Santa Maria to explore consolidating bus services with Guadalupe

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The Santa Maria City Council gave the green light on Tuesday night for city staff to begin exploring the potential consolidation of bus services with the City of Guadalupe.

"The City of Santa Maria took action that was mirroring the action taken by the City of Guadalupe to direct staff to have a conversation about consolidating the two transit services into one." said  Gamaliel Anguiano, Santa Maria Transit Services Manager. "We find that our communities are certainly economically and even socially intertwined and there's a lot of going back and forth between our two populations. We want to make sure there's continuity of service, as much coordination as possible, and a streamline transfer of people between the two communities."

With authorization given, Santa Maria will now begin to see how study the potential benefits of integrating the Guadalupe Flyer into Santa Maria Regional Transit (SMRT).

The Guadalupe Flyer is currently operated by the local transportation company SMOOTH, which is based in Santa Maria.

The contract with SMOOTH to operate the Guadalupe transit service expires at the end of June.

According to a Santa Maria staff report, there are five identified key advantages to consolidating services, which include:

• Streamlined Operations: Centralized management of routes, fares, and
  technology.
• Improved Efficiency: Shared resources (fleet, staff, funding) and optimized
  resource allocation.
• Enhanced Service: Seamless travel experience for riders between the two
  communities.
• Stronger Administrative Capacity: Leverage SMRT's experienced staff, existing
  contracts, and established processes.
• Improved Compliance: Better equipped to meet evolving regulations and funding
  requirements.

"The consolidation of the service is both an easy process and yet one that requires a lot of due diligence over the next couple of weeks," said Anguiano. "We'll be having conversations with Guadalupe staff about how we can bring the two services together under one umbrella. It is our hopes to bring a recommender to the public within the next few months, and ultimately one to our city councils before summer."