Nearly 59,000 OC Fair Express customers set a ridership record this year as they enjoyed a convenient ride on the OC Fair Express to the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa. This year's ridership resulted in a 26.6 percent increase over last year, with more than 13,600 customers boarding on the final weekend alone.
The OC Fair Express provided direct bus service from nine locations throughout Orange County to the OC Fair on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for five weekends. As part of OCTA's partnership with the OC Fair, each passenger received a coupon good for $3 admission into the fair, an $8 savings off the regular, full-price admission.
Based on last year's successful ridership of the OC Fair Express, two new routes were added this year – Route 642 in Newport Beach and 657 in Orange. Additionally, frequency was increased to every 30 minutes at the highest ridership locations – Huntington Beach, Fullerton and Santa Ana.
The OC Fair Express was made possible by a $342,000 grant from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Committee (MSRC), which provides funding to projects that remove vehicles from the roadways to reduce emissions.
