The End of the 22 Line?

The discontinued 22 line stopping at the Chabot bus stop.

The discontinued 22 line stopping at the Chabot bus stop.

On June 17 the AC Transit 22 Line, a bus route that looped around Chabot College, South Hayward and Hayward BART, ended service, leaving many Chabot students with more busses to catch, higher costs, and a drastic increase in wait time.

“I used to take one bus to school, and now I take five.” Theresa Pedrosa, a Chabot Student Council Representative, stated, “Two to school and three to get home.”

AC Transit offers a $5 day pass to help keep costs low if you are taking more than two busses locally. The day pass can be obtained by asking the bus driver when paying, or it will be automatically applied on the third ride when using your Clipper Card.

The cash fare for a single ride is $2.35, two trips a day would be $4.70, 30 cents cheaper than a day pass. On a tight budget, 30 cents is a lot of money and begins to add up over time.

It takes more busses to get to Chabot. You wait longer for the busses, and as a result, it takes longer to arrive at Chabot

Mrs. Mak, a Chabot student bus rider, states, “The bus 22 change is a really big inconvenience, to try to bring eight grandchildren on the bus, catch three buses to go visit my 75-year-old mom down by the Holiday Bowl.”

According to the AC Transit website ending the service of the 22 line was intended to decrease wait times and increase the number of busses on the street. AC Transit states that its goal is also to make the bus lines simpler and more reliable.

Dee Collins, a student at Chabot College, adds, “Because of the 22 change, and the other bus line changes, service is sporadic. It’s never on time.”

“I used to take the 22 from the Hayward BART to campus,” Davin Benson stated. “The 60 was extended to go to campus, effectively replacing the 22 for anyone coming from Hayward BART, and there’s a stop going toward Chabot right off the street I live on.”

The people most affected by the ending of the 22 line are the students living on Tennyson Road. The residents of Tennyson Road were already worried about the rising costs of public transportation before the service of the 22 line ended. With the change in bus routes, the residents near Tennyson Road have to take more buses to get to their destination.

The increase in wait times has led to people staying out longer during unsafe hours of the night to catch a bus. Even before the change, residents of Tennyson Road were worried about being assaulted and robbed while waiting for what was possibly one bus. Currently, bus riders have increased their risk just to wait for a second bus to get their destination.

If you have strong feelings about the canceling of the 22 line, contact the candidates for the AC Transit district director for Ward Four to express your thoughts on the issue. The AC Transit district director candidates are Nicholas Harvey and Mark Williams.

 

This entry was posted in Hayward, News on by .

About Sarina Carlyon

Sarina’s been taking photos for the Chabot College Spectator during the spring of 2018. Gaining a love of taking photos she immediately moved to writing articles for the Spectator. Sarina hopes to be a good photographer and an ok writer in the future. Sarina streams video games on https://www.twitch.tv/saadurdles as her second job.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.