OCTD Looks to an Active, Aggressive 1985 : Must Be Leaner, More Creative in Wake of Prop. A Failure, Clark Says

The Orange County Transit District must become leaner, more aggressive and creative in 1985 if the agency is to learn anything from the resounding defeat at the polls last June 5 of a proposed 1-cent sales tax increase for transportation, Chairman Ralph B. Clark said Monday.

Clark said that despite the voters’ rejection of Proposition A by a 2-1 margin, he believes they still want--and need--the transportation improvements and road projects that would have been financed with $5 billion raised from the 15-year special tax.

Existing Revenue

“The voters want us to deliver transportation improvements with existing sources of revenue,” Clark said in his state-of-the-district message at the agency’s first meeting of 1985.

“We have to put our dollars to their highest and best use right now,” he said. “Our (residents) have a right to expect this, and considering the message of Proposition A, they’re certainly demanding it.”

Clark also applauded district employees for some demonstrable successes in 1984: achieving an 8% increase in ridership; increased productivity; holding operation costs below the rate of inflation; the opening of a successful transit terminal in downtown Santa Ana, and the beginnings of a ride-sharing program for commuters.

To respond to the will of the voters, Clark said, OCTD officials must be even more resourceful and explore “every creative idea” to relieve traffic congestion. They must make existing transit operations more efficient while serving more people and planning for a future that looks increasingly grim.

Along the Santa Ana Freeway corridor alone, where speeds average less than 20 m.p.h. during peak periods, traffic is projected to increase 50% by the year 2000. It is expected to double in “magnet” areas, such as Disneyland, downtown Santa Ana, the proposed Irvine Center and the commercial-industrial complex around South Coast Plaza.

“It keeps taking longer and longer to get anywhere in the county,” Clark said after the meeting at district headquarters in Garden Grove.

The OCTD is examining a proposed busway and high-occupancy-vehicle system along the existing freeway network that Clark said appears to be one of the least expensive alternatives to reduce freeway congestion and could be coordinated with Caltrans plans for the Santa Ana Freeway corridor. Cost estimates have ranged from $200 million to $1 billion. An OCTD staff report presenting the choices in more detail is expected by early February.

Other options to relieve rush-hour traffic congestion include turning large roads into so-called super streets with what Clark termed “flyovers,” or overpasses, at major intersections.

To fund some of these projects, Clark and Daniel E. Griset, chairman of the Orange County Transportation Commission (OCTC) and a member of the OCTD board, have proposed using interest earned by money set aside for a long-planned mass-transit system. The $8.5-million-a-year interest payments could double the funds currently available for construction and improvement of roads and highways.

Under state law, the $85-million transit fund, accumulated over the years from a portion of the state sales tax, can be spent only on transit projects. For that reason, the OCTC is seeking a change in the law to allow creation of a Unified Transportation Fund.

Despite the defeat of Proposition A, which would have allocated 20% of revenues to transit projects, OCTD directors have not given up on mass transit. A $54,000 study has been commissioned to determine whether private businesses would share the cost of developing such a system. Preliminary findings are expected in a few weeks.