Shuttle Plan Would Aid Shoppers, Traffic : Transit: Vans would travel in a loop along secondary streets not served by buses.

Transit planners on Wednesday unveiled five proposed San Fernando Valley minibus routes designed to bring riders to major shopping areas and to funnel passengers into the regional bus system.

The small buses or vans would travel in a continuous loop, largely on secondary streets not now served by the Southern California Rapid Transit District, Nicholas Patsaouras, RTD board member, said. The suggested routes would serve Studio City, West Hills, Chatsworth, Porter Ranch and Sylmar.

The routes, which could be operated by private firms or the RTD, would be financed by the city of Los Angeles’ share of money raised by the extra half-cent sales tax that Los Angeles County voters approved in 1980.

Gary Spivack, RTD’s assistant general manager, said he had no estimate of how much it would cost to operate the minibus or van routes.

Spivack said his staff devised the plan in response to suggestions made by Valley elected and appointed officials at an April 7 brainstorming session on ways to relieve traffic congestion. The minibus routes were among more than a dozen congestion-relief proposals that the 32 local officials had endorsed earlier for further study.

The proposed routes drew a favorable reaction when they were made public Wednesday at a meeting of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which sets broad guidelines that cities must follow in using their share of the sales tax earmarked for transportation.

Several commissioners noted, however, that the city of Los Angeles would have the final say on the minibus systems and wondered why the idea had been presented to them instead of the City Council.

Bill Chandler, Mayor Tom Bradley’s press deputy, said Wednesday that city officials “will certainly look at these and other proposals” but said they had not yet had time to study the minibus plan.

Chandler said Bradley had directed city staff to study peak-hour parking bans on major streets and reversible lanes on major arteries, including Sepulveda and Victory boulevards, as ways to relieve traffic congestion.

He added that Bradley has “led the way in looking at traffic-relief for the Valley and other areas” and had initiated a truck management permit program that Chandler predicted would remove 70% of heavy trucks from city streets and freeways during rush hours.

The program, which has been approved in general terms by the City Council, is to be implemented later this year.

Patsaouras, a Tarzana resident who organized the Valley Transportation Summit in April, said he went to the commission before the City Council “because I wanted to get some support, which I feel we got here today,” although no vote was taken.

City traffic officials “have been studying some of these reversible lane proposals for years, and never seem to get anywhere,” said Patsaouras. “The bureaucrats are still using the same old dirty glasses,” to look at the city’s traffic problems, he said.

Spivack said that his staff chose the five communities targeted for the bus routes “because they seem to be most in need of supplemental service because of the way our routes miss portions of them.”

It would take 18 buses or vans, Spivack said, to serve the five routes in both directions every 20 minutes during daylight hours.

All of the routes would have two-way loops, with buses running continuously in both directions, except the Chatsworth line, which would be a one-way loop, he said.