New iShuttle routes called 'seamless'

IRVINE — The two new iShuttle routes opening Monday provide a "seamless last-mile transfer" among major live-work destinations and the Irvine Station, a transportation official said.

The new routes, labeled C and D, will connect the Irvine Station to the Irvine Spectrum Center.

"Thank you for making this service available and connecting people where they want to go," Paul Glaab, vice chairman of the Orange County Transportation Authority board of directors, told Irvine City Council members at a recent launch event at the Irvine Station.

Beginning Monday, as many as 25,000 employees of Capital Group, Sage Software, Blizzard Entertainment, Verizon Wireless, Alcon Research, the Taco Bell headquarters and others will have access to the lines.

An additional 2,312 residential units surrounding the Irvine Spectrum are also expected to utilize the service.

Both routes will operate weekdays between 6:30 to 9 a.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m. Route D will operate until 8:30 p.m..

"This is the busiest transit station in Orange County, so we are happy that this connection is being implemented today," Mayor Sukhee Kang said to the modest crowd who turned out for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"The expansion of the iShuttle from the Irvine Station to the Irvine Business Complex and to the Irvine Spectrum is a milestone in the effort to advance the city's transit vision," he continued.

The estimated operating and maintenance cost of the new routes is $1.1 million, 90% of which will come from a 30-year funding agreement between OCTA and the city.

The remainder will be funded in part by Capital Group, which will discontinue its own private employee shuttle service, and nonprofit group Spectrumotion.

The annual ridership of the iShuttle's routes A and B was 78,003 in 2009 and 87,640 in 2010. The routes connect the Tustin station to John Wayne Airport and to the Irvine Business Complex.

iShuttle boarding passes cost $1 during peak hours, with 50 cents during off-peak hours. The passes are free with a valid Metrolink pass to or from the Metrolink Tustin Station or valid OCTA pre-paid pass.