Transportation Study Not Necessary

Op-Ed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

As a frequent user of the Southern California and National Transportation Systems, I am more than a little concerned at the recent approval of spending over a Quarter Million Dollars by the Orange County Transit Authority to conduct a study relating to the feasibility of a transportation system from the campus of Cal State Fullerton to Downtown Fullerton.

Our City Council in my hometown of Fullerton, California generously agreed to chip in $30,000 for this study. $30,000 that we really shouldn't be spending when we have other things to worry about like dilapidated water/sewage pipes, bad roads and out of control pensions.

No one asked me, but if they did, I could have saved the Taxpayers over a Quarter Million Dollars.

Here's The Secret.  Are you ready for this?

That transportation system already exists.

It's called OCTA Routes 26 and 24.  And when the Metrolink Placentia Station opens you will be able to take the Metrolink from Downtown Fullerton to Downtown Placentia and jump on the 26 or 24 there...and go on to nearby CSUF. Or, for the more adventurous or health conscious...Walk or bicycle a mile from the Placentia Metrolink Station to the campus.

OCTA Route 26 runs every 35 minutes or so during peak hours from Cal State Fullerton to the Fullerton Downtown Transportation Center.

So maybe you spend a fraction of the quarter million dollars to promote that route, then as ridership increases and pays for itself, then you add more frequency on that line.

Maybe you have a Route 26A at that time which just goes from the University to Downtown. (Route 26 currently continues on to Yorba Linda to the East and Buena Park to the West).  And maybe you do a nice advertising bus wrap in Cal State Fullerton Titan Orange and Blue that calls Route 26, are you ready for this, the Campus-Downtown Connection.

The point is, that spending over a quarter million dollars of our hard-earned taxpayers money on a study that we already know the answer to, is pointless and a waste of money.