San Luis Obispo - Caltrans - State of California

SAN LUIS OBISPO REGION
COORDINATED HUMAN SERVICES-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PLAN
REPORT:
SLOCOG 2006 TRANSIT DEFICIENCIES UPDATE
San Luis Obispo Council of Governments
October 2006
Inter-community travel and issues
• Organizational issues
o Lack of uniform eligibility criteria for fare discounts, such as age thresholds for
seniors (partly addressed with RTA oversight of County systems since 2005)
o Need travel information at transfer points
Inadequate service hours and/or days
• Evening service requests/needs (general concerns)
o Most local weekday service ends by 7 p.m.
o North Coast lacks after-hours transit access to San Luis Obispo center area
• Weekend service
o There is minimal weekend local service on fixed route and dial-a-ride service.
o Among local fixed route systems, only SLO-Transit and SCAT have both
Saturday and Sunday services
o Only one dial-a-ride system (Morro Bay) operates on Saturday
• Other service hour needs
o There is a lack of compatible hours for local and regional transit, creating a
barrier to use of transit systems especially for trips beyond local area
o There are limited ADA-paratransit service hours in the North Coast area (less of
a barrier with 7 day RTA service since September 2006)
Difficulties regarding transfers
• There is a lack of user-friendly transfer rules
• Rules for regional/local transfer passes can be confusing
• There is a lack of timed transfers between regional and local systems, resulting in long
waits at transfer points, deterring potential customers
Fares
• Lack of uniform eligibility criteria for fare discounts
• Some uniformity has been established through adoption of uniform general public base
fares on local fixed route buses (since summer 2006) with Atascadero fare increases
Difficulties accessing service
• Need better maintenance of information posted at bus stops (signs and route/schedule)
to ensure current and complete information on frequencies, destinations and start and
end times of service
Needs for services which do not currently exist
• There is no regional bus coverage along Los Osos Valley Road corridor linking Los
Osos/Baywood Park communities with the southern part of San Luis Obispo City which
has a high concentration of activity centers.
20
OCTOBER 2007