SLO begins transit plan update study session 

The city of San Luis Obispo plans to make its bus system more user-friendly with the help of working papers and community feedback as part of its Short-Range Transit Plan.

“On July 3, I was waiting at the 1B stop on Tank Farm Road in Poinsettia with a young lady from Cuesta College who works at Marigold Shopping Center. She had missed her usual bus because of the modified summer schedule,” SLO resident Louise Justice told the SLO City Council at its July 16 meeting. “She had been stranded in the evening. … Luckily enough, a coworker took her home.”

Justice is referring to the SLO Transit summer schedule that shortened service hours for all city buses because the academic school year ended. The modified schedule will run through Sept. 15. 

According to Justice, the city hadn’t publicized the schedule change at bus stops and in buses when she spoke about the changed hours at the July 10 mass transportation committee meeting. She added that while the city posted the notice at the 1B Poinsettia stop as of July 16, commuters can benefit from better notifications.

SLO Mobility Services Business Manager Alex Fuchs told council members that Justice’s observations about public notification “are not incorrect,” admitting that he and his department didn’t do their best when alerting people about the summer schedule.

“We’re also doing other things, like we have our SLO Transit App, and we’ll push notifications to there as well,” Fuchs said. “We have our Token Transit App where you can buy passes, and you can also push notifications.”

Fuchs led the study session on the Short-Range Transit Plan that traditionally takes place every five years. The city adopted the last plan in 2016 and implemented recommendations like installing the bi-directional fixed route system, creating the Laguna Tripper service, green-lighting later service on weekdays during the academic year, and raising pass and fare rates. 

Delayed by COVID-19 and staff turnover in the SLO Transit program, the 2024 transit plan update is a joint effort between the SLO Regional Transit Authority and SLO Transit. With the help of LSC Transportation Consultants, the update involves the development of eight working papers, which will be compiled into a draft plan. The consultant anticipates its update work to span 15 months.

The company produced half the working papers—documents detailing an overview of transit services, goals and standards, service and system evaluation, and service alternatives analysis—and will give city staff a full draft plan in September. 

Goals for city transit include achieving 7 percent of trips by transit by 2030 and 12 percent of trips by transit by 2035.

“Right now, most of our service is hourly,” Fuchs said. “But the proposed measure, is at peak times, trying to obtain 15-minute service frequency and 30-minute off-peak. Then, of course, 60 minutes would be the absolute minimum.”

Annual SLO Transit ridership been on the decline since fiscal year 2015-16 when it peaked at 1.2 million boardings. Despite a slight increase in fiscal year 2018-19, boardings plummeted to below 200,000 in fiscal year 2020-21 because of the pandemic. Ridership slightly increased the following years but hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic rates. Fiscal year 2023-24 boardings are projected to be just under 600,000.

Now, city staff is recommending reinstating the currently suspended Highland Tripper and SLO Tripper services and bringing back the Route 6 Express service.

“Reinstatement of Route 6 Express would provide direct connection between Cal Poly and downtown on Famers’ Market nights,” the city staff report read. “Reinstatement of the tripper services would provide direct service to the high school via the SLO Tripper and service between Cal Poly and the Foothill Boulevard neighborhood.”

Staff also wants to realign bus routes 1 and 3, meaning four existing stops on South and Broad streets would become defunct and there would be reduced service between the downtown transit center and central downtown SLO.

Mayor Erica Stewart asked for more community input before deciding to realign the two bus routes.

“If we’re having these questions about the four stops that could be potentially taken away … let’s reach out to every house whether they take the bus or not,” she said. “There might be a different answer today versus losing it the stops in a year.”

The City Council was in favor of keeping existing buses that are in service even if they were going to be removed from the inventory. It also advocated for year-round SLO Transit academic service instead of shortened hours. 

City Councilmember Emily Francis said she’d like to see the proposed change happen sooner than fall 2026 when Cal Poly moves to the semester system. Francis also asked for more data and analysis on a micro-transit pilot program.

City staff will incorporate council members’ feedback into the fourth working paper. Drafts of the fifth and sixth working papers will be ready in August and September, respectively. The draft administrative plan will hit the City Council dais in November, and it will decide on adopting the final transit plan in January. ∆