Council Seeks Bus Firms’ Bids in Push to Expand Commuter Express Routes

A long-delayed proposal to more than double the number of express buses serving the San Fernando Valley under a transit program funded by the city of Los Angeles took another step forward Wednesday.

The Los Angeles City Council agreed unanimously to solicit bids from private bus companies and the Southern California Rapid Transit District to operate four new Commuter Express routes for the Valley.

The city’s nine existing Commuter Express routes serve about 15,000 passengers weekly; three of these routes serve the Valley. Jim McLaughlin, acting chief of transit projects for the city Department of Transportation, said the proposed new routes would carry 6,500 more passengers a week.

McLaughlin said the new routes could be in place by November, 1990.

The proposal to expand Commuter Express service has been delayed by discussions with RTD about the city-funded lines competing with RTD’s own lines. “There has been a year of delay due to policy hang-ups,” McLaughlin said. “We modified our original proposal to avoid competition with existing RTD routes.”

The four proposed new routes would serve the following corridors: Sylmar and Pacoima to downtown Los Angeles; Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank to Sherman Oaks and Encino; Granada Hills and Encino to Westwood and Century City; Granada Hills and Encino to Westchester and El Segundo.

Under the current plan, all but the route serving Sylmar and Pacoima would begin with buses traveling in both directions during rush hours. McLaughlin said sufficient demand exists, for example, to justify running buses from Granada Hills to El Segundo as well as from El Segundo to Granada Hills during the morning rush hour.

None of these routes is served by RTD, McLaughlin said. Buses would generally run at 20-minute intervals during peak hours and at 30-minute intervals at other times. Peak hours would be from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The council agreed without discussion to solicit bids to operate the routes. The city heavily underwrites the cost of the Commuter Express program with funds it derives from the 1/2-cent sales tax authorized by Proposition A. The annual cost to the city of operating the four new routes would probably be about $1.5 million, McLaughlin said.