COUNTYWIDE : OCTA Offers Ideas to Smog Regulators

Shuttle vans serving the Santa Ana train station, the installation of soot-trapping devices on trucks and restrictive parking policies by some employers are among the experimental projects proposed to smog regulators by the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Money for the experiments would come from a $2 surcharge recently added to California motorists’ vehicle-registration fees to finance clean-air programs.

In a report on today’s OCTA board meeting agenda, the agency lists five such projects which face review next month by a committee created by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The projects are:

* Truck-particulate (soot) traps, to prove the viability of such devices on diesel-powered vehicles. State law currently doesn’t require soot traps on diesel trucks, but the Orange County Transit District has had some success with them on its buses. The traps could be installed on 10 new, so-called Super Buses, which haul passengers in trailer rigs pulled by diesel-powered trucks.

* Shuttle service for rail passengers commuting between the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center (Amtrak station) and Santa Ana’s business district. The proposal involves a two-tiered experiment to test the effectiveness of both shuttle bus and taxi feeder service to increase the convenience of commuting to and from work by passenger train. The shuttles would serve the civic center area, while taxis would be routed to businesses along Grand Avenue. All vehicles would be propane-powered.

* Completion of a high-tech traffic operations center to share traffic data from multiple agencies, including Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and cities, to reroute commuters around traffic jams.

* Security improvements at park-and-ride lots to alleviate ride-sharers’ concerns and boost patronage. Improvements would include surveillance cameras, better night lighting, telephones and security patrols. Current patronage, the OCTA report notes, “is significantly limited because of the actual and perceived problems related to safety and security.”

* Parking management by major employers to discourage “solo” driving. Although effective elsewhere, Orange County has been slow to use this strategy, according to the OCTA staff. Money would be used to construct limited-access gates and ticket machines at employers’ parking facilities, designate preferred parking slots, and for incentive devices such as coupons and bus passes.

Officials familiar with cost projections for each of the proposals could not be reached for comment.

“I think all of the proposals have merit,” said OCTA Chief Executive Officer Stanley T. Oftelie. But he predicted AQMD officials will probably favor the project aimed at reducing diesel-truck emissions.