If you have ever looked at a map of Ventura County, located along southern California’s coast, you probably noticed something: There is a lot of open space. Nearly half of the county’s area is taken up by the Los Padres National Forest. While this might cause one to assume the populated areas of the county are rather dense in nature, that is not entirely true.
One of the things Ventura County residents like about their home is the open space. Unlike neighboring Los Angeles, Ventura County offers a balance of rural communities and suburban communities with a population of more than 840,000 residents. This means communities might be separated by a distance of 5 or 10 miles or more. The unincorporated rural community of Piru, for example, is more than 30 miles from the urbanized Oxnard/Ventura area. Combine that with the high concentration of migrant and agricultural workers in that community and others like it, and the long distances can become problematic. Regional connectivity via public transit is an essential part of the landscape.
Since its formation in 1989, the Ventura County Transportation (VCTC) has served as the regional transportation planning agency (RTPA) for Ventura County. Unlike many other RTPAs, VCTC also is the administrator of the regional transit service linking communities throughout Ventura County as well as connecting Ventura County with Los Angeles to the south and Santa Barbara to the north.
In 2012, just shy of its 20th anniversary as a transit operator, VCTC experienced a crisis that nearly brought its operation of the Ventura Intercity Service Transit Authority (VISTA) intercity bus service to a screeching halt. While this could have spelled an end for the VISTA program as it existed, what ultimately played out has left VCTC looking forward to another 20 years of successful public transit service.
Meeting the Need for Connectivity
In Ventura County, many of the cities developed pretty independently. Public transit provided mobility around individual communities, but with little connection in between. In 1973, communities in the western portion of the county entered into a joint powers agency to create a single transit program. By 1993, however, there was a much greater need for connectivity between the cities as well as within the less urbanized portions of the county.
In response, VCTC launched its VISTA service in 1994 with four routes traveling throughout the county. The service was funded initially by federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds and required no significant capital investment — buses were provided by the contract operator. The first full year of operation carried a ridership of 150,000. VCTC was on the forefront of technology in 1996 when it participated in a stored fare media demonstration project, followed by full implementation of the Go Ventura smartcard in 2002.
2010 also saw VCTC and VISTA get a branding “facelift,” with newly designed logos and vehicle branding. The service rebrand stemmed in part from a survey of households countywide assessing community perceptions and satisfaction with VCTC as well as the array of programs and services it provided. The survey revealed a significant public perception disconnect between VCTC and VISTA. While the VISTA name was still used to identify the bus service, VCTC undertook a successful effort to co-brand VISTA with VCTC and ridership continued to grow.
Facing a Crisis
Yet less than two years later, the bottom dropped out. In early summer 2012, VCTC was informed by its transit operations contractor that the contractor would cease operation of the VISTA service in a matter of weeks, and that its fleet would be unavailable due to a bankruptcy sale of assets. The news hit VCTC, well, like a runaway bus and sent the agency scrambling to avoid impacting its nearly 2,000 daily riders.
Quick action by the VCTC board resulted in a one-month extension of service, which bought the agency some time. Frequent updates kept riders informed while contingency plans were prepared should a replacement operator not be found in time to avoid a service disruption.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks was the fleet. Given the same contractor had been operating the service with its own fleet since 1994, VCTC had to find a replacement contractor that could not only operate the service for the funding available, but also provide an appropriate fleet on short notice.
VCTC was approached by locally based Roadrunner Management Services, previously known throughout Southern California for its airport shuttle and private limousine services. Not only was the company interested in getting into the transit service, it agreed to provide the required vehicles.
Ultimately, VCTC entered into an 11-month emergency agreement with Roadrunner to ensure continued operation of the VISTA service. Roadrunner assumed responsibility on August 1, 2012, thereby avoiding any disruption to the VISTA service. There were some adjustments, however, as riders accustomed to VISTA's over-the-road long-distance coaches found themselves now riding traditional transit buses on what were often long routes. Ultimately, through VCTC’s and Roadrunner’s hard work, the agency was able to continue to attract more riders to its inter-community service.
Regional Study Leads to a Big Decision
Prior to its contractor bankruptcy crisis, VCTC embarked upon a Regional Transit Study in response to California Senate Bill 716, which called for VCTC to explore options for the organization of public transportation services within Ventura County. The report analyzed a variety of options including VCTC “getting out of the public transit business altogether,” delegating operation of the individual VISTA routes to local transit providers. Removing itself from day-to-day administration of transit service would allow VCTC to focus on its role as the regional transportation planning agency, one it had assumed only 5 years prior to launching the VISTA service. Ultimately the Commission concluded it did have an important role to play as the intercity/county commuter transit service connecting three distinct geographies within Ventura County as well as meeting the needs of commuters whose jobs are in neighboring Los Angeles County and Santa Barbara County.
In hindsight, this may seem like a strange course of action to consider, especially given the success of the VISTA program over the years and the effective crisis resolution it had just experienced. However, it gave VCTC a rare opportunity — to choose to continue as a transit provider rather than just staying in the game simply because that was the way it had always been done.
“VCTC was in a highly defensible position if it had chosen to exit the transit business at that time,” noted Commission Chair Peter Foy. “We’d just been through the contractor bankruptcy, and then the recommendation to transfer VISTA service to other entities had come forth from the Regional Transit Study. We gave a lot of thought as to what our next step should or could be.”
