On Sunday, August 10, AC Transit will implement major bus changes as part of its “Realign” program. Over the past few years, agency planners and consultants reviewed the performance of the routes and gathered community input. Under the program, some routes will have reduced service, while others will have more. New lines will be created, and some will be discontinued.

Similar to other bus changes, like those in Los Angeles, the service change emphasized improving the frequency of local service, reducing or eliminating limited-stop rapid service. For instance, the 72R on San Pablo would have a reduced frequency of every 30 minutes, so it will be changed to 72L limited service, as rapid routes should have more frequent service.

The service change also formally discontinued routes that were suspended at the onset of the COVID pandemic and never resumed, many of which are Transbay commuter routes, including the only route on the San Mateo Bridge. The pandemic caused a long-term change in transit usage patterns as many traditional downtown jobs have gone remote, leading to a sustained reduction in ridership at transit agencies like BART.