L.A. Approves Funds for 4 More Express Bus Routes Tied to Valley : Transportation: The council votes to spend nearly $4 million for contracts and vehicles amid questions about commuter parking.

Funding for four additional express bus routes linked to the San Fernando Valley was approved by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday amid questions about whether there is sufficient parking for the commuters who ride the buses.

On a 12-1 vote, the council approved spending nearly $4 million in the coming year to help purchase 38 buses and to enter into contracts with Laidlaw Transit Inc. to operate three of the lines and the Southern California Rapid Transit District to run the fourth. Another $10 million in federal and Los Angeles County Transportation Commission funds will finance the remainder of the first year’s budget.

A route connecting Sylmar and Pacoima to downtown Los Angeles and second and third routes linking Granada Hills and Encino to Westwood-Century City and Westchester-El Segundo are to open by December, said James McLaughlin, a senior official with the city Department of Transportation.

A fourth route, connecting Encino to Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank, is to open in a month, McLaughlin said.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, while voting for the plan, warned McLaughlin that the park-and-ride lot that now serves express-bus passengers at Magnolia Boulevard and Hayvenhurst Avenue in Encino is already overflowing with cars. Picus also expressed surprise when told that it may be a year before new parking space can be found in Encino.

“A big gap there,” Picus said. “It’s a major problem. They can’t use the buses, if they can’t park anywhere. . . . I don’t want to get complaints that people can’t get parking.”

The lawmaker, who represents Encino, asked Department of Transportation officials to make finding additional parking a top priority and to provide her with status reports on their efforts every 30 days.

McLaughlin, in reply, asked for Picus’ help in dealing with community groups that have resisted having new or expanded park-and-ride lots built in their neighborhoods.

Later, the Department of Transportation executive said that Homeowners of Encino leader Gerald N. Silver, who did not attend the council meeting, has “yelped” about an expanded park-and-ride lot. The concern is that such a lot will draw more traffic into the area, McLaughlin said.

Casting the lone dissenting vote against the express bus plan was Councilman Nate Holden who said Laidlaw had failed to comply with the city’s anti-apartheid law against doing business with South Africa.

Laidlaw’s parent company once had a German subsidiary with a licensing agreement in South Africa at the time Laidlaw bid on the city bus contracts, McLaughlin said.

After such ties were revealed and found to violate the city’s landmark anti-apartheid ordinance, Laidlaw’s parent firm severed its South African business ties, McLaughlin said. Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores said Laidlaw acted quickly to remove the offending business links and should not be penalized.

Laidlaw’s school bus operation has also come under fire in recent years by several Southern California school districts, which accused the firm of poor management.