At the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo Metrolink station, about ten passengers disembarked the train including me. Many passengers took their cars that they parked in the parking lot or on the street parking. Only one other passenger and I took the Orange County Bus, which was a half mile away at Crown Valley Parkway & Cabot Road. On the way there, we passed by commercial buildings on one side and Trabuco Creek on the other. There is a paved path along the river but ends at the train station.
At the bus stop, both of us had to wait several minutes for our bus. Crowne Valley Parkway is huge at about 4 lanes in each direction since neighborhoods from the parkway & Cabot meet and then cross over I-5 to Mission Viejo or go on I-5. The stop was for OC Bus lines 91 and 85, the other passenger boarded the 85, and a few minutes later my 91 bus arrived and scanned the Metrolink ticket as I get a free transfer ticket with my train ticket.
The bus crosses over I-5 and rounds by the Shops at Mission Viejo and the Providence Hospital, and a timed stop at Saddleback College, a two-year community college opened in 1968, when the area was being developed. There were several students boarded the bus and then only just got off a couple of blocks later.
Then the bus picked up the pace down Marguerite Parkway with a couple of passenger stops. Then went under I-5 at Junipero Sierra Road, and then on Camino Capistrano into San Juan Capistrano. Then it seems like passengers were boarding and exiting at every stop in town. Some of the older passengers on board were not as fully able to walk a lot and only went on the bus for a couple of blocks in town, they most likely have the $69 monthly bus pass, that’s a nice fare rate.
I filmed this part of the bus ride, I was initially by the exit and I saw that the bike lanes were so narrow, I felt that I would probably get sideswiped by the bus or a large pickup truck if I was biking in the narrow bike lane. Since I am still a novice cyclist, I would probably hurt or put myself in too much danger no matter what. When we arrived at the mission, the majority of passengers left but a new set of passengers boarded to go to Dana Point. I moved to the back of the bus to make way for them as it was empty back.
Then we turned right to Del Obispo Street, leaving the denser historic area, and then beelined down Alipaz Street through the suburbs. Alipaz also has narrow bike lanes, but this also parallels the Trabuco/San Juan Creeks bike trails, I would have biked the trail anyways if I brought my bike. A few miles later we arrived at Dana Point, where all of the passengers on board, including me, exited the bus, and a new set of passengers boarded to go to San Clemente.
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