Proposition A Tax Money Could Be Used : Braude, Wachs Push for a Ventura Boulevard Jitney

In another attempt to reduce traffic on Ventura Boulevard, the Los Angeles City Council was urged Wednesday to put a jitney bus into service along the length of the busy thoroughfare.

Special Transit Fund

Councilmen Marvin Braude and Joel Wachs, whose districts include stretches of the boulevard running from Studio City through Woodland Hills, proposed that the city provide money from its special transit fund for a jitney to run the length of the boulevard. The transit fund is fed by a one-half-cent sales tax increase known as Proposition A, approved by Los Angeles County voters in 1980.

The councilmen’s request was sent for study to the council’s Transportation and Traffic Committee, which will make its recommendation to the full council.

Jitney Seen as Less Costly

The Southern California Rapid Transit District now provides bus service along the boulevard. A jitney, however, would be less costly and more convenient, said an aide to Wachs.

Unlike RTD buses, people could hail the jitney from anywhere along the boulevard and be dropped off wherever they wanted along the thoroughfare. No fare has been proposed, but Wachs aide Mark Siegel said it would be less than the basic RTD fare, which is scheduled to rise to 85 cents on July 1.

The city now uses some Proposition A funds to operate a dial-a-ride Foothill Transit bus service in the northeast Valley and the Fairfax Trolley and Westwood Shuttle Bus in West Los Angeles.

The Braude-Wachs motion asks the city Department of Transportation to study the feasibility of a jitney, including the possible costs. It also asks the department to consider revising the transportation plan for the boulevard to provide for more parking lots where riders could leave their cars to board buses or jitneys.

Moratorium Proposed

Braude and Wachs, in another proposal to reduce congestion, recently proposed a moratorium on major construction along the more congested sections of the boulevard, through Encino, Sherman Oaks and Tarzana.