RTA to Oceanside; A chance to catch up on work or sleep

Venita Meno gets up every morning in order to catch the RTA bus to Oceanside, which leaves at 4:15 a.m. From there, she takes the Coaster from Oceanside to her job working for the Navy in San Diego. “All my friends tell me I’m crazy,” said Meno, “but you do what you have to do.”

Meno started riding the RTA bus three years ago, when it became too expensive for her drive. When she first started riding there were only one or two others who would ride; now that number has tripled. “There used to be only two or three of us,” Meno said. “Now there are usually seven.” The second morning bus, which leaves at 4:58 a.m., usually fills most of its 27 seats. “No one else is crazy enough to get up this early,” Meno said.

Although the hour may not be ideal, there are several other amenities designed to make the trip a little easier for passengers. The commuter link busses, which run between the Temecula Valley and Oceanside, feature satellite TV on six small television monitors located around the bus and wireless Internet for those commuters who bring their computers with them. The bus also has two 12-volt outlets to provide power for the various devices commuters may need.

But even still, Meno, who gets only three to four hours of sleep a night, says that most commuters simply try to catch up on some of their lost sleep. “Your body wears down about Wednesday,” she said. “All you think about is getting home.”

Unable to return home until 7 p.m. when she takes the bus, Meno said that she did stop taking the bus for a few months in order to reclaim some of her time but that the gas prices were just too much for her.

Meno is reimbursed almost the full price of her bus and coaster passes by her employer, the government, for taking alternative transportation.

She says that the only way she would stop taking the bus is if she were able to find a job closer to home. “I’m happy where I live,” Meno said. “For me this is a sacrifice.”