You Can’t Get There From Here

Eight different local bus systems operate in Ventura County. But you can’t get from one city to the next by bus in some parts of the county. And connections elsewhere can be spotty.

At a time when both environmental and transportation needs seem to dictate mass transit improvements, the Ventura County Transportation Commission has launched a major effort to close the gaps in service.

But new bus connections won’t come cheap. It will cost about $2 million annually to run the new intercity routes. City and county officials will be asked to bear part of the expense. And there are questions as to whether the public really cares.

To take a closer look at Ventura County’s current transit maze, reporter Phil Sneiderman set out recently by bus on a one-day circle of the county’s 10 cities.

It was a journey that took him from Fillmore to Ventura, to Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. He traveled freeways, country roads and congested city streets on bus lines with names like SCAT, TOT, CAT and FATCO.

He traveled on buses that generally arrived on time, despite the wayward routes they took. Along the way, he met street preachers, students and the disabled, old men hauling grocery bags and young women holding wriggly infants.

But, in the end, he had to call a cab.