In previous Septembers, San Luis Obispo Transit switched its academic bus schedule to accommodate students. Now, because of Cal Poly’s shift from quarters to semesters, the city’s transit system implemented new route additions to complement the new schedule, which is causing delays.
The academic bus service began mid-August instead of mid-September, officially launching Aug. 17.
SLO Transit transferred operations and maintenance service to MV Transportation Inc., replacing the previous vendor, Transdev, according to Alex Fuchs, the mobility services business manager for the City of San Luis Obispo. The transition, coinciding with preparation for Cal Poly’s switch to semester, complicated the process, according to Fuchs.
The city’s 10-year contract with Transdev expired on June 30, with no alternatives approved by the San Luis Obispo City Council. In April, the city approved a new service provider agreement with MV Transportation. This started a three-month transition window before summer service started on July 1. The vendor had 45 days between July 1 and Aug. 17 to scale up operations for early academic service.
“To do all that with a new contractor in 45 days was probably not the best way to go about it, but I think we were mildly successful,” Fuchs said.
Alongside the earlier academic schedule and new contractor launch, SLO Transit reinstated two tripper routes suspended during the pandemic: the SLO High Tripper and the Highland Tripper, according to a City of San Luis Obispo press release. The trippers provide specialized routes during peak school rideshare hours. Fuchs said it also added extra trips on Route 4, the busiest line, which links Cal Poly and nearby residential neighborhoods.
The first week of service was complicated by Cal Poly move-in detours, San Luis Coastal Unified School District beginning school on Aug. 20 and early service for the Express 6 route to Farmers Market, since students were returning early.
“That first week was a lot of incremental changes that really made a tough start, but we really had to plan well to make sure it was executed correctly,” Fuchs said.
The semester transition coincided with Cal Poly’s elimination of classes beginning 10 minutes past the hour, or “Poly Time,” shifting class start times to the top of the hour and 30 minutes past.
“I started hearing a lot from students like ‘This is making us be late to class’ and having issues with citywide delays in buses. The other issue that we know has been happening is so many students are trying to use the bus that students are getting [turned away],”
Tanner Schinderle, ASI president
SLO Transit evaluated 5-, 10- and 15-minute schedule shifts for routes passing through Cal Poly to align departure times with the new class schedule.
However, planners discovered shifting bus schedules created significant trade-offs, drastically shortening windows for riders to switch between Regional Transit Authority buses, as well as Routes 1 and 2, which serve downtown and south San Luis Obispo.
“What we found was essentially some of the timing improved, some of it was made worse, and then transfers between [were] shortened significantly,” Fuchs said.
Fuchs, who is the staff liaison to the Mass Transportation Committee, said staff presented a “no change” proposal to the committee in July, keeping existing departure times the same while monitoring impacts during the semester.
Ridership across the system remains strong and slightly above last year’s figures, with Cal Poly students accounting for two-thirds of riders, according to Fuchs.
However, on-time performance has faced hurdles from citywide construction projects and longer passenger boarding times during peak demand.
“There’s a lot of construction going on throughout the city right now,” Fuchs said. “That’s been challenging for us, and high ridership is great, but it takes a long time to get 40 people onto a bus. So our on-time performance has been challenged right now.”
To reduce unpredictability, city officials encourage riders to track buses using the Transit app. The city partnered with the company in June to offer free premium features to local transit users, including live vehicle tracking, mobile trip planning and live location sharing.
SLO Transit has received around six direct emails from students regarding scheduling, and an ASI representative reached out to discuss student feedback, according to Fuchs.
ASI President Tanner Schinderle said the student government began receiving feedback during the very first week of classes regarding bus delays and students being late to class.
After hearing from students, Schinderle met with Fuchs and SLO Transit leadership to discuss the Highland Tripper, schedule alignment and citywide transit delays.
“I started hearing a lot from students like, ‘This is making us late to class’ and having issues with citywide delays in buses,” Schinderle said. “So many students are trying to use the bus that students are getting [turned away].”
Fuchs noted the earliest potential window for route adjustments is the start of spring semester, while full systemwide changes would likely wait until summer or fall.
“Two-thirds of our riders are Cal Poly students, and so we focus a lot on student ridership and student satisfaction,” Fuchs said.
For students who have navigated these bus routines daily for years, these delays directly impact getting to class on time.
Austin Weske, a construction management senior, noted that full buses and longer boarding stops frequently slow down commutes.
“The buses are just always full, so they’re stopping longer at stops to bring more people on,” Weske said. “They’re going a little slower. I arrived to campus right at 8:00 [a.m.], right when my [class was] starting, so I walked into class five or seven minutes late.”
“There’s people who get turned away at stops, the stops that I”m at and the stops that are after me in the morning. If they don’t have a bus coming in after 10, 20 minutes, they can miss half of a class,”
Austin Weske, construction management senior
Weske, who rides lines like the Highland Tripper, said overcrowding leads to students getting passed up at bus stops.
“There’s people who get turned away at stops, the stops that I’m at and the stops that are after me in the morning,” Weske said. “If they don’t have a bus coming after in 10, 20 minutes, they can miss half of a class.”
While city officials promote using the Transit app, students report that real-time tracking is sometimes unpredictable.
“I use the Transit app, and then it tells me, ‘Oh, you need to leave right now,’ and then I get there and I’m at the stop for like five to 10 minutes just waiting for the bus,” Weske said. “It seems really inconsistent.”
Despite the timing hurdles, Weske said he is happy with the variety of routes available to get across town in his neighborhood off of Highland Avenue, though he hopes to see more buses added to heavily used lines.
“I’ve been pretty happy with where I’m living now and how consistent the schedules [and] how many different routes there are to get me home and get me places,” Weske said.
While SLO Transit noted major schedule revisions may take time, Schinderle is working with city officials to identify specific problem lines and peak morning hours so faster fixes can be implemented for routes like 4A, which connects Cal Poly and nearby neighborhoods to downtown.
“One of the next steps we’re doing specifically with that is we’re going to meet with [Fuchs] and his team again and identify the specific bus routes and times that we think need to be addressed,” Schinderle said. “Is there a follow bus that needs to always be following in the morning? Is there a bigger bus we can be using? What can we actually do to implement some of those changes on a quicker basis than just looking at spring?”
This story originally appeared in the October printed edition of Mustang News. Check out more stories from the issue here.
