Editor,
The blue and white city bus that goes south to the Ritz Carlton and Salt Creek park six days a week also stops at Gelson’s and CVS, saving seniors and others a long walk from Blue Lagoon’s bus stop or up the stairway at Wesley in addition to dropping off seniors near the apartments at Vista Aliso.
This bus also stops at the front door of Mission Hospital, saving seniors and others the walk up the steep hill to the hospital. On its way downtown, it stops at the Community Center and Susi Q, which saves participants a walk from Laguna Avenue or the bus terminal. High school students ride this bus, but so do workers, visitors, locals and seniors. It is an important service of the OCTA subsidized Laguna Beach transit system.
The Sally’s van picks up many residents who live at Vista Aliso senior housing and takes them to the Susi Q senior center for classes, movies and senior lunch, and goes each week to Trader Joes, the 99 Cent store, Target and Walmart. These seniors are not getting younger. Using Uber is a joke. The city’s taxi voucher program didn’t work and neither will an Uber program.
It is preposterous to think the city would cut back trolley or bus service to the Ritz Carlton and Salt Creek Park because too many people want to go and return to Laguna Beach from that destination.
The three trolleys running up to Top of the World, Bluebird Canyon and Arch Beach Heights are running empty or with one or two people on many “loops’. If any service is cut back, it should be this service. Most people who live in these neighborhoods think it’s an expensive joke and a waste of the city and OCTA’S Measure M money, which people voted in favor of in 2005.
If you want to find out quickly how bungled the transit management is, try calling the city’s transit number, 497-0746. Like much of city hall, the transit department has seen a constant turnover of managers the past few years. What exactly is going on at our city hall?
Roger Carter, Laguna Beach
