Shrinking Funds Forces Santa Barbara MTD to Reduce Service Lines

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – A growing budget deficit and shrinking financial funds has caused Santa Barbara MTD is make some tough decisions. Starting August 17th, the community will see less frequent bus line trips and some trips will be eliminated all together.

In a public service annoucment, Santa Barbara MTD said its lost $3 million in annual operating assistance due to changes from the 2020 Census – and while they're still enough funds to cover that cap – the financial deficit continues to grow with every coming year.

Santa Barbara MTD has announced reductions or elimations for the following lines:

• Lines 1 (West Santa Barbara) and 2 (East Santa Barbara)
  • "MTD is reducing weekday headways on Lines 1 and 2 to 20-minute frequency. The span of service would remain the same. While Lines 1 and 2 are still popular routes with an average of 22 passengers per hour year-to-date, they have seen drops in ridership of 17.3% and 18%, respectively, in the period of July 2025 to January 2026 as compared to the prior year. While it is hoped that this downward trend on these routes will turn around, we believe that with 20-minute service, there will be enough capacity to satisfy current demand."
• Lines 3 (Oak Park), 4 (Mesa/SBCC), 5 (Mesa/La Cumbre), and 17 (Lower West SB/SBCC)
  • "On Lines 3, 4, 5, and 17 currently, there is slightly more service on Saturdays than Sundays. We will be matching Saturday’s schedules on these routes to Sunday’s current schedule. This means all weekend days on Lines 3, 4, 5, and 17 will have the same schedules. Headways would not change on these routes; the span of service would shrink."
  • "Line 3 will go from 13 round trips to 11 round trips (losing 2 morning trips and 1 evening trip)."
  • "On the weekends, Lines 4, 5, and 17 are interlined for much of the day. Line 4 will go from 11 outbound trips to 8, and from 12 inbound trips to 9. Line 17 will go from 12 outbound trips to 9, and from 11 inbound trips to 8. Both Line 4 and 17 will lose 2 morning trips and 1 evening trip."
  • "Line 5 will go from 14 outbound trips to 11 trips and 13 inbound trips to 10 trips (losing 1 morning and 2 evening trips)."
• Line 7 (Goleta Old Town)
  • "On weekdays, Line 7 runs on 30-minute headways for most of the day and becomes less frequent in the evenings. MTD will be eliminating the last outbound Line 7 trip on weekdays. The last two outbound trips from the Transit Center depart at 7:10 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Upon reviewing ridership on the 9:45 p.m. trip, we believe that eliminating the trip will have minimal impact on riders. This means the latest trip outbound on the Line 7 will become the 7:10 p.m. departure."
  • "With the recent opening of the two “Project Connect” roundabouts at Hollister Avenue and Highway 217, MTD has changed the way that Line 7 turns around in Old Town Goleta. The route has traditionally had to go through the neighborhood at the end of the line in Old Town, with a left on Kinman Avenue, right on Armitos Avenue, right on Kellogg Avenue, and right on Hollister to pull into the Hollister and Kellogg westbound stop to begin the return trip. With the addition of the roundabouts, the bus is able to simply go straight eastbound, make a u-turn at the roundabout and pull straight into the Hollister and Kellogg stop. This change is an operational improvement but does not affect any stops as there are none located back in the neighborhood."
• Line 14 (Montecito)
  • "On weekdays and Saturdays Line 14 runs on hour headways except for one additional round trip in the morning on these days, which gives the service 30-minute headways for one hour. MTD will be eliminating one morning roundtrip on weekdays and Saturdays. When this round trip is removed, Line 14 will have one-hour headways all day on weekdays, and one less round trip on Saturdays."
• Lines 11 (UCSB), 23 (El Encanto Heights), and 25 (Ellwood/Winchester Canyon)
  • "Lines 11, 23, and 25 are interlined with each other and Line 6 (Goleta). MTD will be eliminating the following three weekday trips: the last outbound Line 23 trip, which becomes the last inbound Line 25 trip, and then turns into the last inbound Line 11 trip."
  • "The last outbound Line 23 trip currently departs Storke and Hollister (Rusty’s) at 11:00 p.m. and arrives at Calle Real and Winchester Place at 11:18 p.m. When this trip is eliminated, the latest weekday outbound Line 23 trip will leave Storke and Hollister at 9:40 p.m."
  • "The last inbound Line 25 trip currently departs Calle Real and Winchester Place at 11:18 p.m. and arrives at Storke and Hollister stop (McDonald’s) at 11:30 p.m. When this trip is eliminated, the latest weekday inbound Line 25 trip will leave Calle Real and Winchester Place at 9:58 p.m."
  • "The last inbound Line 11 trip currently departs Storke and Hollister (McDonald’s) at 11:30 p.m. and arrives at the Transit Center at 12:23 a.m. When this trip is eliminated, the latest weekday inbound Line 11 trip will leave Storke and Hollister at 10:30 p.m."
    
    
    

To find more information on the upcoming service changes, visit Santa Barbara MTD

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