A Better Inland Empire was writing up this blog post while planning for an errand trip which includes traveling between Lake Elsinore and Corona during the middle of the day, a time when RTA CommuterLink express bus service is not available. With the destination located within a few blocks north of the busy Ontario Avenue commercial corridor in Corona, we thought it might have been a good idea to explore possible local bus routes which might connect into the area from the south from Lake Elsinore. Well, as you may have guessed, there are no public bus lines other than the peak-only CommuterLink bus between Lake Elsinore and Corona; so it's taking the automobile for now. The Transit Coalition continues to hear more and more requests to close transit gaps like this all over the region from area bus riders. At present, if a transit-dependent rider needs to travel between these two regions outside of rush hour, ...well, good luck. Plan on spending a few hours navigating the transit system. To be fair, the Riverside Transit Agency has hinted in its Short Range Transit Plan that it may be ready to close some of these gaps within the next few years with through-routes as Riverside County's economy continues to recover. We will continue to watch for such proposals which are long past due.
In the mean time, we're making no excuses. Even with such a car-centric trip, there's a nearby park & ride lot located a few blocks south of Ontario Aveue, which gives transit-conscious individuals an option of parking offsite and walking the rest of the way in order to eliminate the need of driving along the busy Ontario Avenue for the last half mile. However, it is without question, that having an option to park at the Lake Elsinore Outlet Center bus transfer hub and riding an all day regional connector transit route into town would have been better a choice.
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