AC Transit Line 218 discontinued
By: Divya Gowthaman

On March 28, the move to discontinue line 218 was put into effect by AC Transit. The proposed route change combines parts of lines 218 and 219 to create three new bus routes: 239, 274, and 251, greatly impacting a majority of Irvington students that take the bus home after school.
Instead of turning left towards Ohlone College at the intersection of Mission Blvd. and Grimmer, the bus turns right towards Warm Springs. This change is better for students that live in the Warm Springs area because the commute covers a larger variety of Irvington students that weren’t able to take the 218 bus before.
However, the discontinuation means that the timings for the bus have changed. Before the route change, the bus arrived every hour. Now, however, it arrives at times like 4:40 P.M. and 5:27 P.M.
Junior Keerit Grewal says, “Since the timings are so strange, a lot more students take the 623 bus because they would have to wait too long to take the bus otherwise.”
This has resulted in an influx of students on the 623 bus after school, resulting in greater delays.
The discontinuation is a part of the Revised Service Adjustments Plan Proposal, which restores nearly half of the service hours, in the form of increased frequency and operating hours, originally proposed to be cut by AC Transit.