Clean Air Solutions Offered

Bus service between Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley will include Saturdays starting July 11, with stops in Solvang, Buellton, and Los Olivos. Free rides are offered on the inaugural Saturday trips, and regular fare is $7. The bus leaves the valley around 9 a.m., and Santa Barbara around 10 a.m., and goes homeward bound to the valley around 5 p.m. and to S.B. around 4 p.m. See the Clean Air Express site for more information.

And if your bicycle commute takes you near the downtown bus station, the newest Bikestation there has been completed and has space to securely lock up 26 bicycles. The little building replaces the bike lockers that stood at 1020 Chapala Street for more than 20 years and cost about $140,000 to design and build. It is equipped with vertical racks, an air pump, electric bike rechargers, and CCTV cameras. Access is by membership, which is available on a monthly ($12) or annual ($96) basis. An annual membership entitles you to also use the Bikestation in the Granada Parking Lot, which contains a shower and changing facilities, and also the Bikestations in Long Beach, Palo Alto, and Washington, D.C., and the one opening in Oceanside this month.