Making Better Connections
OCTA is redesigning its bus system, based on feedback received from our riders. The details and benefits of the plan can be found below.
Project Overview
Making Better Connections is a redesign of the OCTA transit network. As OCTA restores service levels, it has an opportunity to redesign the network to reflect current travel patterns resulting from changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. With more travel options than ever before, public transit must work harder to attract riders by delivering high-quality, reliable service, evolving to meet changing mobility needs.
The Making Better Connections Plan is the outcome of months of analysis of travel patterns and ridership trends, engagement with community stakeholders, and thoughtful redesign of routes to provide better outcomes for riders by expanding access to destinations, increasing frequency, reducing transfer wait time, and extending hours of service. The Plan will be implemented over a two-year period, beginning in early 2023.
What Did We Hear?
In early 2022, OCTA conducted a survey asking people about the types of improvements they would like to see in local bus service. The survey collected over 1,300 responses from all over Orange County. When asked which improvement was most important to them, 28% of respondents said more frequency, followed by 14% saying on-time/reliable service. The Making Better Connections Plan adds frequency across the entire network and improves reliability by coordinating transfer connections at regional hubs.
The Making Better Connections Plan uses OCTA’s existing resources, meaning it must make systemwide improvements using the same number of buses as it does today. This means that in order to make any improvements, OCTA must make difficult decisions about how to change service. The community survey asked respondents to weigh in on different design trade-offs to see which options they prefer.
Speed vs. Access
Bus stops close together are nice because riders do not have to walk far to get to their stop. However, this means that buses travel slowly, stopping often to pick up and drop off passengers. 56% of respondents prefer to have bus stops farther apart for a faster ride. The plan straightens and consolidates some routes to provide better frequency; some riders may have to walk farther, but they will have access to better service.
Peak vs. Off-Peak
Pre-pandemic, most of OCTA’s bus service is offered during the early morning and late afternoon rush hour periods. However, there are lots of people trying to make trips at other times of day – in the middle of the afternoon, at night, and on weekends. The Plan calls for investing more resources into midday, evening, and weekend service to provide a better balance of services offered throughout the day. 51% of survey respondents prefer service every 20 minutes throughout the day while 49% prefer 15-minute peak 30-minute off-peak service. The even split disagrees with the idea that everyone wants peak-only service, and the Plan greatly improves off-peak service levels.
Frequency vs. Coverage
With fixed resources, OCTA can either have a lot of routes running less frequently, or fewer routes running more frequently. Since frequency is the number one improvement riders want to see (28% of responses), OCTA can repurpose buses from routes that do not carry a lot of riders into better frequency on higher-demand routes. The Plan calls for discontinuing a number of very low performing routes and segments and reinvesting those resources into improved service on routes and segments with higher demand.
Fixed vs. On-Demand
In areas with lower ridership, on-demand services like OC Flex can be alternatives to low-frequency fixed-route service. However, when asked which they prefer, 67% of respondents preferred traditional fixed-route service compared to 33% who prefer on-demand shared-ride services like OC Flex. For this reason, the Plan does not propose any new OC Flex zones but preserves lower-ridership routes with 60-minute service.
The Draft Plan
Based on the feedback received from the survey, as well as the analysis of travel patterns and ridership trends, OCTA created a Draft Service Plan that was presented to the public beginning in late May 2022. Over the following two months, OCTA conducted a large-scale public outreach effort to collect feedback on the draft plan, including public meetings and a survey, resulting in more than 8,200 comments and in-person engagements. Overall, the response to the Draft Plan was very positive, with most respondents approving of the Plan. The public also identified several locations where changes proposed in the draft plan created additional barriers to accessing transit, and these concerns were addressed in the final plan.
What’s New in the Making Better Connections Plan?
The Making Better Connections Plan includes a lot of new changes intended to improve the customer experience and make riding the bus attractive to more people for more purposes. Scroll through the following sections to learn about the new features of the Plan. All comparisons are to service levels in June 2022. Overall, there will be a 10% increase in weekday service, 9% increase in Saturday service, and 15% increase in Sunday service.
