Bus Lines 20 and 21 currently carried its passengers between the cities of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria. The buses run hourly during the week and every 90 minutes on weekends. In Carpinteria, the bus makes about a dozen stops that include several of the popular hotels in town.
Meanwhile, Carpinteria operates its own Seaside Shuttle, line 36, which makes over two dozen stops throughout the town, its major motels, and the state beach.
Only none of them reach Bates Beach, just to the south of the city. Lines 20/21 go as far south as Bailard Road, near the Veneco Oil plant and a half mile short of Bates Road, before turnng across the freeway and backtracking again to the north toward Santa Barbara.
The city's Seaside Shuttle goes south-east only as far as Casitas Pass Road, a mile away from Bailard Road and 1 1/2 miles from Bates Road.
Bates Needs People!
In order to reverse the lack of people going to Bates, there has to be a way to get people there. The parking lot holds 150 cars, yet even on the most populated summer days, the lot remains half empty. Most who do show up are their either to surf or to walk their dogs, not to enjoy the sand and surf.
The fact that Bates will be the new terminus for the Coastal Trail gives us the oppotunity to bring people to/from the beach and to shuttle tourists from the nearby hotels and motels who prefer a less crowded location that Carpinteria State Beach up the coast. We calculate our proposal can increase the Bates Beach population by about 500-800 people per day, which translates into about $800,000 to $1 million in additional revenue to the local hotels, restautants, and the City of Carpinteria.
Click Here to read about our proposal
