HUNTINGTON BEACH – Once a driving commuter, Huntington Beach resident Greg Valentine said “it was with great pleasure” that he found the express Route 701 bus to take to downtown Los Angeles, where he works as a paralegal.

Valentine, 56, said he’s “only been taking it for six years.”

Others gathered at Huntington Beach Central Library on Thursday night for the Orange County Transportation Authority’s fourth and final community meeting this week on proposed systemwide bus service changes have taken the 701 for more than a decade, he said, and couldn’t bear the thought of cutbacks to the route.

Under the 2016 Draft Bus Service Plan, which the transportation authority deems necessary to reverse a historic low in ridership, the 701 could be realigned to the Harbor Gateway Transit Center in Gardena, forcing riders heading downtown to connect to the Los Angeles County Metro Silver Line. For added trip time, transfer inconvenience and safety reasons, that proposal doesn’t sit well with many 701 patrons.

“You would lose professional people who go to L.A. to work their jobs – city attorneys, medical professionals that look for an alternative way to get off the streets,” Valentine said.

Most 701 riders who spoke out on Thursday said they could live with an alternative proposal to keep the direct route but streamline it by removing service on Fifth, Sixth and Eight streets in downtown Los Angeles.

Route 701 riders were just some of the OCTA customers who came out in force to voice concerns with the plan, which involves reducing or eliminating bus routes in low-demand areas and directing those resources to improving service and frequency in high-demand markets.

According to OCTA the plan affecting more than 40 of its 77 bus routes would not impact 75 percent of riders, boost frequency for 17, reduce frequency for 4 percent and leave 1 to 4 percent with no service or needing to use another route. But a crowd showed up at Wednesday’s community meeting in Laguna Hills as well to voice opposition to cuts to south county routes.

A handful of the more than three dozen people at Thursday’s meeting asked OCTA staff to spare Route 175 in Irvine and Route 178 in Huntington Beach, which can be used to reach Orange Coast College and UC Irvine. Both would be eliminated under the plan due to low ridership.

Costa Mesa resident Mariola Paini, 58, stepped up to the podium with two 8 1/2-by-11 papers reading, “Keep 175 & 178.” She explained she is a host for the World International Student Exchange, or WISE, program through UC Irvine and that without those routes, her students would have no affordable way of getting to class.

“I printed 100 of these,” Paini said, holding two of them up high. “I have students, they say, ‘What a wonderful public transportation.’ Please keep 175 and 178.”

Huntington Beach Mayor Jim Katapodis, who is on the OCTA board, has been a strong advocate for keeping the direct Route 701, even if it is streamlined – especially with free parking at Golden West Transportation Center and more apartments in the area on the way.

“The whole idea of a commuter bus is to get on a bus and go straight,” he said.

Regarding routes 175 and 178, Katapodis said he had not formed an opinion but, “one of the things I’d like to see is we cater to students.”

“I know (staff) took the input to heart,” he said.

A public hearing on the plan is scheduled on Jan. 25 at the OCTA headquarters. If approved by the board in February, the first wave of changes would be effective in June.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7762, jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong