As I sit here in my home town of Santa Barbara. the town that claims it started Earth Day, I am sickened by the constant coming and going of city buses that run past my house from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m, every 15 minutes, running at under 20 percent capacity. I wonder, will this madness ever change.
We were told that starting in the year 2025, the buses will be all electric. They are still diesel, and not only do they stink, they are loud. Some drivers really have a lead foot when coming in and taking off. On school days, jeeezzz, as many as four are coming and going in a matter of minutes. creating back-ups, causing frustration with people rushing off to go make their money to try and live in this town.
Why not bring in the cross-town shuttles to go down San Andres and the Westside? They are smaller and don’t take up so much space as the huge diesels. San Andres Street is a very high density neighborhood with lots of traffic racing up and down — big buses, trucks, cars, and electric bikes all fighting for space down a street that has cars parked in front of their homes and pulling out of driveways and hoping you don’t hit anyone in the process as they go speeding down the street.
