Agoura Hills Shuttle Service Wins Subsidy

An experimental Agoura Hills dial-a-ride service received a ringing endorsement Wednesday as City Council members unanimously approved a $33,000 subsidy to run it through next summer.

The action will keep station wagons operated by a Thousand Oaks cab company on duty in Agoura Hills through June 30. The subsidy will come from Agoura Hills’ $138,000 share of Los Angeles County’s Proposition A sales tax, a half-cent levy approved by county voters in 1980.

City Manager Michael Huse praised the 6-month-old ride program as a success “from every measurable aspect.” He reported to council members that the service carried 6,313 passengers during its first five months of operation.

Agoura Hills residents can travel anywhere within their eight-square-mile city for 50 cents by telephoning the cab company. Rides are also available out of the city to Westlake Community Hospital and the next-door community of Oak Park in Ventura County.

The transportation service was launched May 6 after a city survey of residents showed high interest in public transportation. Until then, the city’s only public transit came from an RTD bus that passed through town hourly on a route between Westlake Village and Canoga Park.

Besides the dial-a-ride program, Agoura Hills has also financed summertime beach buses and occasional recreation trips with this year’s Proposition A allotment, Huse said. The dial-a-ride program would have expired Nov. 6.