Waits between buses on many sections of Manteca Transit along key corridors will be reduced between 20 and 40 minutes starting Thursday.

It is part of a major system overhaul that goes into effect Oct. 1 that includes:

*Expanded weekday service from the current 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

*Expanded Saturday service from the current 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

*A fifth fixed route being launched.

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

*Timing routes involving high schools so drop off times are not too close to the morning bell or too quick to depart after the dismissal bell.

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

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

The creation of loop routes will shave wait times between buses on some routes by 20 to 40 minutes. That is in addition to the hour interval.

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.

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

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.

The system overall has been 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.

More details of changes to Manteca Transit service can be found on the city’s website.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com