Bus Routes

Two backpacker bus services will be operating scheduled tours throughout Europe this summer. These services are economical, allow flexibility in your timetable, drop you off and pick you up at budget lodgings.. Eurobus, which is geared to travelers age 18 to 38, has been operating for several years. Passengers can purchase transportation along three different routes and add a London link.

It's not quite 9 a.m., and the bus riders on Route 57 are packed like sardines in a can. Women with small children are heading to the clinic, students are en route to school, and domestic workers are taking the long ride to the mansions near the beach. Angel Carrillo, wearing a black and red uniform, is headed to McDonald's in Pomona. This is his second bus of the day. From Long Beach, the 30-year-old took a bus to Santa Ana, where he caught the 57.

A group of Orange County bus riders will meet tonight in Santa Ana to discuss a controversial overhaul of bus routes next month. The two-hour forum, sponsored by the Orange County Citizens Bus Restructuring Task Force, will begin at 6 p.m. in the Fullerton Community Bank Building at 825 N. Broadway in Santa Ana. Forum organizer Jane Reifer said advocates will explain the new routes, distribute schedule information and discuss riders' concerns about the new route plan.

Squeezed by soaring energy prices, governments around the nation are reacting just like consumers -- changing basic routines, and scrimping and saving in order to get by. The El Paso County Sheriff's Department in southeastern Colorado has ended car patrols of its 2,000-square-mile jurisdiction. One Ohio sheriff is putting his deputies into golf carts. Stillwater, Okla., has stopped mowing the grass on nearly half of its parkland. Cleveland is remapping its trash pickup routes to cut costs.

As Orange County expanded with the automobile, public transportation has provided the link to get service workers to jobs in spread-out, affluent communities. Now, in the name of efficiency, the Orange County Transportation Authority has announced plans to eliminate a bus route that delivers nannies, maids and hotel workers from downtown Santa Ana to Newport Beach. This change would add 20 minutes each way to a commute that already takes more than an hour. This is not the way to serve customers.

A coalition of cities is studying the feasibility of transferring bus routes in the west San Gabriel Valley to Foothill Transit and the city of Montebello in the hope of lowering fares, officials said. The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments has commissioned the study to determine the feasibility of transferring service for cities including Pasadena, South Pasadena, Rosemead and Monterey Park to Foothill Transit, which charges its riders 90 cents.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has delayed action for a month--and possibly longer--on controversial plans to eliminate, reroute or streamline nearly three dozen bus lines in Los Angeles County. The transit agency's board of directors was scheduled to consider the changes at its monthly meeting Thursday, but an MTA spokesman said staff members needed more time to develop a final recommendation and to work out plans with municipal operators for replacement service.

Today's immigration marches in Los Angeles may cause significant disruptions of traffic and bus service downtown and along Wilshire Boulevard. The marches have prompted city officials to decide to close several major streets in the area. Broadway will be closed between Olympic Boulevard and the Hollywood Freeway sometime after 9 a.m. This will affect traffic across downtown, because it will block east-west traffic from crossing Broadway.

Six rescheduled bus routes providing direct transportation to area beaches will open June 21, Long Beach Transit has announced. The summer routes are: Routes 21/Cherry and 22/Downey: all day, every half-hour, to Bluff Park and the beach at the foot of Cherry Avenue. Route 52/East 4th Street: direct service to Seal Beach at 15-minute intervals daily. The route also serves Colorado Lagoon and Marine Stadium in Long Beach.

North County Transit District officials and Carlsbad school district trustees worked out a compromise Thursday to allow continued busing of schoolchildren without threatening the bus company's federal subsidies. "Let's see how far we can go in accommodating the community without breaking any federal laws," suggested county Supervisor Paul Eckert, a transit district director. "We can modify the routes (to serve school-age riders) until we are told otherwise."

Across Orange County on Saturday, hundreds of overheated, frustrated and bewildered would-be riders waited for buses that never showed following a walkout by county bus drivers, their first in 21 years. Some stranded riders sat for 30 minutes and others, like Virginia Pedroza, camped out for hours before being told about the strike. "I'm looking for the 59 bus, but it's not coming," said Pedroza, 50, a red-faced Santa Ana resident lugging two shopping bags. "It's too hot to walk in the sun."

Orange County transportation planners on Monday approved a second bus system that will have fewer stops and take riders to their destinations a third faster than regular routes. Three major north-south and east-west corridors have been selected for Bus Rapid Transit, which now operates in Los Angeles County. A fleet of new buses costing an estimated $133 million and powered by compressed natural gas will pick riders up at stops about a mile apart.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials are discounting fares on 18 bus routes this week to encourage ridership. The weeklong promotion, which runs through Saturday, reduces fares to 50 cents from $1.25. The idea was introduced by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and affects routes serving more than 50 destinations throughout Los Angeles County, including job centers, hospitals, schools and museums.

Re "Bus Line Changes Reroute Business," July 1 Catching Spring Street public transit has become more dangerous with the change in routes from Spring Street to Main Street. The change has disbursed bus riders to stops close to Needle Park and above Spring. More lighting and increased Los Angeles Police Department patrols simply aren't going to make the area safe enough after dark. The intersection of Third and Spring streets, where the state building is located, is already so perilous that the Department of Justice employs security personnel to escort employees who work after dark to the parking structure directly across the street.

Buses on nearly half of the Riverside Transit Agency's routes probably won't run Tuesday, potentially stranding thousands of commuters after union bus drivers and mechanics announced plans to strike. Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union this week rejected the agency's three-year compensation package offer, ending more than eight months of talks and setting the stage for Riverside's first transit strike.

Today's immigration marches in Los Angeles may cause significant disruptions of traffic and bus service downtown and along Wilshire Boulevard. The marches have prompted city officials to decide to close several major streets in the area. Broadway will be closed between Olympic Boulevard and the Hollywood Freeway sometime after 9 a.m. This will affect traffic across downtown, because it will block east-west traffic from crossing Broadway.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials are discounting fares on 18 bus routes this week to encourage ridership. The weeklong promotion, which runs through Saturday, reduces fares to 50 cents from $1.25. The idea was introduced by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and affects routes serving more than 50 destinations throughout Los Angeles County, including job centers, hospitals, schools and museums.

Amid a shortage of school bus drivers, Los Angeles school district officials have alerted parents that routes could be delayed and some students could be late to class until the problem is resolved. The Los Angeles Unified School District relies on four private bus companies to provide about 60% of the 2,075 routes. Those contractors are struggling to attract enough drivers to adequately cover the routes in the 710-square-mile district, said David Palmer, L.A.