OCTA Ignoring Needs of Public

* Re “On the 57 Bus, a Feeling That OCTA Is Misdirected,” March 26:

Thank you for front-paging the bus route change article. The lack of consideration (if not contempt) that officialdom has again shown for the citizens of the county based on alleged requirements of “efficiency” highlights why the electorate has turned to [ballot] measures to replace elected and appointed officials’ decision-making.

The elimination of Route 57 places an enormous burden on low-paid workers and minorities. It also effectively converts the two-bus round-trip for the elderly who live on the west side of Newport Bay to a six-bus round-trip to see their doctors in the medical center, to get to the Oasis Senior Center for recreation and to reap the benefits of one of the best libraries in the county, not to mention enjoy the Orange County Art Museum and Fashion Island.

It would be generous to characterize such an intentional plan as an “oversight” or “lack of vision.” It seems instead a deliberate gesture of disdain for the public good.

I. BLACK

Newport Beach

* After reading of the Route 57 “efficiency” proposition, I can only propose that the bylaws of the Orange County Transportation Authority be revised to require that all board members use public transportation to go to all OCTA meetings.

Just as public schools will not change for the better while public figures are free to send their children to insular private schools, so too with public boards that affect the lives of ordinary citizens.

I have a strong notion that public transportation in Orange County would dramatically improve if the people who govern the system were to use it.

RICHARD P. McDONOUGH

Irvine

* Thanks to Times staff writer Jennifer Mena and photographer Francine Orr for a poignant portrayal of the dignity and worth of “a tightknit immigrant community” of Spanish-speaking domestics now threatened by an impending decision from the OCTA to “make the system more efficient.”

Thanks for focusing the story on how this so-called efficiency decision actually robs these lovely people of time with their families and “a few short moments of camaraderie” they enjoy in their “human circle” of nannies pictured in your photo at the Newport Beach bus terminal.

Could this story be one more wake-up call to Californians, during this era of changing demographics and loss of a white majority statewide?

Could we see that we are moving dangerously close to an apartheid situation? Could there be other socially conscious Orange County Caucasians, besides me, who value the enrichment a multicultural society brings our great nation?

Do other Orange County residents hold to Martin Luther King’s dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed “that all men [and women] are created equal”?

Could planners step out of denial and see that perhaps “efficiency” decisions such as the one to eliminate the 57 bus route that runs through highly Hispanic, working-class territories of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa are really about making life even more “convenient” than it already is for the status-conscious Irvine or Newport Beach suburban mom who picks up her nanny in a “chunky black sports utility vehicle”?

Never mind that the new bus route that brings the nanny within walking distance of Mommy’s doorstep now adds 40 minutes to her day, which already begins at 5:30 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m.

I wonder if the nanny’s boss will pick up the 50-cent fare hike and pay her employee overtime for additional travel and transfer time. Will she drive her nanny through the route, educating her about confusing new transfers?

CARLENE BROWN

Costa Mesa

* As a longtime bus rider and member of the recently formed Orange County Citizens Bus Restructuring Task Force, I understand the need for changes to the current system to accommodate the future expansion of the OCTA bus system.

However, information was not sufficient to give informed testimony at the recent public hearing. It is frustrating that accurate, comprehensive route maps and schedules are still not available.

The proposed changes will increase the amount of transferring dramatically by unnecessarily cutting routes in two and no longer serving activity centers.

Service levels at the time of implementation will not be increased sufficiently.

Major transfer terminals, like those in downtown Santa Ana, are being effectively eliminated without sufficient study of the impacts.

The OCTA board should listen to the vast majority of the users of its system, the riders, and not approve the current proposal and revisions.

KYLE MINNIS

Santa Ana