View the proposed system map below. You can click on each route in the map to read about the proposed changes, frequencies, and span. Frequencies shown on the map operate between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm on weekdays.
System Map
Network Frequency Improvements
The Plan greatly increases frequency across the network, adding service to 28 routes on weekdays, 11 routes on Saturdays, and 12 routes on Sundays. No route will operate less often than every 60 minutes. The Plan also expands the number of routes, riders, residents, and jobs with access to frequent service (15 minutes or better) between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm. Click and drag the slider back and forth to see the change in frequent routes between the existing network and the Making Better Connections Final Plan.
Weekday Network
Under the Plan, 66% of riders in the service area will be within a 10-minute walk of 15-minute or better service. 661,000 people and 355,000 jobs will have access to all-day frequent service, a 105% and 96% increase over today’s service, respectively. Frequent service will operate on routes 29/529-Beach Blvd, 42-Lincoln Ave, 43/543-Harbor Blvd, 47-Anaheim Blvd/Fairview St, 50-Katella Ave, 53/553-Main St, 57-State College Blvd/Bristol St, 60/560-Westminster/17th, 64-Bolsa Ave/1st St, and 66-McFadden Ave.
Weekday Frequency Map
Weekend Network
Today there are only four routes that operate all-day 15-minute service on weekends. Under the Plan, there will be an 56% increase in the number of people and a 43% increase in the number of jobs within a 10-minute walk of 15-minute service. 52% of riders in the service area currently use one of these routes proposed for 15-minute service on weekends which includes routes 43-Harbor Blvd, 53-Main St, 57-State College Blvd/Bristol St, 60-Westminster/17th, 64-Bolsa Ave/1st St, and 66-McFadden Ave.
Weekend Frequency Map
Network Span Improvements
The Plan also greatly expands service hours across the network, starting earlier in the morning and ending later at night to give riders more flexibility in their travel options.
- A total of 24 routes will have extended service hours on weekdays, 26 routes on Saturdays, and 30 routes on Sundays.
- Routes 54, 90, 123, 167, and 178 will have service extended to 10:00 pm on weekdays to accommodate classes at universities and community colleges.
The charts below show the changes in each route's frequency and span for each day of the week. Darker blue colors represent more frequent service. The charts clearly show how the Final Plan expands frequency and service hours across the entire system on weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
The frequency shown in the table is the combined frequency of all variants. This applies to Routes 1, 46, 57, and 70.
The frequency shown in the table is the combined frequency of all variants. This applies to Routes 1, 46, 57, and 70.
The frequency shown in the table is the combined frequency of all variants. This applies to Routes 1, 46, 57, and 70.
Network Access Improvements
The Plan greatly improves access to new destinations throughout Orange County. Several routes are proposed to be extended to reach more destinations including Metrolink Stations, shopping centers, and major bus transfer locations. By bringing more routes together at a common place, riders will be able to more easily transfer between routes and reach desired destinations. A few highlights of the Plan are listed below:
- Route 38 will be extended to Los Cerritos Center.
- Route 59 will be extended to Brea Mall.
- Route 71 will be extended to Cal State Fullerton.
- Route 72 will be extended to Tustin Metrolink Station.
- Route 83 will be extended to Fullerton Park & Ride.
Network Transfer Improvements
The Plan coordinates transfers at key locations to reduce transfer wait times and improve reliability. Route schedules will be coordinated for all routes to meet once an hour at Laguna Hills Transportation Center and Brea Mall. The Plan will also result in better transfers on the grid network, as better frequencies on key grid routes will lead to shorter transfer wait times.
Next Steps
The Making Better Connections Plan will be implemented in phases over the next two years, beginning in February 2023. Each phase will be announced ahead of implementation, and details of each change will be advertised to riders and posted on the OCTA website. As the plan is implemented, changes may be made to the plan to reflect changes in traffic, operational needs, or for other reasons.
