The Long Beach Transit board of directors approved proposals Monday to change eight routes but rejected one that would have benefited student bus riders.
Due to “extreme opposition” from Long Beach residents in the proposed route area, Passport B will not travel east on Fourth Street to Cal State Long Beach via Bellflower Boulevard and East State University Drive as proposed, according to Long Beach Transit marketing manager Marcelle Epley.
Instead, Passport B will end at Nieto Avenue before looping back toward downtown Long Beach.
Epley said there had been both “overwhelming” support and opposition of the original Passport B proposal. Students are among those who supported the first proposal.
“It seems like the bus should be accessible to as many places as possible, and many students have limited transportation,” said Samantha Freeman, a junior kinesiology major. “So it would have been helpful to make it less difficult for students to reach downtown.”
Tiffany Thompson, a freshman interior design major, drives to campus but expressed the same thoughts because she has friends who are bus riders.
“All in all, I don’t think that the change is that big of a deal,” she said. “I don’t think that it makes that much of a difference.”
Passport D, however, will include new stops that will help accommodate CSULB students, Epley said. Stops will be added at the Outer Circle between Atherton Street and Los Coyotes Diagonal, as well as Atherton Street at Ximeno Avenue, which is located near many students’ apartment complexes — this means stops at the Los Altos Market Center will instead be served by just the 90 routes.
“I think it’s definitely a good thing for students,” said Paul Jonson, a senior human development major. “There are a couple of places that should be made accessible to students.”
Route 62 will also be combined with Route 61 to increase frequency of service. Although Route 62 stops from Artesia Boulevard to Alondra Boulevard will be eliminated, Route 72 will include some of those stops, according to the Long Beach Transit Web site. New stops will be added throughout Atlantic Avenue.
Routes 72 and 71 have also taken the place of Route 7. Service on Sixth and Seventh streets will be eliminated but still covered by other routes.
In addition, routes 181 and 182 will end at the Transit Mall, with Passport B covering the area east of the mall to Colorado Lagoon.
There will also be an increase in bus fares, but at the time of its implementation, the CSULB community will still have the U-Pass program, which allows unlimited free bus rides.
Nick Campano, a freshman biology major, said the changes will make a small impact.
“I personally don’t think this will have a drastic effect since CSULB is a commuter school, and I don’t think it will affect those students who drive,” he said.
The changes will be in effect Feb. 14. For more details, visit the Long Beach Transit Web site.
Brianne Schaer contributed to this article.
In the Oct. 27 print edition of the Daily 49er, the proposed changes were incorrectly identified.
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