Cal State Channel Islands’ Bus Program Is On a Roll

CAMARILLO — Like most school buses, this one was full of chattering, reading and partly-snoozing students.

But unlike the riders on most buses, these students had not been dropped off by their parents. They had driven to the bus stop in their own cars.

Every day, about 450 of Cal State Channel Islands’ 1,700 students take a VISTA bus to the new university from a parking lot in either Camarillo or Oxnard. The two pickup spots--the Oxnard Centerpoint Mall, a 30-minute ride from the campus, and the Camarillo Metrolink station, a 10-minute ride--save the campus from being overrun by cars.

University and mass-transit officials were hoping students would ride the free bus, but they didn’t expect it to be such a smashing success by the third month of school.

During peak school hours from 3 to 10 p.m., the number of buses has doubled to one every 15 minutes from Camarillo and twice an hour from Oxnard.

“The success of this program has exceeded all expectations,” said Maureen Hooper Lopez, transportation manager with the Ventura County Transportation Commission. “We expected about 15% of enrollment and we’ve got double that.”

George Dutra, chief planner for the university, said the bus service was intended to ease traffic congestion on the campus.

“We were looking at it from a green campus perspective and trying to reduce the average daily trips to campus,” he said. “Traffic creates air pollution and congestion, and we didn’t want that.”

He said he was happy to give out 1,000 free bus passes--good for one semester--to those affiliated with the university.

He hopes the cost of the bus service will eventually be underwritten by the collected parking fees. In the meantime, in order to pay the county transportation commission for the service, Dutra said the university received a federal grant of $1.2 million over three years. The university is required to pay an additional 20% on top of that.

Students who ride the bus cite a variety of reasons--from cost to convenience to environmental concerns--for their choice.

Sam Reveles, a 35-year-old construction manager, said the ride lets him escape from the hustle and bustle of a stressful workday.

“I like to look out the windows at the mountains and the fields,” he said as the bus meandered through the bucolic setting on its way to campus. “The landscaping is serene and I can just relax.”

Sue Andrews, 45, a part-time Ventura High School teacher who was waiting for the 3:45 p.m. bus Wednesday in the Camarillo Metrolink parking lot, said protecting the environment was her main motive for riding the bus.

“I don’t want the campus to get congested with traffic, and this way it’s fuel efficient,” she said. “Car-pooling whenever you can is always a good idea. Just from my class, this bus probably saves 35 cars from driving onto campus.”

Victor Alexander Munoz, a 35-year-old teacher at Ventura High School, said he commutes from Santa Barbara to work every day and wanted to spend as little additional money as possible on transportation.

“My decision was an economic one, because I didn’t see the advantage of paying $100 for a parking permit that would let me park several thousand yards from where my class is when I could ride the bus for free.”

The university provided students and faculty members with free passes that are good for public transportation throughout the county.

While most students touted the benefits of free parking, others were concerned primarily with safety for both themselves and their cars.

“I got in a car accident the first night of class and I feel safer taking the bus,” said Carrie Austin, 27, who works at a credit union in Ventura. She said the bus drops off a group of people in the parking lot instead of leaving individuals to walk far distances to their cars at night.

“I’m not usually a bus person, but I like this bus. And people are always safer in numbers.”