OCTA is gathering feedback during the development of the 2014 Long Range Transportation Plan. A key component of the outreach is to glean opinions from Orange County youth. National statistics show that today’s youth may delay attainment of their driver’s licenses, have an affinity for technology and favor alternative transportation methods such as transit, carpooling, and active transportation.
OCTA conducted a number of roundtables with high school students to determine how transportation behaviors of youth are changing in Orange County. The roundtables informed 14- to 18-year-old students about the key transportation issues and engaged them in a dialogue about their transportation priorities.
Many of the Orange County students said they were interested in driving. Driving delays were influenced by the cost of cars and the choice of alternative options such as carpooling. A few highlights of student priorities are: to increase the effectiveness of current transit options, to educate the public about transportation alternatives, and to link transit to land use.
All of the students present had smartphones. Some expressed interest in real-time communications from OCTA via smartphone about such things as next-bus information. OCTA is currently developing such an application called Find My Bus.
They agreed that while Orange County will most likely remain focused on cars, OCTA must continue to plan for bus and rail improvements.
OCTA would like to know what your transportation priorities are. Please visit octa.net/lrtp to complete a brief survey.
