Annual MTD Service Changes to Go into Effect August 20

Santa Barbara MTD’s annual August service changes will go into effect at the beginning of the day on Monday, August 20, 2018.

These changes were developed through a yearlong planning process, assessing on-time performance, changing traffic pressures and patterns, and community outreach.
The changes include new routing for the Line 15x, which serves as an express route between Isla Vista/UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College. The change reroutes the Line 15x off the Mesa and loops around SBCC’s main campus. The route will travel in a consistent one-way direction all day from UCSB toward Isla Vista and Camino Real Marketplace, then to SBCC, rather than reversing direction in the afternoon as it currently does.

Frequency will improve on the Line 20, which serves Santa Barbara, Montecito, Summerland and Carpinteria. Frequencies on the Line 20 in the morning and late afternoon peak times will improve to every 15 and 30 minutes. Line 21x will be suspended during heavy construction activity on Highway 101 in the corridor. Reimplementation of the Line 21x service will be considered on a yearly basis.

The new schedule also includes minor changes to the schedules Lines 5, 7, and 27 to improve on-time performance. The schedule for Line 36 (Seaside Shuttle) has been amended slightly to make it possible for riders to catch the recently re-timed morning peak northbound Pacific Surfliner train.