Increased frequency and expansion of new routes are goals of the City of San Luis Obispo's mobile services team.
The team will present its draft plan for improving the service at the upcoming city council meeting.
“We’re recommending increasing service on the 4A to the Cal Poly campus and the 4B in the afternoon from Cal Poly to downtown," said Alex Fuchs Mobile Services Business manager. "Then revising Route 2, to better serve the San Luis Ranch development and increase service frequency there. As well as reinstate any remaining services we suspended during the pandemic,”."
Fuchs says they want to implement more service on the weekends and year-round services more frequently.
“The point of it is to close the gap between bike, pedestrian, transit, and transit services so that we are building a complete transportation network,” Fuchs said.
Timmy Werner told KSBY News he usually takes the bus once a week to the downtown SLO Farmers market.
“We have good experiences going downtown but returning to campus can be a little rough sometimes,” Werner said.
Werner wishes the bus service would run more frequently to speed up the time spent waiting.
“More services [or] maybe more temporary stations downtown,” said Werner. "Something that can take a group of people from Point A to Point B a lot faster."
Angela Santos mentioned that she uses the bus to see her boyfriend and would also like to see some changes.
“More services on the weekends,” Santos said.
The mobile services team’s short-range transit plan is a five-year plan and has been in the works for 18 months.
It's expected to result in a $2 million increase in operating costs.
However, the fares that have been in place since 2017 are expected to stay the same.
Fuchs says the city wants to attract 12% of resident trips by transit by 2035.
“It's less expensive than operating a car, helps further our sustainability objectives, and reduces carbon emissions,” Fuchs said.
The meeting is this Tuesday, February 25, and is open to the public.
Final plans will be turned in for adoption on April 15 and work is expected to get underway in late fall.
