March 2007

The following actions were taken during the RTA’s Board of Directors monthly meeting on Thursday, March 22, 2007:

Service Chances Coming to Jury Trolley
In an effort to boost bus service in downtown Riverside and better serve popular destinations, RTA will expand Route 50, also known as the Jury Trolley, into essentially two routes. One route will continue to serve City Hall and the Courthouse with stops at nearby jury parking lots. A second route will serve City Hall and the Courthouse with additional service to the Convention Center, the Mission Inn, the Riverside Metrolink station and popular area restaurants. The service enhancements are partly designed to bene•t jurors, city and government employees seeking transportation during lunchtime. The changes are expected to occur this spring.

RTA to Acquire Three New Trolleys
Board members approved the acquisition of three trolleys from Omnitrans. The Agency's existing trolley •eet consists of six trolleys, four of which are used for Route 50, the downtown Riverside Jury Trolley, and Route 51, which serves the UC Riverside area. The new trolleys, which run on clean-burning compressed natural gas, come at a good time for the Agency as it prepares for the launch of the Harveston Shuttle in Temecula, which is scheduled to begin next •scal year and require two vehicles. Acquiring the relatively new trolleys, which still needs approval by the Federal Transit Administration, will allow RTA to keep pace with service demands for the popular vehicles.

Agency Meeting Performance Standards
New information shows the Agency meeting all required performance standards identi• ed in the Productivity Improvement Program, or PIP. The program requires the tracking over time of key performance indicators related to revenues, expenses, and passenger counts. The program is designed to help the Agency maintain effective and ef•cient service by identifying areas for upgrades or modi•cations.

Ridership Continues to Climb
Board members received information showing RTA ridership on the rise once again. In February, the Agency logged 542,750 passengers. That's a 2.17 percent increase since this time last •scal year. One area of signi•cant increase was on CommuterLink buses, which showed overall gains of 45 percent since this time last •scal year. Directly operated routes had moderate ridership increases, contracted routes grew 11.9 percent and the number of people using Dial-A-Ride went up 14.6 percent.

Festival of Lights Attracts Hundreds
New information presented to Board members indicated another successful year for RTA's Festival of Lights Service, which transported hundreds of passengers from nine cities to the annual Festival of Lights Downtown Aglow in Riverside. More than 450 people took advantage of the service during four Saturdays in November and December. RTA staff greeted riders at departure points in Mira Loma, Corona, Calimesa, Mead Valley, Hemet, San Jacinto, Temecula, Banning and Beaumont.

The next Board meeting will be held on Thursday, April 26 at 2 p.m.

For more information, contact:
Bradley Weaver, Communications Specialist (951) 565-5172
bweaver@riversidetransit.com