TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

The local bus system is changing drastically come Sunday, and Catalina Hurtado is ready -- almost.

The second year Bakersfield College student has done enough research about the new routes and schedules to know that she probably won't have to watch so many packed buses zoom past her stop before there's one with room for her to get on.

What Hurtado's not quite clear on at this point is whether she'll have to start getting up earlier than her normal 5:09 a.m. to catch a ride to school.

"I guess I'll find out," she said Thursday morning while waiting at the Golden Empire Transit District's downtown hub.

GET officials, mindful of how the upcoming changes will affect the everyday lives of many thousands of its customers, have done a lot of work to spread word about the new system.

Even so, they know there will be people who aren't ready -- people who didn't see the banners, skipped the meetings, walked right past the fair booth and took no notice of the new maps available inside most buses.

So, just to be sure, GET is preparing for the worst.

Starting Sunday, staff will blanket GET transit centers to help direct passengers to their bus, said Gina Hayden, the district's marketing and business development manager. She said GET supervisors will also drive around to help stranded riders -- those whose normal stops are about to disappear -- get to their new stop.

The plan is for these employees to be on hand through Tuesday, but that may be extended.

"We will stay out all week if we have to," Hayden said.

Bus stops set to be eliminated have been painted red to warn passengers not to expect service there after Saturday. Also, this weekend a crew is being sent out to take down bus information poles at these same stops.

The system changes have been made with two main goals in mind: Provide more frequent, convenient service along GET's busiest routes, and save the district about $1 million a year, or about 4 percent of its budget, in anticipation of funding cuts.

The changes are expected to benefit a lot of customers but not all of them. Because certain underused segments are going away, some customers will have to walk an extra few blocks, or more than a mile in some cases, to reach the nearest stop.

Calls continue to come in to GET headquarters on a daily basis from people confused about new routes, Hayden said. These typically come from people asking how to get to their regular destinations under the new system, she said.

GET employees were stationed this week at district transit centers to help riders navigate the new system. Hayden said these staffers are finding that most people have read about and understand the changes.

"The majority of people were telling us they already had a bus book and they already knew their route," she said.

Soon GET plans to introduce free smartphone apps that will allow people to type in their location, destination and time preferences and, moments later, receive options for taking the bus. Hayden said the same feature will soon be available on the district's website: getbus.org.

GET rider Andre Castillo figures he's good to go. The second year Bakersfield College student said he's worried for older folks who will have to walk farther to the nearest bus stop, but that he checked and the changes won't inconvenience him.

"I kinda got lucky," he said, "because the buses go right by my house."