Ferguson Criticizes Car-Pool Incentives : Transit: The assemblyman calls the offer of state-funded gas money to car-poolers ‘social engineering’ that contains loopholes.

A new state-funded program that offers gas money to commuters who car-pool along the traffic-choked Santa Ana Freeway has angered state Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), who on Friday blasted the idea as “social engineering” and asked that it be shelved at least temporarily.

The commuter-incentive program, dubbed “Snarl Tamer,” was launched this week by the California Department of Transportation and the Orange County Transit District as part of an effort to ease congestion by removing as many as 1,000 cars an hour from the Santa Ana Freeway during peak periods while construction work proceeds to widen the freeway through central Orange County.

Aside from the gas subsidies for car-poolers, the program offers motorists free tickets on buses and trains in an effort to remove automobiles from the freeway, which serves more than 200,000 vehicles a day.

Caltrans officials in Orange County should have presented their plans for the $75,000 effort to lawmakers for review before proceeding with the idea, contended Ferguson, who called the action “precedent setting.”

“Apparently, the Legislature has been out of session too long,” said Ferguson, vice chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee. “These people (at Caltrans and OCTD) have run amok. . . . They’re trying to change the behavior of people by bribing them with other taxpayers’ money.”

He also expressed concern that the program presents “a great potential for fraud,” suggesting that “the general public will find loopholes in a matter of weeks.” In particular, Ferguson said existing car pools might break up and then re-form to tap the subsidy program, which offers its best benefits to commuters new to ride-sharing.

Ferguson said he asked Caltrans officials in Orange County on Friday to put off the program until it can be reviewed by lawmakers in Sacramento and determined if the use of Caltrans construction money to subsidize the commuter program is legal.

“Normally something like this goes through the policy committees and then Ways and Means,” Ferguson argued. “They just can’t go spending money willy-nilly.”

Caltrans officials in Orange County said they would consider Ferguson’s request, but they had no immediate plans to discontinue the program.

“We’ll have to look at it in light of what seems to be vehement objections to a program we see as logical and appropriate,” said Frank Weidler, a Caltrans deputy district director in Orange County.

Weidler said the gasoline money and transit subsidies are part of a concerted effort to avoid heavy congestion during construction along the Santa Ana Freeway, which will be widened in phases from Irvine through Anaheim during the next decade. The overall program includes a special free towing service, dubbed the Orange Angels, and other efforts to help keep traffic moving.

Although Ferguson argued that he was kept in the dark about the gas money and other subsidies, Weidler said legislative aides for various Orange County lawmakers were briefed on the commuter incentive proposals. “We were doing this in broad daylight,” Weidler said.

He also said that Caltrans and the transit district planned to review the effectiveness of the subsidies and then alter or eliminate the program if necessary.

Gas money and rail or bus tickets are offered to each applicant for only a four-month period, he said. After that, commuters must fend for themselves.

“The hope is that this will encourage car pools to form that will remain even after it stops,” Weidler said.

Transportation officials also said any potential for abuse would be thwarted because the effort will be monitored by employee transportation coordinators at large companies, who are aware of any existing car pools at a given corporation. Commuters at smaller firms would have to contact Commuter Network, OCTD’s ride-sharing division, to participate.

“There’s no cash changing hands,” said Joe Hecker, Caltrans traffic management chief in Orange County. “Instead of dollars, there are coupons given to commuters.”

Participants in the subsidy program could reap several benefits:

* $1 a day in gas money per person for new car pools that use the Santa Ana Freeway. Existing car pools get $20 a month if a new person joins.

* New van pools get $100 a month in coupons for gas.

* New riders on OCTD express buses that travel the Santa Ana Freeway from South County would get 50 free-ride coupons over a four-month period or discounted monthly passes.

* Commuters who switch to the train would get $20 toward the purchase of a monthly rail pass.

The program is being financed out of a $1.13-million contract signed last January by Caltrans and OCTD officials to pay for public information programs related to the freeway widening project, authorities said.