It will be easier — and in a number of cases quicker — to get around Manteca using the city’s transit buses starting Oct. 1

The creation of loop routes will shave wait times between buses on some routes by 20 to 40 minutes.

In doing so, it will make the system a more convenient and a viable option to those that currently do not make use of the Manteca Transit system.

The city is essentially creating a pair of loop routes operating generally on Main Street and Union Road as well as Yosemite Avenue and Louise Avenue that run in opposite directions.

That would allow riders, instead of waiting an hour between buses to return from a destination, to catch a return bus between 20 to 40 minutes later in addition to an hour later.

At the same time, a new fifth fixed route will cover a large swatch of Manteca south of the 120 Bypass that doesn’t currently have close access to bus stops.

The changes were adopted by the Manteca City Council on Tuesday.

Councilman Milke Morowit lauded the system overhaul as moving Manteca toward the frequency of service in many East Bay cities making it more effective for people to opt to take a bus instead of cars

Changes could increase annual trips on Manteca Transit by 63 percent.

The projection based on additional routes and expanded hours of service could take yearly ridership from 16,995 to 27,665.

Other key changes include:

*Expanding weekday service from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

*Expanding Saturday service from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

*Keeping frequency at 60 minutes.

*Adding a morning trip for Sierra High service on weekdays.

*Adding a seventh shuttle to the ACE commuter rail station on East Yosemite Avenue.

The changes means there will be more Manteca Transit buses on the city’s two major commercial corridors — Yosemite Avenue and Main Street.

At the same time, bus service will be tied closer to the start and dismissal bells at Manteca, Sierra, and East Union high schools. That is in addition to a morning only Sierra High bus route service to further connect with the booming new neighborhoods south of the 120 Bypass.

There will also be a second and a third transfer point added — one at the Civic Center/Senior Center and the other at The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley — in addition to the main transfer station at the Manteca Transit Center

The system is being tweaked to increase frequency to more popular destinations.

In doing so, the goal goes beyond reducing the time current riders have to wait for a bus, especially for return trips.

It is designed to encourage more use by the system’s largest block of riders, high school students, that account for a third of the monthly average of 7,300 riders on the fixed route buses.

Changes, overall, mean students riding transit buses can get to the high school campuses closer to the morning bell without doing so either 40 minutes earlier or a few minutes late

The new morning only Sierra High route open to all riders and not just high school students, is designed to start in the neighborhoods that are part of the Sierra High attendance area in southeast Manteca near Woodward Park.

It will then travel west to the southwest area before heading north to Zurich Drive and Crom Street to take in neighborhoods added this year to the Sierra High attendance area then to the Sierra High campus.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com