OCTA ridership sees early 13% ridership decline amid immigration raids

Fears of masked federal immigration agents stopping people at bus stops or boarding buses in Orange County appears to be having an impact on ridership.

The Orange County Transportation Authority typically sees emptier weekday buses over the summer, but recent statistics show a 13% drop after June 20 compared to the same period in 2024.

“Similar ridership declines carried over into July,” said Eric Carpenter, an OCTA spokesperson, “so we continue to closely monitor this apparent trend of lower ridership.”

The recent wave of immigration sweeps began on June 6 in Southern California.

Since then, a memo to OCTA bus drivers last month instructed them to comply with any state or federal law enforcement attempting to pull over a bus. The guidance additionally noted that law enforcement present at a bus stop or transit center can’t be stopped from boarding.

On July 10, a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent boarded a bus in Santa Ana. They briefly questioned one passenger and left without making an arrest.

Videos of the encounter spread on social media and amplified fears. OCTA released clearer footage from a bus camera, including a passing remark by an agent about the person questioned being the “wrong guy” they were looking for.

“We are not aware of any other instance of federal agents boarding a bus in Orange County,” Carpenter said.

OCTA officials stressed that the encounter was an isolated incident, but that the federal agencies involved did not notify them of the nature of the investigation before or after it happened.

“The moment an ICE agent boards a bus, trust is lost,” said Dorian Romero, project manager for Santa Ana Active Streets, a group that advocates for progressive transportation policies. “OCTA needs to work harder to build that trust because this is not safe mobility.”

The same day as the incident, an OCTA official presented declining ridership stats to the agency’s transit committee.

Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who also serves on OCTA’s board of directors, noted that less ridership during the summer is normal, as students are out of school, but the stats signaled a climate of fear amid immigration raids beyond that.

He urged the agency to look at responses — from adjusting the number of bus routes to informing riders of their constitutional rights — should the raids and depressed ridership trends continue.

“I want us to continue to do business as usual because we’ve always delivered a solid system but these are unforeseeable conditions that we may not have thought about,” Sarmiento said. “I’m just hoping going forward, as we see now impacts to ridership, that’s going to trigger a response that we make sure our riders are more informed about what’s happening.”

L.A. Metro, where Latinos comprise more than 60% of bus riders, saw a similar 13.5% drop in ridership from May to June, with last month being the lowest June on record since 2022.

Metro has partnered with the L.A. County Office of Immigrant Affairs to distribute “Know Your Rights” materials on buses, trains and stations.

OCTA chief executive Darrell Johnson pledged to look into a possible partnership with the County of Orange on a similar initiative that could use “public service announcement” spaces on buses for multilingual primers on riders’ rights.

The topic arose again during OCTA’s board of directors meeting on Monday as pro-immigrant activists accused the agency of lying about the lack of ICE activity on buses and at bus stops.

Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who serves on the board of directors, said at Monday’s meeting that “Know Your Rights” signs in English, Spanish and Vietnamese are being looked at for the county’s bus fleet.

“I just want to share with the community that we, as OCTA, have been having that discussion,” she added. “It’s very important that our riders do know their rights.”

Romero welcomes OCTA’s efforts to look into a “Know Your Rights” partnership, but believes more can be done to protect riders.

“Bus drivers can be trained, as first responders, on how to encounter these ICE agents, especially if they’re masked and not providing identification,” she said.