Santa Maria Regional Transit has launched an express commuter bus route connecting the Crossroads Shopping Center in Santa Maria with the Transit Center in downtown San Luis Obispo. 

The city-operated Route 210, which began Sept. 15, runs weekday mornings and afternoons, providing additional departure times alongside the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority (SLO RTA) Route 10.

“This is the city of Santa Maria’s first endeavor into offering a public transit service into our neighboring county of San Luis Obispo,” said Transit Services Manager Gamaliel Anguiano. He said the service is meant to “work in parallel” with the SLO RTA to “supplement their service and provide additional commuter options.”

Developed in partnership with the City of San Luis Obispo and the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments, the route’s schedule was designed after a public survey of nearly 200 respondents revealed a need to support a wider range of work schedules.

“We realized that the days of a 9-to-5 have changed,” Anguiano said. “We now have folks with a hybrid work schedule or alternative work schedule and so the target period is a little bit broader than it’s been historically.”

The service offers eight round trips each weekday. Morning departures leave the Crossroads Shopping Center at 6:20 a.m., 6:40 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. Afternoon trips depart at 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m. , 4:40 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. 

The route runs nonstop, with a typical travel time of 45 to 60 minutes depending on traffic, Anguiano said. By comparison, SLO RTA’s Route 10 includes six stops between the two cities and takes longer.

Anguiano said the goal is to have affordable travel options for people commuting for work, school or other appointments and to help riders “save cost on gas and not have to pay for parking.”

SMRT is offering a promotional free ride period on Route 210 through Friday. After that, fares will be $2 for a one-way trip, $3 for an all-day pass, and $31 for a 31-day pass. Riders can pay with exact cash, a physical or digital SMRT bus pass, or through SMRT’s Microtransit app.

Unique to Route 210, Anguiano said the service will also honor SLO RTA regional passes as part of a broader effort to make the route accessible to commuters who may already rely on multiple systems.

“Our goal is to help people,” he said. “We know it takes time for folks to commit to altering their habitual commute patterns.”

All buses are equipped with free public Wi-Fi and both USB-A and USB-C charging ports. “The idea is that the rider can better utilize that commute time to get other things done by leaving the driving to us,” Anguiano said.

The service is launching as a pilot program and Anguiano said SMRT plans to collect ridership data over the next several months to evaluate how the route is working.

“Rider feedback that we get through surveys is tremendously helpful,” he said. “Over the course of six months or even a year we may learn that there’s a better way to fine-tune or improve the service so that it even better serves the needs of our community.”

For the full Route 210 schedule and stop locations, visit http://www.ridesmrt.org/.