SLOw Transit

Americans don't have a love affair with the automobile. We just don't have a comparable alternative.

How long does it take to travel across town or across the county by bus? Say, to church on Sunday morning? From my house, to the new, temporary Unitarian Universalist meeting place on Laurel Lane: 60 minutes by bus. Compare that to a 15 minute bike ride, or 5 minutes by car. The bus trip home takes 90 minutes.

How long on County routes?

RTA Route 10
Inbound from Santa Maria (Town Center Mall) at 7:21 AM (!!!)
Arroyo Grande City Hall at 8:03
SLO Downtown at 8:55
City Route 3 10:25 to 10:35

Outbound City Route 3 12:35 to 12:57.
RTA Route 10 1:18 to
Arroyo Grande at 2:04
Santa Maria at 2:40


RTA Route 9
Inbound from Atascadero City Hall 8:03 AM to
SLO Downtown at 8:52
City Route 3 10:25 to 10:35

Outbound City Route 3 12:35 to 12:57.
RTA Route 9 1:10 to
Atascadero 1:59


RTA Route 12
Inbound from Cambria (Main & Burton) at 7:30
Los Osos (10th & LOVR) 8:19
Morro Bay (Harbor & Piney) 8:31
SLO Downtown at 8:58
City Route 3 10:25 to 10:35

Outbound City Route 3 12:35 to 12:57.
RTA Route 12 1:10 to
Morro Bay 1:46
Los Osos 2:01
Cambria 2:24


There are 3 County bus trips a day on Sundays. So one must catch the early one inbound, and the middle trip outbound. That results in an unavoidable 90 minute layover in Downtown SLO inbound in the morning. For a Cambria resident, for instance, the bus trip means leaving at 7:30 (or earlier to get to the bus stop), versus a car trip leaving home at 10:15.