SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. – Today, community leaders came together on a bus ride and with a press conference to celebrate this week’s launch of a new express bus service—MTD’s Line 19x.
The Line 19x (Carpinteria/SBCC Express) provides peak weekday service to Carpinteria, Santa Barbara’s Eastside, and Santa Barbara City College. This service is financially supported via SBCAG and Caltrans with traffic mitigation funds from the Highway 101 HOV Project.
Several community leaders boarded the Line 19x bus in Carpinteria and Santa Barbara, and were joined by several others at the main SBCC bus stop on Cliff Drive for a brief press conference.
Speakers included Santa Barbara MTD General Manager Jerry Estrada, SBCAG Executive Director Marjie KIRN, Carpinteria Mayor Al Clark, First District County Supervisor Das Williams, and SBCC Board of Trustees President Jonathan Abboud. Additional guests including Carpinteria and Santa Barbara City Councilmembers, members of MTD Board of Directors, and SBCC leadership, including new Superintendent and President Erika Endrijonas.
“Connecting these important destinations to each other fulfills several requests that we’ve heard for many years,” said Jerry Estrada, General Manager of Santa Barbara MTD. “With the 19x we’ve brought back peak express bus service back between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara, and we now provide direct service to SBCC for both Eastside residents and Carpinterians.”
“We can reduce traffic congestion by trying Santa Barbara MTD’s new direct service between Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, and SBCC,” said Marjie KIRN, Executive Director of SBCAG. “The new 19x service is made possible because of the investment of Highway 101 Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project funds. This investment helps make the community vision for a sustainable future a reality. We ask the public to try this transportation option and experience the benefits first-hand.”
“We are thrilled with the launch of the 19x, a new express route that can help put an end to the soul sucking traffic between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara City College,” said Jonathan Abboud, President of SBCC Board of Trustees. “This is big win for our neighbors, SBCC students and employees, and the environment.”
Details about the Line 19x route and schedule can be found here.
Photos of 19x Event can be found here.