Good for Employees, Employers Too
OCTA’s Employer Pass (E-Pass) makes good business sense. It’s an annual bus pass program that requires little or no employer cost or effort to execute. E-Pass is a daily benefit that can enhance employee morale and productivity – your employees get to work on time and are less stressed.

 

E-Pass helps meet your company’s SCAQMD requirements because your company is participating in a mass-transit program. This may make your company eligible for a reduction in employer’s payroll taxes.

 

Another benefit of E-Pass is that fewer employees commute to work by car. This may reduce the need for building and/or leasing expensive non-customer parking.

 

With E-Pass, employees can ride for only 75¢ per boarding (the lowest available fare), up to a maximum of $45.00 per month, no matter how many rides are taken. The easy-to-use pass can be used on all local OCTA bus routes, seven days a week.

 

E-Pass helps reduce wear and tear on the employee’s own vehicle, saving maintenance and insurance costs. With E-Pass, an employee’s taxable income may be reduced by participating in a mass transit program, which means tax savings for employees, too.

 

Call us today at 714-560-5573 to learn how OCTA’s E-Pass Program can help you and your company.
Travel to Buena Park Gets Easier
Orange County's newest Metrolink station opened for service Tuesday, September 4, 2007. This is the County's eleventh Metrolink station and offers weekday commuters and weekend adventurers new travel options.

 

Located at 8400 Lakeknoll Drive, this station features free parking for 300 cars and amenities customers have come to expect from a Metrolink station. The station is served by two lines: the Orange County (OC) Line, which connects to Los Angeles and travels south to Oceanside, and the 91 Line that connects Riverside, Orange County and Los Angeles.

 

The station is just a short bus ride from Buena Park's greatest entertainment spots, including Knott's Berry Farm, Knott's Soak City, Medieval Times and Pirate's Dinner Adventure.

 

For weekday service, visit Metrolink's website to get schedule and fare information, both to and from the station. To plan a weekend trip to and from Buena Park, visit the Metrolink Weekends section to get schedule and fare information.
Smooth Sailing with no Toll Adjustment
The 91 Express Lanes is a four-lane, 10-mile toll road extending from the Orange/Riverside County line west to the Costa Mesa Freeway (SR-55). It’s an important element in ensuring that traffic flows more smoothly between Orange and Riverside counties. Depending on the time of day, commuters reported saving 30 minutes on average on their drive time by using the 91 Express Lanes.

 

Motorists pay tolls through the convenient use of windshield mounted FasTrak™ transponders that automatically deduct fees from a prepaid account. If you travel with 3 or more people in your vehicle, you can use the 3+ Lane. You’ll travel toll-free, except during peak hours in the eastbound direction when you’ll pay 50 percent of the toll. For the current quarter, which started October 1, there will be no toll adjustment. To learn how you can save time on your commute, click here.
Reducing Train Horn Noise
At the request of its Board of Directors, OCTA developed a countywide policy regarding quiet zones that addresses capital costs, liability and funding sources. The OCTA Board of Directors approved a $60 million program to help cities create quiet zones and improve safety measures at 53 railroad crossings.

 

In most cases, a variety of additional safety measures must be added to highway-rail crossings before they can qualify for quiet zone status, including raised medians or four-quadrant crossing gates. Once a quiet zone is established, locomotive engineers are no longer required to blow their horns as they approach highway-rail crossings unless they deem it necessary for safety reasons.

 

OCTA will fund 88 percent of the safety enhancement, with the majority of dollars coming through Renewed Measure M. The remaining 12 percent will be funded by cities participating in the program.

 

Cities can apply for federal quiet zone status to provide much-needed noise relief to residents living near the tracks and Metrolink will act as the lead agency for implementation of the improvements. Projects are expected to be underway soon with completion of all 53 crossings in conjunction with the Metrolink expansion.
Improving South County Traffic
South Orange County residents are finding it increasingly difficult to avoid traffic congestion. The San Diego Freeway (I-5) is the main transportation corridor in the South County area. It is an eight-lane highway with traffic volumes as high as 350,000 vehicle trips per day. Without a long-term strategic vision, the I-5 corridor and surrounding transportation infrastructure will continue to experience increasing levels of congestion. This is why the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is conducting a major investment study in the South County area.

 

The purpose and need for the study were developed based on feedback received from elected officials and technical staff from agencies and cities, as well as from stakeholders in the study area. These objectives are critical in making sure that the South Orange County Major Investment Study provides solutions for transportation issues.

 

For information on the study objectives, the area defined for the study, and how you can get involved, click here.
Improvements Move into the Fast Lane
The Renewed Measure M Early Action Plan will allow a number of freeway, street and road, and transit improvements to get underway quickly. Covering the five-year period from 2007 to 2012, the Early Action Plan includes meeting nine objectives:
  1. Complete the first major milestone – conceptual engineering -- for every freeway project in the Plan; ensuring that all projects are eligible for matching funds and ready to enter into environmental review, design and construction.
  2. Start construction on five major Renewed Measure M freeway projects on SR-91, SR-57 and I-5 valued at $445 million. Two other projects will also be under construction at the I-405/SR-22 and I-405/I-605 interchanges, valued at $400 million and paid for by Proposition 1B and federal funds.
  3. Enable every Orange County city and the County to meet eligibility requirements for Renewed Measure M funds, including new pavement management and signal synchronization programs.
  4. Award up to $165 million to cities and the County for signal synchronization and road upgrades.
  5. Implement high-frequency Metrolink service within Orange County with associated railroad crossing safety and quiet zone improvements completed or under construction. Begin project development for at least five major grade separation projects.
  6. Award up to $200 million in competitive funding for transit projects.
  7. Complete development work and allocate funds for transit fare discounts and improved services for seniors and persons with disabilities.
  8. Complete an agreement between OCTA and resource agencies detailing environmental mitigation of freeway improvements and commitments for project permitting. Begin allocation of funds for mitigation.
  9. Complete program development for road runoff/water quality improvements; begin allocation of funds to water quality projects.

 

In all, more than $1.6 billion in transportation improvements, promised to the voters in the Renewed Measure M Transportation Investment Plan, could be underway by 2012.

 

To put the magnitude of this effort in perspective, two Measure M freeway projects were under construction within the two years after revenues began to be collected in 1991. The Early Action Plan will enable five Renewed Measure M projects to be under construction before revenues begin to be collected in 2011.

 

For more information on the Renewed Measure M Early Action Plan, click here.