Background

Silverado's proposed PSC service area is comprised of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties on the Southern California Coast, an area that is a mixture of urban, recreational, military and agricultural land uses. These two counties, with an estimated population of 600,000, rely primarily on the automobile for transportation along the Highway 101 corridor to access the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the cruise harbors in Long Beach and San Pedro. Silverado currently holds Commission authority to operate as a charter party carrier.⁵ Silverado proposes to provide a single line run daily beginning at the San Luis Obispo Airport and continuing through Santa Barbara to LAX and the Ports. The return trip begins at the Ports and returns to LAX, then back through Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo.

Airbus holds authority to provide round-trip service between the Santa Barbara area⁶ and LAX. Airbus indicates it provides 7 trips in each direction daily, and has been operating since 1983. Airbus uses 47-passenger MCI buses and its bus fleet varies from 5 to 24 years old, with the average age being about 17 years.⁷

CCS is allowed to make "flag-stops" in Santa Barbara, and round-trip scheduled service from Santa Maria to LAX. CCS began scheduled service in 2001⁸ and offers 5 trips in each direction daily, using 10 passenger vans and one 15-passenger bus. CCS vehicles are from 1 to 5 years old.⁹

AST has authority to conduct scheduled bus service in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.¹⁰ AST holds authority to provide service to the Long Beach and San Pedro Harbors, however, the record does not indicate AST is currently operating this service.

Alternative transportation to LAX and the Long Beach and San Pedro harbors from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties includes rental cars, for-hire limousines, charter buses and an on-call shuttle service from Santa Barbara. Amtrack service is not considered to be an alternative as it does not serve either LAX or the Ports. In addition, during the past 20 years other competing bus services have operated for short periods of time in the Santa Barbara area.

⁵ Silverado holds authority under PSG-9069.

⁶ Airbus stops in the cities of Goleta, Santa Barbara and Carpinteria to pickup passengers.

⁷ Exhibit 2, Attachment S-13.

⁸ See, D.00-04-006.

⁹ Exhibit 2, Attachment S-39.

¹⁰ See, D.01-04-018 and D.05-02-019.