Staying the Course Pays Off
Today, the VISTA service that could have ceased operation multiple times across the last few years is thriving. VISTA, now rebranded as VCTC Intercity Bus, features seven inter-community and inter-county routes with an annual ridership of more than 1.1 million boardings. VCTC also increased its transit staff to improve oversight of the program and improve coordination with the six local transit providers that have connections to the VCTC Intercity Bus service.
With the decision to continue to operate the VISTA service firmly established, VCTC committed itself more firmly to its role as a transit operator and initiated a competitive procurement that would lead to a long-term 9-year transit operations contract. Certainly during the time when VCTC had no other option, Roadrunner Management Services proved itself as a reliable, responsive, and quality service operator. And, to their credit, they learned from this valuable experience. Following an ultra-competitive “best value” procurement, Roadrunner was selected to operate VCTC’s Intercity Bus service for VCTC for the long term.
“Roadrunner has been a part of the transportation landscape of Ventura County for many years,” said Charles Sandlin, the company’s president. “We are very proud to reinforce our ongoing commitment to our community through operation of the VCTC Intercity Bus service.”
In the fall of 2013, VCTC received approval to support the procurement of 14 clean-diesel over-the-road motor coaches. In order to purchase the new vehicles, VCTC had to identify funding alternatives, namely revenues from California’s Proposition 1B Bond — the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act approved by California voters in 2006. Unlike many California counties, Ventura County lacks a dedicated sales tax to support the county’s various transportation projects and public transit services. Ultimately, $8.5 million in Prop 1B funding was obtained to pay for VCTC’s new fleet.
The new coaches were delivered approximately one year later — a notable achievement. This was made possible by VCTC’s participation in a joint procurement with the Victor Valley Transit Authority (VVTA) located in nearby San Bernardino County. By working with VVTA, VCTC was able to leverage a process that was already well underway. This expediency allowed VCTC to restore the prior level of rider comfort, replacing the traditional transit buses that saved the day in 2012 with new over-the-road coaches better suited for the burgeoning VCTC Intercity Bus route network.
In December 2014, VCTC unveiled its new fleet of 14 MCI D4500 motor coaches at a dedication ceremony attended by a broad representation of Ventura County and Santa Barbara County dignitaries. The new coaches marked the first time in agency history that VCTC has owned its own fleet. The new MCI coaches feature amenities such as high-back seating, foot rests, LCD screens, electrical outlets and Wi-Fi. They also sport a bright blue finish and new VCTC Intercity Bus branding, removing any lingering confusion as to the association between VCTC and the transit service it has long provided.
Moving Forward
With VCTC firmly in the transit game, the agency is moving forward with needed upgrades as it looks ahead to the next 20 years. VCTC Intercity Bus is currently transitioning from its historic smartcard system (now 12 years old and lacking further manufacturer support) to a state-of-the-art GFI farebox system. In addition, the VCTC-owned fleet will soon be supplemented by additional new coaches to be purchased by Roadrunner in the months ahead. VCTC also hopes to add six more agency-owned coaches to its intercity bus fleet within the next five years. Doing so will expand the VCTC-owned fleet to 20 vehicles.
Lessons Learned
VCTC's experiences during the past few years are more than just a simple transit success story. In fact, they represent some important lessons that other public transit providers can learn from.
- Keep your core mission in mind. VCTC’s mission of “Moving Ventura County” is an important element of the story. It defined the agency’s response to the contractor bankruptcy, the recommendation of the Regional Transit Study, and the subsequent vehicle procurement. Keeping sight of the agency’s mission has helped keep VCTC on course during some potentially rough times.
- Use decision points as opportunities to redefine yourself. VCTC had the unusual opportunity to choose its future direction when a regional study raised the question of whether it should exit the transit business. It ultimately chose to continue as the regional intercity transit provider. By looking at decision points as opportunities for change rather than crises to be weathered, a public entity can further strengthen its mission and/or position in its community.
- Be prepared to take a risk. When local company Roadrunner approached VCTC with a potential solution to the contractor bankruptcy crisis, it was not a “slam dunk” decision. Roadrunner’s primary experience had been on-demand shuttle and car services, not fixed-route transit operations. However, the company’s commitment to do whatever it would take overcame any doubts VCTC may have had, translating to a strong partnership that not only delivers effective transit service, but also contributes to the local economy.
- Look for strategic partnerships. When VCTC staff received the go-ahead from the commission to purchase new vehicles, it looked for opportunities to accelerate the process. By working with a fellow operator in the region that was already well into the process, VCTC was able to take delivery of its coaches in just one year, an ambitious time frame for such a purchase.
- Don't get complacent. Just because something has worked for a long time doesn’t mean it will continue to do so. VCTC discovered this in two ways — the first its sudden contractor bankruptcy and the second the gradual obsolescence of its smartcard system. While the end of the smartcard program was anticipated, the contractor bankruptcy was not. If a technology or vendor is one on which your agency has long relied, consider what might happen if that system or service were no longer available. It may be impossible to have a full-blown contingency plan in place ahead of time, but periodically brainstorming potential crises allows staff the opportunity to at least define what the first steps in solving the problem could be.
Every transit organization is unique — because every community is unique. The specific strategies that worked at VCTC may not necessarily apply universally. However, the guiding lessons can be applied across most organizations to ensure consistency of mission, raise awareness of potential pitfalls, and enable the agency to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
Darren Kettle is executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.
