BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Public transportation service Golden Empire Transit is considering ending its bus route to the Tejon Outlets. At the GET Board of Directors meeting held Tuesday, the public was given a chance to respond to the potential change before the board makes their final decision.
The directors are weighing whether to terminate GETBus Route X-92, which shuttles passengers from Downtown and South Bakersfield out to the Tejon Outlets and the IKEA distribution center just north of the Grapevine. One argument for ending the route is a sharp decline in ridership since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. That ridership has yet to recover in the years since.
However, many residents rely on X-92 to get to work at the IKEA facility and surrounding businesses. This concern was shared by some of the people who attended Tuesday's meeting.
"We'd like to ask you to keep this route going because for us, it's very convenient," said one participant. "To use the gas is more expensive for us, and if they don't use the bus, these people from the traveling centers, they can lose their jobs."
The board has not yet made their final decision on the future of Route X-92, and there will be another opportunity for members of the public to offer Golden Empire Transit their opinions at October's GET Board of Directors meeting. The exact date of that meeting has not yet been made public.
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