The AC Transit board voted unanimously Wednesday to pare bus service by 8.4 percent in March, becoming the Bay Area's last major public transit system to cut back amid a down economy.
The bus system figures to save $9.6 million a year by overhauling and consolidating routes and running buses less frequently on some lines.
AC Transit will lay off 15 temporary maintenance workers, but no bus drivers, managers said in a memo.
To soften the pain for riders, AC Transit will extend from 90 minutes to 120 minutes the time in which passengers can use bus transfers.
While waits for buses will increase in some cases, the Alameda Contra Costa Transit District is not canceling service in areas it now serves in 13 cities in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, officials said. The district carries some 260,000 passengers per weekday in a 364-square-mile area stretching from Richmond and San Pablo on the north to Fremont and Newark on the south.
"We are not leaving areas unserved," AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson said.
