MEMO
March 13
, 2026
To: Mik
e Arizabel, Public Works Agency, City of Santa Ana
From: C
harles Main, Section Manager – Transit Service Planning Subject
: OCTA Recommendations – First Street Multimodal Boulevard Study
Thank y
ou for collaborating with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) on the development of the First Street Multimodal Boulevard Study in the City of Santa Ana.
Firs
t Street is a key transportation corridor and includes OC Bus Route 64, one of OCTA’s busiest routes, operating at 12 –15 minute weekday frequencies.
Multimodal improvements along First Street would enhance transit access through dedicated bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, as well as transit priority treatments to improve speed and reliability. Traffic calming enhancements would also improve safety for all modes of travel.
OCTA
has reviewed the three conceptual alternatives and provides the following recommendations for consideration:
Option
#1: Six General Purpose Lanes with a Shared Pedestrian/Bicycle Path in One Direction
OCTA
recommends incorporating transit priority treatments identified in OCTA’s Transit Optimization Study, including queue jumps and bypass lanes, bus bulbs and floating islands, stop consolidation, relocating stops to the far side of intersections, and converting bus pull -outs to in- lane stops. A full list of transit priority treatments, including locations, benefits, and costs, is provided in Attachment A.
Option #
2: Five General Purpose Lanes with a Sidewalk and Separated Bikeway in Both Directions
OCTA s
upports applying the Transit Optimization Study recommendations noted under Option #1. In addition, OCTA suggests avoiding dedicated bus pull -outs, as buses using pull-outs must merge in and out of traffic, introducing variability into travel times and reducing reliability.
Attachment 4
2 Option #3: Four General Purpose Lanes with Dedicated Transit Lanes in Both Directions, a Multi -Use Path/Sidewalk in One Direction, and a Sidewalk with Bikeway in the Other Direction
OCTA supports applying the recommendations described under Options #1 and #2. Dedicated transit lanes can provide significant benefits to bus speed and reliability. However, OCTA does not currently have long- term plans to increase Route 64 frequencies (currently every 12– 15 minutes) to the 3– 6 minute levels typically needed to fully optimize dedicated transit lanes.
If the City of Santa Ana elects to proceed with Option #3, OCTA recommends conducting additional studies to evaluate both capital and operational improvements that could enhance service frequencies along the study area corridor. In the near term, this includes advancing treatments identified in the Transit Optimization Study to improve speed and reliability on First Street. These improvements would help make transit more competitive with the automobile and build ridership, potentially supporting increased service frequencies and the future implementation of dedicated transit lanes.
We look forward to continued collaboration as the City of Santa Ana engages the community and advances the First Street Multimodal Boulevard Study. Please keep OCTA informed throughout the planning process so that our comments can be fully captured and incorporated into the project.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please contact me directly at (714) 560-5904 or [email protected].