Back in 2011, I published the story Transit Trip in Trouble about possible changes to North County Transit District’s #395 between San Clemente and Oceanside.
NCTD is now considering cutting the #395 and replacing it with a flexible-destination service (“FLEX”). Unfortunately, the replacement service would run only as far as Camp San Onofre, leaving Camp San Mateo and San Clemente unserved and breaking the connection with Orange County Transit #1.
A series of public outreach events will be held in early April: visit http://www.gonctd.com/servicechanges/ for details.
Statements may also be mailed to:
NCTD Service Changes,
810 Mission Avenue,
Oceanside, CA 92054
or emailed to: servicechanges@nctd.org.
The NCTD board will meet on April 20; any approved changes will go into effect in October.
NCTD board meeting is next Thursday and they will be having a public hearing on these changes and this will be the final hearing, then the changes will go to a vote, to be implemented in October. NCTD is looking at options aka “alternative service concepts” for San Clemente, should there be the demand for it. Otherwise, NCTD will just tell people to go on Greyhound or Metrolink if they need service to San Clemente.
Years ago, the “San Clemente Stage” bus connected San Clemente Greyhound to the northern camps (Talega, Horno, etc.)–this service evolved to become today’s NCTD 395.
But the San Clemente Greyhound station is long gone, and the Amtrak stops only at the pier (mostly serving beach-goers from the north). Nearest regular Amtrak stop is San Juan Capistrano….if there’s enough demand from the northern camps to go there, it might be worth splitting the route….
I don’t have the board audio with me, but it appears that NCTD did go through with the 395 conversion to a FLEX route as it is no longer mentioned on the website.
Now NCTD is looking at discontinuing the 395 FLEX service along with the 392 and 372 FLEX services.
January 21, 2021 is when NCTD plans to hold a hearing on the proposed changes.
https://lfportal.nctd.org/WebLink/0/edoc/168248/Board%20Agenda%20Packet%2010152020.pdf (Agenda Item 13, PDF page 252)
Last time I rode the #395 (Summer 2017, right before they made it a FLEX route) ridership was light (about 3 people).
Marines on the base now have access to their own cars, lessening the need to ride the bus. There are also convenience stores/restaurants at various places on the base; Marines don’t really need to go into town as much.