To quote Forest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.” The Santa Maria City Manager’s Office and the transportation department decided to change the Breeze bus leaving the Transit Center at 6:20 a.m. to now leave at 6:10 a.m. Why?
The Colt bus in Lompoc changed schedules in November 2018. It used to stop at the Mission Plaza at 7:30 a.m. This allowed Breeze passengers to connect. Colt’s new schedule puts it there at 7:13 a.m. We Breeze passengers who need to connect to the Colt are now unable to do so because the Breeze goes to DenMat first and then backtracks to Mission Plaza.
Some of the Breeze drivers know it is not a problem to go to Mission Plaza first and then go to DenMat, and they have accommodated connecting passengers. Since the beginning of the year, I have written letters to the city manager, assistant city manager, and Austin O’Dell in the transportation department trying to get them to allow the Breeze to stop at Mission Plaza first.
We Breeze passengers signed a petition stating that it is not a problem for the DenMat passengers if the Breeze stopped at Mission Plaza first. We also stated that none of us wanted the schedule to change. A three-minute deviation from the scheduled route does not affect any DenMat passengers. This all fell on deaf ears. The common sense of the drivers is lost on these three bureaucratic wizards who ignore the wishes of their customers and now will force everyone to leave 10 minutes earlier rather than stop at Mission Plaza first.
Great job guys! Santa Maria’s finest at work.
This article appears in Apr 18-25, 2019.