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MTD will be offering free rides through next Tuesday on the Valley Express commuter bus service. Photo by Victor Maccharoli.

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Santa Barbara MTD rolls out free Valley Express Rides – to save the service

By JOSHUA MOLINA -- July 23, 2010

With ridership on the decline and the fate of the Valley Express commuter bus service uncertain, the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District is offering free rides through next Tuesday, in hopes of reviving the troubled route’s popularity.

MTD launched its highly touted Valley Express commuter bus service in 2005. As gas prices subsequently soared above $4 a gallon, ridership took off, and hundreds of people a month were riding from Santa Ynez, Solvang and Buellton to their jobs in Goleta and Santa Barbara.

But it’s a different story these days.

With job furloughs, layoffs and flex work-schedules increasing in the job market, and the price of gas stabilizing, ridership has dropped significantly, raising questions about whether the service, in its current form, will continue.

“We have seen a decline and that is why we are re-introducing this to the community,” said David Damiano, manager of Transit Development & Community Relations at MTD. “It has been quite awhile since we launched the service. I don’t know how many people know it exists.”

MTD, which provides bus service from Carpinteria to Goleta, unveiled the service in early 2005, as part of an ambitious expansion plan to serve Valley commuters.

The program at the time was funded by federal Congestion, Mitigation and Air Quality grant funds, for a three-year period. The program launched with four buses taking passengers to the South Coast in the morning and back home in the early evening.

With a Santa Ynez Valley population of roughly 20,000, MTD and county officials expected the service to thrive. But according to the most recent report from the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, ridership per trip has dropped 12 percent from the first quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010, down to 15 riders per trip on average.

“With a population of about 20,000, the Santa Ynez Valley likely does not warrant the level of commuter bus service currently provided by the Valley Express—three daily round trips using large charter-style buses,” according to a May SBCAG report.

After the federal funding dried up, SBCAG began subsidizing the service, giving more than $160,000 to date.

SBCAG, made up of elected officials from throughout the county, voted in May to extend funding through Dec. 31, 2010, with an option to continue the service through June 30, 2011.

“There has been a dip in ridership that doesn’t seem to be recovering,” said Gregg Hart, spokesman for SBCAG.

Hart said if ridership does not improve that some options could be to combine the Valley Express with the Clean Air Express, which travels from Santa Maria. Canceling one route altogether and using a smaller bus that is less expensive to operate might also be an option, Hart said.

Hart said the current ridership levels probably paint a more concrete picture of what the true ridership is.

“There was a big spike in ridership when gas went up to $5 bucks a gallon,” Hart said. “The decline is probably more accurately reflecting what the market is.”

The key, Hart said, is to just figure out the right combination of buses and sizes that best serves Valley commuters.

“There may be just too much service for the market,” Hart said.

One of the more popular destinations for Valley commuters is Raytheon in Goleta. Many employees at the aerospace company value the service.

"Sponsorship and promotion of commuter services is a valued benefit for Raytheon Goleta employees,” said Theresa L. Huerta, Manager, Communications, Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, in a statement to the Daily Sound. “We currently have several employees who participate on a daily basis. Raytheon proudly subsidizes a portion of the cost to our employees, and it represents only one of many ways we contribute to our environment and our community."

MTD Board Chairman Dave Davis said he believes that ultimately the Valley Express should pay for itself through bus fares and not rely on regional transportation funds.

MTD charges $5 each way to ride the bus. Riders can also purchase a 30-day pass for $160.

“At the time, the majority of the board said these commuter routes needed to support themselves,” Davis said “We didn’t want to take existing monies from existing routes to support additional services outside of the core area. The goal was to ramp up ridership over time. It went up and looked really good, and then it dipped.”

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Drop the price and riders will appear again : 7/23/2010

When gas prices went up so did the price of the Valley Express. When prices fell at the pump, the price of the Valley Express remained the same. HELLO, figure it out. You priced yourself out of the market.

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Waste for ideology! : 7/23/2010

MTD launched its highly touted Valley Express commuter bus service in 2005. ....ridership per trip has dropped 12 percent from the first quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010, down to 15 riders per trip on average. “At the time, the majority of the board said these commuter routes needed to support themselves,” Davis said “We didn’t want to take existing monies from existing routes to support additional services outside of the core area.
The above quotes from the article state it very well. MTD has claimed unreasonable numbers in the past. MTD has failed in its intra city routes (City of Santa Barbara) to gain ridership necessary to support the anti car attitude of the past and current Council majority. The current price per ride is already supported with your tax dollars. Want to spend more?
As taxpayers are you tired with this attitude and waste of your tax dollars? High density housing combined with destruction of streets has failed yet continues to be the chant. It is time to tell your elected officials they work for you. You are not the unending wallet. Drop the price? Sure and drain your bank account.

even more tired

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Need more info : 7/23/2010

Well, tell us what the schedules are and where we can catch the bus!

James Dew

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Valley Express : 7/23/2010

Thank you for you article highlighting MTD's current promotional campaign to promote using the Valley Exoress.
As Chairman of the MTD Board of Directors, let me clearly state that we need to support the Valley Express continuing it's important service for the commuters from the Valley to the South Coast. I must, however, make a correction to the comments attributed to me in the article. When originally funded by a three year CMAQ Grant (Congestion Mitigation Air Quality), I did believe that at the end of the three year period the service needed to be self sustaining and not cause impacts on our existing South Coast service. Since that time Measure A was passed by the voters which provided funds for this service through the allocations for regional service such as this. I did not say or imply that regional transporation funds should not be used to support this service. This is exactly where the core funding today needs to come for this imporatant route, and why we are trying to bolster the service through the current promotion.

Dave Davis, MTD Chairman of the Board

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Duh! : 7/23/2010

Or, commuter bud ridership is down because fewer people have jobs to which to commute.

Idiology this!

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Duh! What is bud ridership? are you talking about pot stores? : 7/23/2010

Duh! : 7/23/2010
Or, commuter bud ridership is down because fewer people have jobs to which to commute.
Idiology this!

DUH!

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The solution. : 7/25/2010

Make the bus go both directions!! I would love a day in Solvang and take the bus back! This would boost ridership for sure.

day trips

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It does go both ways : 7/26/2010

It leaves the Solvang and Lompoc area in the am and comes to SB. Then at the end of the day, it returns to Solvang and Lompoc.

Just me

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