Closing the off-peak transit gap: Lake Elsinore - Corona

The Riverside Transit Agency has been receiving public comments which will be used toward forming a short to mid range transit master plan for Riverside County. That is known as a Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA). Residents and workers from all over the region have participated in public meetings hosted by RTA. Many requests included longer service span and better frequency, both of which are long overdue. Information from these public meetings will help with The Transit Coalition's work in improving RTA bus service. Issues brought up into the public arena will also be incorporated into our future vision--which by the way, we are updating ourselves based on RTA service requests, changing demographics, and data from RTA's 2007 COA. Just a reminder that here at the Transit Coalition and at RTA's Transportation Now meetings, public "hearings" never close. Please continue to send us your suggestions and comments even after the close of official comment periods and continue to keep our top officials informed of your needs. Our mission of improving Inland Empire mass transit and quality of life will be ongoing.

One RTA service request brought up by local area residents that was supported in the 2007 COA and advocated in our future vision is a local regional connector bus route through Temescal Canyon. The Temescal area certainly is a spread out community, but three active city centers can serve as the hubs for a productive regional connector bus route. They are Eastvale, Corona, and Lake Elsinore.

Here's our future vision of the Temescal Canyon RTA bus route:

The line would be a streamlined and restructured extension of Route 3 or a second route that interlines or connects with Line 3 via a 10 minute timed transfer at the Corona Transit Center.


View Larger Map

From the north including the existing Route 3 service, the line serving Temescal Canyon would start at the County Village area transfer hub. It would run through the Eastvale Gateway to downtown Corona via Hamner Avenue, stopping at the Corona Transit Center for a short layover. Route 3 would then continue south through the El Cerrito, Dos Lagos, Temescal Canyon, and Downtown Lake Elsinore with a school trip run to Temescal Canyon High School. Buses would run hourly from early morning through the evening or later with additional runs during peak and school hours. An end-to-end trip would be around 90 minutes under direct routing conditions plus a short 5-10 minute layover at the Corona Transit Center for transferring passengers. The route has been found feasible in 2007, demand for it is high, and closes a transit gap in between regions during off-peak hours. Running the line directly through the existing hubs in Eastvale, Corona, and Lake Elsinore strengthens ridership and productivity. There are plenty of reasons to operate a streamlined regional connector bus route through Temescal Canyon and the community supports it.