort of alarmed and they want to help me out and ask me, ‘What’s wrong? How come you’re taking the bus home?’” said Shahbazian.

This kind of reaction is typical in the county. In the 1990s, transit advocates pushed for the construction of the CenterLine, a nine-mile light rail system running from Santa Ana to Irvine. But in 2005, lack of public support resulted in the suspension of all plans for the rail. Instead, the county reallocated its funds to improve express bus services and the Metrolink train system. read more→

The financial "doomsday scenario" now has a deadline: June 2010.

OCTA just posted a dedicated section of their site outlining their cuts and explaining the budget situation. They have a list of 59 routes that they say they may curtail service on or are considering for outright elimination. Let me break it down for you. I modified their system map with these cuts (click on the image to the left; 400 kb PNG file). A summary of potential cuts:

• 59 bus routes may be cut, along with...
• All 24-hour service
• All "community bus" service
• Nearly all community shuttles
• Nearly all intra- and inter-county express buses

Santa Ana, for example, will find a lot of their bus service cut, leaving behind a skeleton of local service for the transit-dependent.

It's now impossible to get to the airport:

But I think, worst of all, it's now impossible to get to and from UC Irvine. OCTA may eliminate lines 59, 79, 175, 178 (along with 213 and 473), stranding students, faculty, employees, and, well, making the UC Irvine U-pass useless.

Of course, that's my interpretation of what OCTA posted. I've pasted the summary from OCTA's page. Got any thoughts? Make sure you send your comments to them! read more→

UC Irvine's weekly student newspaper, The New University, published an op-ed highlighting one UC Irvine's student viewpoint on OCTA's bus service cuts. Minhquan, a 5th-year journalism student, takes the 29 and 178 from Huntington Beach to UC Irvine each day. Republished here with Minhquan's kind permission.

OCTA Cuts Leave Riders Stranded

by Minhquan Nguyen - Volume 42, Issue 23 - Apr 06 2009

When the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) posted its annual report for 2008, the figures seemed promising for the county’s central transportation agency. Despite sharp increases in the price of gasoline – or, perhaps, because of it – bus rider-ship reached an all-time high of nearly 69 million, a very decent figure for a county as car-obsessed as ours.

Yet despite the growth of riders, OCTA continues to face budgetary stresses, which are exacerbated by the Great Recession sweeping the country at the moment. It should be understood that in addition to the bus system, OCTA is responsible for the improvement of streets and highways as well as improving the service of Metrolink rails within the county. Although OCTA draws funds from fares, tolls, interest on investments and federal support, most of the money in its 2008-09 fiscal budget comes from its own reserves (28 percent), state sources (23 percent) and local sources (29 percent). The latter two sources are largely derived from a state quarter-percent sales tax and a county half-percent sales tax, which were, respectively, originally estimated to total almost $400 million out of a $1.06 billion budget. read more→

I'm very happy with a personal goal I set out for myself this year: to lose weight, despite the crushing workload of med school!

Although I definitely don't have, like, big muscles, I've noticed I fit comfortably in medium-sized shirts. My clothes have gotten considerably baggier. I'm also surprised I've been able to commit at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. Before 2009, I wouldn't have lifted a weight to save my life.

My body fat has been decreasing, too. I've been using different methods of estimating the body fat with different formulas, so my chart below (the screenshot of My Personal Diet on my phone) zig-zags quite a bit. But I definitely feel thinner: my clothes have gotten baggier and my belts are all too long. read more→