AC Transit conducted community outreach and engagement activities including the first Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG) meeting, a district-wide online workshop, and two Board of Directors meetings, with the purpose of collecting community input on the preliminary guiding principles of Equity, Reliability, and Frequency. Our goal was to guarantee that the guiding principles truly mirrored the community's concerns and preferences for their bus network. 

What did we hear?

The three guiding principles were very representative of community feedback: 

• Reliability: it is critical that the bus network is reliable, and buses maintain their published schedules.  
• Frequency: Providing frequent service was also identified as important by many community members, for both popular routes and in less-trafficked corridors. 
• Equity: Comments emphasized that to be equitable, the plan should consider access to services and key destinations. For example, for seniors and individuals with disabilities, providing network access to senior centers and other highly trafficked facilities/destinations is a priority. 

Additional Phase II feedback included: 

• Recovery: Many community members expressed a desire to return to pre-pandemic service levels. Compared to 2019, AC Transit has fewer Bus Operators and less operating revenue than before the pandemic. The Realign project has a goal of adjusting our service levels to serve as many riders and as much of the community as possible given these constraints. 
• Security: Riders have expressed concerns about street crimes within our service area. AC Transit is working with our transit law enforcement partners to increase patrols and quicken response times if or when these crimes impact our riders or service delivery. 
• Connectivity: Community members cited the need for improved connections between bus routes and with other transit options. More reliable and frequent service across the network will help make more connections possible. 

The AC Transit Board of Directors adopted the Realign guiding principles of Equity, Frequency and Reliability on September 13, 2023. The guiding principles will be used to evaluate the draft plans for the future of AC Transit’s bus service. 

What’s next? 

Phase III, which launches with the November 1, 2023, AC Transit Board of Directors meeting, will introduce three preliminary bus network proposals for public input and comments. Two proposals will be cost neutral. The third option will showcase a transit service vision that could be realized with additional resources (unconstrained). The outreach in this phase will seek broad community and rider feedback on specific proposed changes to the network.