Re: "Writer ponders public transport…" [Village News, 1/18/24]

Thank you, Tim O’Leary, for your thought-provoking article in

last week's Village News. As an English country girl born-and-bred, for the first 20 years of my life I took local bus transportation for granted.

Very few of us had access to any motorized vehicle until we were well beyond puberty, and most women of my mother’s generation never learned to drive, so I always took public transportation (busses and trains) for granted.

When my late husband and I emigrated to California, that changed rapidly – and I rather reluctantly learned to drive! This is a world where ownership of one’s own car is a must.

Some 50 years later, now as a retiree in our Friendly Village of Fallbrook, I still have to rely on my own car to get anywhere – but looking around me I find more and more of my senior friends are without their own wheels or have been unable to renew their driver’s license.

When we reach our ‘80s (or even younger) we’re stuck! Tim O’Leary’s discussion of the “aging roadmap” struck a very responsive chord.

He did actually find a local bus, Route 306 – which is part of North County Transit District’s only ride option here. Yes, I have seen those buses making their way down Main Avenue – but not venturing any further afield in our spread-out community. And they are almost always empty… I feel quite sorry for the solitary life these bus drivers lead! Does anyone know where to catch these buses??

As Tim O’Leary points out, it’s a two-mile round trip from the Senior Center, for instance, to the closest stop for seniors on this Route 306 line.

It really is a pretty pathetic picture of NCTD’s map. Apparently they have 34 bus lines, but offer very few options or pick-up locations for Fallbrookians. Is there any hope for better services in the future I wonder? Or are seniors always going to be dependent on younger friends or relatives to help transport them around or out of town?

Sue Thorne