Faster bus route between Huntington Beach and Fullerton gets rolling Feb. 11
California’s long debated Bullet Train remains elusive. But at least there’s one sure thing: A bullet bus between Huntington Beach and Fullerton.
The new bus line features a limited number of stops at in-demand locales mostly along Beach Boulevard. The buses will make 13 stops, compared to the regular route’s 34 – cutting average travel time by 10 minutes, Orange County Transportation Authority officials said.
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The swifter Route 529 will debut Monday, Feb. 11, running 11 miles between the Fullerton Park-and-Ride and the Goldenwest Transportation Center in Huntington Beach. The transportation agency has dubbed the quicker-service routes its “Bravo!” lines.
At a gathering on the Golden West College campus in Huntington Beach on Thursday, Feb. 7, OCTA and its guests of honor “christened” a freshly minted Bravo! bus – uncorking champagne bottles that sprayed sparkling confetti. Meanwhile, students milled about sampling complimentary taquitos and picking up pamphlets.
Supplementing the long-established Route 29, Route 529 marks the third limited-stop bus service OCTA has implemented since introducing the concept in 2013. The first was Bravo! Route 543 along Harbor Boulevard. Bravo! Route 56, added in 2016, connects Santa Ana and Long Beach.
Golden West College will be a stop on the new Bravo! route, along with other popular destinations including Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park and Adventure City in Stanton.
In a brief speech, County Supervisor Andrew Do noted the importance of providing ways for students to get to campus – especially for those facing financial challenges. “There is a linkage between education, transportation and mobility,” he said.
Golden West College President Tim McGrath said that public transportation “opens the doors to education for thousands of our students.”
To differentiate them from ordinary buses, Bravo! vehicles boast a bright blue and orange exterior. Five of the Route 529 buses, plus one spare bus, are new. Another five buses were re-purposed, said OCTA spokesman Eric Carpenter.
Operating from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m, 10 buses will collect passengers every 12 minutes during rush hour and every 18 minutes during non-peak hours: 9 a.m.to 3 p.m. The price will be the same as for the regular buses: $2 to board, $5 for a day pass and $69 monthly.
The $3.6 million price tag for new buses was covered by state and federal transit programs, Carpenter said.
Joseph Nielsen, Golden West’s student government president, said public transportation was a “lifesaver” when he was a freshman commuting from Garden Grove.
“I had to choose between a car and a roof over my head,” Nielsen said. “With car payments come the expense of insurance, gas and campus parking. So I chose a roof over my head.”
For more information about Bravo! Route 529, go to octa.net.