The bus that rolls through your neighborhood today may look very different in a year or two — and SunLine Transit Agency wants Cathedral City residents to help decide how.
The agency is in the middle of Phase 2 of “SunLine: Rides Reimagined,” a year-long effort to redesign bus service across the Coachella Valley. From now through Saturday, June 28, SunLine is asking residents to weigh in on two very different visions for what local transit could become. There’s still time to take part — and a little incentive, too: everyone who completes the survey is entered for a chance to win a $100 gift card.
Two Roads Forward: Ridership vs. Coverage
At the heart of Phase 2 are two conceptual network designs. They aren’t final maps — they’re starting points meant to spark a community conversation about priorities.
The first design leans into ridership, concentrating more frequent, reliable service on the busiest corridors where the most people live, work, and travel. Buses would come more often, but they’d serve a more focused set of routes.
The second design prioritizes coverage, spreading service — through a mix of transit options — across a wider slice of the Valley so more neighborhoods stay connected, even if buses arrive less frequently.
It’s a genuine trade-off, and SunLine says the community is divided on which way to go. In Phase 1, 1,930 residents shared their input, and the results came back almost evenly split between the two approaches. That deadlock is exactly why your feedback matters now: Phase 2 is designed to break the tie.
How Cathedral City Can Get Involved
The survey takes about 5 to 7 minutes and walks you through both network designs so you can see where routes would run, how often buses would come, and which areas would be served before you choose.
- Take the survey (English): surveymonkey.com/r/SunLineCOA2
- Toma la encuesta (Español): surveymonkey.com/r/SunLineCOA2es
- Explore the designs and learn more: sunline.org/rides-reimagined
Prefer to learn more in person? SunLine is bringing Rides Reimagined to the Cathedral City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 10 at 3 p.m., where the project team will present the two concepts and answer questions. It’s a chance to hear the details firsthand and see how the proposals could affect routes close to home.
If you’d rather get the gist quickly, SunLine has also posted a short two-minute video overview on the project website.
Why It Matters
The Coachella Valley is growing, and SunLine says it wants its system to grow with it. The choices made over the coming months will influence how easily Cathedral City residents — students, commuters, seniors, and everyone in between — can get where they need to go for years to come.
The survey closes June 28, 2026. Whether you ride the bus daily or rarely, this is a rare opportunity to put your fingerprint on the system before any decisions are locked in.
Questions or comments can be directed to the project team at rides-reimagined@sunline.org.
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