You Heard It Here First

To no one's surprise if you've been reading our OCTA posts, their Transit Planning and Operations Committee (led by ex-executive director to the Orange County Consolidated Transportation Services Agency and wheelchair user Greg Winterbottom, rarely attended by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido) looked over their non-CenterLine options and is recommending $144.1 million of BUS RAPID TRANSIT for the next major expansion in the OCTA domain.  This recommendation is really the end result of the gratefully dead (OCTA calls it "paused") CenterLine project which was so unpopular not even the Feds would fund it.  Next Monday, this will be their recommendation to the full Board (excerpt cut from Monday's online agenda):

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31. Rapid Transit Options Selection

As directed by the Board of Directors, staff is undertaking an analysis of rapid transit options...(for a)... 2010 opening date.

The Committee recommended Rapid Transit Options Sample Package 5 with addition of Projects G1, G3, and T4. (Please see attached Draft Sample Package 5a)  Further, the Committee recommended that:

A. The Board explore phased implementation on each project as funding allows.

B. Staff approach cities about dedicating traffic lanes for bus rapid transit (with initial emphasis on the cities along Beach Boulevard).

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With the exception of the "Countywide HOV*/Freeway" routes, all these BRT options are considered "mixed flow," meaning these new behemoth buses (picture above from www.octa.net -- how are these different from the articulated vehicles now in use?) will be running up and down the same traffic lanes we're all using now.  At the last Committee meeting, the City of Costa Mesa spoke to their opposition of the use or construction of dedicated bus lanes near South Coast Plaza.  OCTA Executive Director Leahy woke up long enough to lament that in three years, they'd never convinced an OC city to allow dedicated transit lanes.

So, with all their bureaucracy, special committees, expense, star gazing, head scratching, cogitating and pondering, our un-elected OCTA Rocket Scientists Directors have responded to our needs by recommending more buses.  We can take some consolation that, even as UNINNOVATIVE and UNENLIGHTENED as this recommendation is, at least it's not the CenterLine and it's only about 1/9th of the Scam Tram's cost.

*Finally found a use for carpool lanes, it seems.

Comments

[Critic]

So what's rapid about bus rapid transit in mixed use lanes? If the plan is to make any sense, it's really about making sure that the buses don't clog the lanes for the rest of us, so we build turn-outs, make bus loading, unloading, and ticket-taking more efficient, and keep adding more buses where the routes support heavier demand. We also make the major arterials perform better so everybody, including the buses, moves faster.

Actually I applaud these choices. Looks like OCTA is paying close opinion to the polls right now, which don't support dedicated bus lanes at the expense of the rest of traffic.

I still have questions about where the origin of the mandate for some of these transit "choices". Is this "need" for this stuff coming out of a requirement to show compliance with Federal rules and/or air quality plans?