$4-Million Commuter Bus Service Wins Final OKs

A $4-million commuter bus service, which is intended to cut traffic in 10 South Bay communities, got the go-ahead this week from the last three of the 10 cities it will serve.

The commuter service, whose focus will be the aerospace industries in the El Segundo and Los Angeles airport area, will run 21 buses on three routes during rush hours. The buses will run every 20 minutes from the southern ends of San Pedro, Rancho Palos Verdes and Redondo Beach. The service is to start in July.

Torrance Takes Lead

On Tuesday, the Torrance City Council voted unanimously to be the lead agency of the system. The same day, the city councils in Redondo Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes voted to join the cities of El Segundo, Lawndale, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Lomita, Los Angeles and Rolling Hills Estates, which already have approved the plan.

“I am very excited about this,” said Los Angeles County Transportation Commissioner Jackie Bacharach.

“It’s very hard to get cities to agree on anything,” said Bacharach, a Rancho Palos Verdes city councilwoman, who has been supporting the plan for nearly a year. “It’s been a long process, and very frustrating at times.”

Some detractors remained critical.

Redondo Beach Councilman Stevan Colin, who voted against the plan, said: “I predict this program will be bankrupt within a year. . . . I think you cannot get Southern Californians out of their cars.”

However, transportation planners say the commuter system is well researched.

Marta Espantman, a transportation consultant hired by Torrance, said 12,000 commuters were surveyed in planning the bus routes. The buses will be smaller than regular RTD buses, more comfortable and have reclining seats. They will run more often than most bus lines, and riders will be able to get on and off along the routes.

Judy Norman, a senior analyst with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, said the commuter system is reliable, efficient and unique in the service it provides.

“This program will give riders what they like to have,” she said.

Officials from Rancho Palos Verdes and Hermosa Beach began studying the possibility of a commuter system about a year ago after several bus services in the South Bay failed as a result of low ridership.

In August, 1987, seven cities and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission hired a consultant to prepare a plan for a commuter transportation system. Eight months later the plan was completed, and since then all 10 cities approved it.

A federal grant, requested by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, will provide $2.3 million or about 75% of the cost of the buses. The transportation commission and the cities will split the $800,000 balance. Another federal grant will pay $140,000 to advertise.

It will cost about $729,000 to operate the commuter system for the first year, half of which will be paid by the transportation commission and the remainder by the cities. Bacharach said she expects that the federal grants will be approved. If not, the cities will have to make up the difference.

The cities will pay their share from Proposition A transportation funds, which are sales taxes returned to Los Angeles County cities by the state.

The cost to each city is based on its population and length of the bus route in each city. For this fiscal year, Torrance and Los Angeles will pay $73,329; Rancho Palos Verdes, $43,601; El Segundo, $28,737; Redondo Beach, $30,389; Hermosa Beach, $26,095; Manhattan Beach, $22,792; Rolling Hills Estates, $13,873; Lomita, $9,249, and Lawndale, $8,918.

Torrance Councilman Timothy Mock said in an interview that Torrance was chosen to oversee the program because it is willing to be responsible for most of the insurance liability. Since Torrance has been providing bus service for 48 years, Mock said that Torrance officials are well experienced in managing bus lines.

Mock said he is excited about the plan. “There is a need for this and the research shows it,” he said. “We are ready to be the leaders of transportation in the South Bay.”

Under the agreement, Torrance will get funds to hire a staff officer to watch over the day-to-day operations of the three bus routes. A company will be hired in December to run the service, maintain and repair the buses.

The commuter system, which will only run from 6 to 8 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m., is not intended to compete with the Southern California Rapid Transit District or other local bus systems, Bacharach said. The buses, which will take about an hour to run their routes, may eventually accept transfers from other systems.

Officials estimate that the bus system will carry about 800 commuters a day. The fares will be set at between 50 cents and $1.50.

A policy steering committee, made up of mayors or members of the 10 city councils, will set policies on fares, routes, awarding of contracts, budgets, the name and logo for the service, and the possible increase of overall service to other cities.

Final details such as these will be worked out when the policy steering committee holds a workshop next week.

At Tuesday’s council meeting in Redondo Beach, the vote was 3 to 1 for the plan.

“We all know that this is a regional problem and the only way to solve it is through regional agreements,” Redondo Beach Councilwoman Kay Horrell said before voting for the plan. “Hopefully this is going to take some cars off the streets.”

However, Larry Cody, a long-time resident and former RTD bus driver, said he fears the plan will fail because of lack of interest from the community. He noted that several bus lines, including two run by the RTD and one sponsored by Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, have been cancelled in the last year because of low ridership.

The northern terminus of the routes will be near Sepulveda Boulevard between Imperial Highway and El Segundo Boulevard just south of Los Angeles International Airport. They will cover approximately 40 miles. One route will begin at Angels Gate Park in San Pedro, running north along Gaffey Street, then Western Avenue and finally Crenshaw Boulevard and heading west on Rosecrans Avenue.

A second route will begin in Rancho Palos Verdes, running north along Hawthorne Boulevard and then Aviation Boulevard. A third route begins in Redondo Beach, running north along Catalina Avenue and then Hermosa Avenue, heading east on Manhattan Beach Boulevard to Sepulveda, where it turns north.