Public transit may undergo changes in La Jolla. The frequency of buses and the bus route into La Jolla and up to University City (UC) may be altered if the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) board of directors approves the proposed plan at public hearings scheduled for March 2 and 9.
MTS presented the plan at the Jan. 26 meeting of the La Jolla Traffic and Transportation Board.
Under the proposal, only bus 30 will service La Jolla, instead of buses 30 and 34. The new bus service will combine the major destinations of the two routes, but will proceed up La Jolla Shores Drive, as the current 34 does, instead of along Torrey Pines Road.
One community activist expressed concern for the patrons on Torrey Pines Road.
“I don’t know what that does to the high-rises on Torrey Pines Road between the gas station and Pottery Canyon,” said Sherri Lightner, president of the La Jolla Shores Association. “There’s a convalescent hospital and a bunch of condos.”
Eliminating Torrey Pines Road is the only significant difference between the current two bus routes and the proposed one, according to Mark Thomsen, MTS senior transportation planner. La Jolla Shores Drive was chosen for the new route because 130 more passengers alight there than on Torrey Pines Road, Thomsen said.
The new route 30 would leave Silverado and Herschel avenues at 5:05 a.m. and make its last stop at 1:12 a.m. at the same point.
The new bus would also only stop every 15 minutes between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. The present bus service runs every 12.5 minutes north through La Jolla, and every eight minutes south through La Jolla to downtown. On the weekends and after 10 p.m., buses would arrive every 30 minutes.
MTS intends to eliminate duplication of routes. Under the current bus routes in La Jolla, “42 percent of the trips on bus 30 fall within four minutes of the trips on the 34,” Thomsen said.
The proposed plan would cut bus service through La Jolla by 15 percent for buses running north and by 45 percent for buses heading south, according to Dan Allen, chairman of the La Jolla Town Council’s (LJTC) Transit Committee.
MTS maintained that 15 minutes is still good service.
“Fifteen minutes or more frequent is considered really good service in the industry,” Thomsen said. “It’s at that point that riders don’t use a timetable anymore. They just walk out because they know another bus will show up soon.”
LJTC’s Transit Committee objects to the reduction in frequency and has issued a resolution calling for buses to run at a minimum of 12.5 minutes in and out of La Jolla.
To proceed to UC, the new bus 30 would head north on La Jolla Shores Drive to Gilman Drive, where the bus would stop at the University of California, San Diego’s (UCSD) transit center.
At the transit center, passengers could pick up the new 48/49 route (known as the UC circulator) that loops bi-directionally along Voigt and Towne Centre drives, Genesee Avenue, Executive and Nobel drives, through La Jolla Colony and along Gilman Drive and then back to the transit stop. The 48/49 route would replace bus 31 to service portions of UCSD, Thornton Hospital and the business parks.
The proposed 48/49 route would increase frequency and service to Thornton Hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital. Under the current route 31, the area is serviced only during the week, with a bus running every 30 minutes between 5:30 a.m. and 6:46 p.m. Route 48/49 would run every 30 minutes, until 10 p.m., seven days a week.
Community members raised concern about having to transition between the routes to reach the hospitals. If a transfer needs to be made, MTS must ensure that the elderly or ill could easily make the transition, one community member said.
MTS is looking to eliminate overlapping routes throughout San Diego County in order to make the system more efficient and financially sustainable, Thomsen said. The process is called the Service Development Plan, and is Phase II of the Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA).
The plan expects to save MTS $5 million annually: $2 million through revenue increase (due to heightened service to denser areas) and $3 million from operational efficiencies (cutting out less-populated routes). MTS functions largely on subsidies. In the 2004/2005 fiscal year, it only covered 38 percent of operating costs with fares.
MTS has presented the proposed bus plan in six public meetings within University City and La Jolla.
“We hold public meetings to make sure that we’re making the right decision,” Thomsen said. “That’s part of the process that the board requires of us.”
The board of directors will hold two public hearings to discuss the Service Development Plan, and will vote on the plan at the latter meeting. The first meeting will take place on Thursday, March 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Golden Hall’s Plaza Hall room, San Diego Concourse, 202 C St. The second meeting will convene on Thursday, March 9 from 9 a.m. to noon at the same location.
To voice an opinion about the change in routes, call (619) 595-3711. To learn more about the COA, visit www.sdcommute.com and click on the COA icon.