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| Subject: AC Transit board adopts deepest cuts in history | |
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Author: resolved in two weeks from July 5th |
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Date Posted: Saturday, July 05, 11:16:05pm In reply to: High-speed rail could be gravy train 's message, "Caltrain officials brought high-speed rail on the Peninsula a step closer Thursday." on Saturday, July 05, 11:14:35pm Article Last Updated: Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 3:53:13 AM PST AC Transit board adopts deepest cuts in history TRANSPORTATION Additional funding reductions impacting Fremont, Newark bus service expected at end of month By Sean Holstege, STAFF WRITER The AC Transit Board has slashed $12.5 million in bus service in the northern part of the district, the deepest cuts in its 47-year history and double the painful reductions of the mid-1990s. As many as 7,500 riders a day will have to find another way to get around, following the elimination, re-routing or shrinking of 74 bus routes. All told, there will be 90 fewer buses on the street providing 680 fewer hours of service on any given weekday. At the end of the month, AC Transit is set to chop another $5 million in service in Fremont and Newark. The two-page list of northern cuts, approved Wednesday, reads like a wartime casualty report. Line 58, MacArthur Boulevard. Gone. Line 44, Oakland's 38th Avenue. Gone. Line 5, Montclair. Gone. Line 63, Alameda's Southshore Loop. Gone. Line 92, Hayward's Second Avenue. Gone. The changes go into effect in mid-December. OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SECTION 7/6/2003 - Annual parade marches on Warm Springs - Work delays facility's debut - New wing unlikely to attract a share of new federal funds - Southern Baptist church takes stand for lesbian pastor - David A. Ashley was an avid diver, traveler - Kids get an opportunity to run away with the circus - CSUH inaugurates awards for service - Airplane passenger blood clot suit OK'd Still more cuts may be around the corner. To balance its $250 million operating budget and close a $50 million deficit, AC Transit is relying on $1.3 million in grants coming in. Plus, the elected seven-member board has still not finished grappling with fare adjustments. That is supposed to be resolved in two weeks, when a range of changes to discount passes will be considered. AC Transit needs to come up with $6 million in fare increases. Topping the agenda is whether to salvage or scrap an unproven, yet widely popular, $5 million experiment to give poor school children free bus passes to travel to and from class. So this week, with the revenue side of the ledger still in doubt, directors put another half-dozen routes on a "probation list," which will be cut if they don't meet ridership targets. Those routes are the 21, 35X, 36X, 59/59A, 65 and 67. In cutting service in the northern end of the bus district, AC Transit focused on the least efficient routes and shied away from the high-volume trunk lines. The only exception was MacArthur Boulevard, where AC Transit officials say the district cannot afford to run both a local and a transbay line. Instead, AC Transit will replace the Line 58 service with a restructured local Line 57 that will run every 12 minutes and establish a "Rapid Bus" that will stop just seven times between Eastmont Mall and downtown Oakland before heading over the Bay Bridge to San Francisco. The most significant changes in the district will occur on MacArthur Boulevard. During the last month, AC Transit received testimony or written comments from 811 people. All but 100 objected to changes to one route or another. Some of those comments did result in adjustments to service cuts in Alameda and San Pablo, officials said. The district concluded that eight of the 17 routes that will be eliminated serve predominantly black, Latino or Asian neighborhoods. Most had nearby duplicate service, but some, such as Line 47 to Oakland's Maxwell Park neighborhood, will significantly disrupt minority patrons. Those lines will be reinstated when AC Transit's funds bounce back. Contact Sean Holstege at sholstege@angnewspapers.com . [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |