COUNTYWIDE : Ridership Healthy on Commuter Train

Ridership aboard the week-old Los Angeles-Orange County commuter train has exceeded expectations, transportation officials said Friday.

An average of 147 people took the Amtrak train to or from Orange County during the first four days of service, according to Adrienne Brooks, rail project manager for the Orange County Transportation Commission.

The Transportation Commission finances the commuter train service, which is operated by Amtrak. The train runs between San Juan Capistrano and Los Angeles.

Brooks said the numbers are encouraging because there was very little publicity for the service.

Commission officials plan to begin a marketing campaign to attract more riders for the train in coming weeks.

She added that all runs have been on time except for the Wednesday afternoon train, which was 15 minutes late to San Juan Capistrano because of a dispatching error.

A monthly pass to ride the train daily from San Juan Capistrano to Los Angeles costs $281, as opposed to $360 for regular Amtrak service between the two cities.

COMMUTER TRAIN SCHEDULE

NORTHBOUND, TRAIN NO. 569

Departure Times San Juan Capistrano 6 a.m. Irvine (to be determined; station due to open early summer) Santa Ana 6:22 a.m. Anaheim 6:32 a.m. Fullerton 6:42 a.m. Commerce (to be determined) Los Angeles 7:25 a.m. (arrival)

SOUTHBOUND, TRAIN NO. 582

Departure Times Los Angeles 5:45 p.m. Commerce (to be determined) Fullerton 6:19 p.m. Anaheim 6:29 p.m. Santa Ana 6:39 p.m. Irvine (to be determined) San Juan Capistrano 7:10 p.m. (arrival)

Source: Orange County Transportation Commission