The Orange County Transportation Authority got some good news this week concerning the ridership crisis on its bus system.
“While total average weekday ridership dropped 2.9 percent from March 2016 to March 2017, ridership on routes improved in June and October overhauls increased by 4.2 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, according to an OCTA staff report presented to the board on Monday, May 22,” the Register reported.
It may be hard to see how a 2.9 percent decline in weekday ridership is positive, but shifting routes from low-demand areas to high-demand areas seems an appropriate reallocation of scarce resources, and something the Editorial Board has often encouraged. Moreover, the news that efforts to reverse the trend on a number of routes is potentially starting to bear some fruit is certainly a welcome sign.
But it also makes the second news item to come out of the meeting all the more concerning. The OCTA board also approved “a full-funding agreement with the Federal Transit Administration for the OC Streetcar project.”
Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, also an OCTA board member, called it “the biggest single step so far.” Great. Oh, and the cost of the 4.1-mile route rose — again. Now it’s up to $299.3 million.
Buses, as has been shown in Orange County, are by no means a moneymaker, but a system that is flexible and capable of adjusting to user preferences in a time of crisis is far preferable to a fixed-rail system — especially when so many elsewhere fail to meet ridership projections or come close to turning a profit.
Some have criticized us for “ignoring” the supposed economic benefits of a streetcar. The point isn’t to make money, they say, but to spur development that more than pays back the costs over time.
Yet, as we have previously noted, the streetcar in Portland, Ore., is often cited as a success in this regard, but the massive zoning changes and hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to developers along its route are seldom mentioned. Even setting aside the financial burden placed on taxpayers, streetcars simply are a poor use of scarce transportation dollars that are better spent on more economical and flexible public transportation systems.