AC Transit Board Adopts Service Changes

Press Releases
02/07/2003

Changes in bus service adopted by AC Transit’s Directors Thursday (Feb. 6) will restructure much of the network in western Contra Costa and northern Alameda counties. Some trips will be removed and schedules changed in areas where patronage is light while service will be added elsewhere, better meeting transit demand in heavily-traveled corridors.

The major improvement rolling out in June is Rapid Bus service, replacing today’s Line 72-L Limited on San Pablo Avenue. Rapid Bus will speed up trips on the avenue by a projected 20 percent as compared to today’s schedules. Essential Rapid Bus elements include:

• More service, with Rapid Bus trips in both directions every 12 minutes from 6:00am to 6:00pm weekdays
• New low-floor, multi-door coaches to speed up passenger boarding and alighting, greatly reducing the time buses spend in loading zones
• Traffic signal automation, giving Rapid Bus trips priority at congested intersections
• Extended intervals between Rapid Bus stops, speeding trips through the corridor

When Rapid Bus is introduced, local Line 72 service between Oakland and Hilltop Mall will continue seven days a week, as will Line 73 (linking Oakland with Point Richmond via Macdonald Avenue), and overnight owl service on San Pablo Avenue.

AC Transit’s final Service Deployment Plan (SDP), modified somewhat from the original proposals as a result of public input, still achieves more than $4 million in cost savings by reducing or eliminating some lightly-patronized neighborhood bus lines. This includes segments of Lines 6, 8, 17, 59 (to Jack London Square), 62 (to 16th and Wood Streets), 67 and 325.

Instead of discontinuing Line 53 trips to the Chabot Observatory (as first proposed), this service will be provided only on demand (transporting groups of 20 or more who make advance arrangements). Rather than being eliminated, AC Transit will reduce Line 64 in the Warren Freeway corridor to a commute-hour service operating only between Rockridge and Montclair Village.

The SDP will stop Line 76 service to Leroy Heights but extend this route to Hilltop Mall. The plan also introduces new Line 19 service to link North Berkeley and Alameda via Emeryville and Oakland. Other substantive changes affect Lines 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 42, 49, 51, 52, 53, 59/59A, 65, 67, 82/82L and 88. Details are described on AC Transit’s Web site, at www.actransit.org/pdf/sdp_chart.pdf.