Quality of Life

North County Transit Seeks Ridership Boost With 'Flex' Plan

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published August 29, 2011 at 12:49 PM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

North County Transit Seeks Ridership Boost With 'Flex' Plan

Travel around North County figures to become more convenient this week, but the improvements will cost customers more.

Getting around on public transit is not always easy, but the North County Transit District starts a new “Flex” service this week that hopes to make it more convenient.

But it comes at a price.

NCTD is trying to cut the number of empty buses plying among outlying communities while increasing ridership on the rail lines.

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The new flex service means people in Ramona won’t have many regular bus routes, but can call for a ride anytime. However a ticket now costs $5 instead of 75 cents.

Melba Novoa of NCTD said that along the coastline, people in parts of Carlsbad can now call for a ride to the train station -- and it’s free.

“A lot of people, especially elderly, who never had any public transportation options, will be able to benefit from the flex service,” Nocoa said. "Whether they need to go to a doctor’s appointment or catch the Coaster to downtown San Diego ... whereas before they had to go to the closest bus stop, now they have this option to call and it will come get them.”

The flex service is part of a major change that eliminates six bus routes, but adds two new routes connecting directly with the Sprinter light-rail line.

Novoa said that after making cuts last year, the district projects it will have a balanced budget for the next five years. Its budget for fiscal 2012 is $85 million, up from $80 million in 2011.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.