CV to Get Slightly More Service in Bus Line Realignment

photo by Mike McGuire

Castro Valley will keep its neighborhood bus service with slightly increased frequency but not regain its direct Transbay bus to San Francisco, under proposed service changes revealed at a May 23 public meeting.

Castro Valley will keep its neighborhood bus service with slightly increased frequency but not regain its direct Transbay bus to San Francisco, under proposed service changes revealed at a May 23 public meeting.

The meeting held at the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) Oakland headquarters updated proposals made late last year, but implementing the changes was delayed for six months to gather more public comment.

AC Transit had lost much of its ridership, and thus revenues, during the pandemic, according to AC Transit General Manager Michael Hursh. It also faced a looming “fiscal cliff,” as emergency pandemic aid was discontinued without a major rise in revenues to replace it.

The transit service has regained much of its ridership among underserved ethnicities and lower-income residents, while travel to work centers has remained low, said Hurch, adding that the overall figure is that bus ridership has returned to 74 percent of pre-pandemic ridership.

AC Transit staff proposed two possible sets of changes late last year, with one leaving Castro Valley routes essentially untouched. The other would have dropped bus service east of Redwood Road and along Redwood Road north of Castro Valley Boulevard but improve frequency elsewhere.

After months of further comments from the public and work by AC Transit planning staff, though, Castro Valley instead ended up with the same local bus coverage and slightly more frequent service. Currently, Castro Valley is served by Line 28 which runs by Eden Medical Center and Castro Valley Boulevard, Line 35 which serves the Juvenile Justice Center on Fairmont Avenue, and Line 93 which brings passengers south along Redwood Road and into Hayward toward A Street. All three lines intersect with Castro Valley BART.

One casualty of the realignment is the Transbay Line NX4, which included a stop at the Castro Valley Park & Ride and the Seven Hills neighborhoods enroute to San Francisco. That service, along with several other transbay lines, was “temporarily” discontinued during the pandemic.

Other communities lost relatively few bus lines, saw some consolidated, will see more frequent service on some, and changes on some routes.

The agency is now calling its plan "Broaden Frequent Network" and said it would make a bus line with 15-minute frequency or better available within one-quarter mile of 32 percent of potential riders.

At a time when more drastic cuts were being considered, AC Transit had proposed an "Unconstrained Vision Scenario," for a time presumably well into the future when it could expand service again. The agency’s board passed that scenario since, however, and staff are hoping to implement parts of it by later this year.

Much of what’s holding them back, AC Transit General Manager Michael Hursh said at the meeting, was finding enough bus operators to hire. They are budgeted for 1,386 and now employ around 1,200.

He said people are encouraged to apply, and don’t even have to have a commercial driver’s license. The agency will train them fully and pay a good wage, with benefits, Hursh said.

More information on AC Transit Realignment, is available at https://www.actransit.org/realign. Until June 5, you can leave comments on this draft plan there, at a local public library, or at a public meeting.

The next public meeting on realignment will be an AC Transit special board meeting (in person and on Zoom) tonight, Wednesday, June 5 at 5:00 p.m.