Coupons for Cabs May Replace Transit Service in Foothills : Transportation: A trial program of subsidized taxi rides will be considered by the city of Los Angeles next month. It would take the place of underutilized dial-a-ride vans.

Los Angeles transportation officials are considering replacing an underused dial-a-ride program in the northeast San Fernando Valley with an experimental program offering commuters subsidized taxi rides to nearby bus stops.

The taxi program, which will be considered next month by the City Council’s Transportation Committee, would probably charge residents $1 for a coupon to ride a taxi to a bus stop along Foothill Boulevard, city transportation planner John Fong said. The city’s share of the cost of each trip would be $3.

The program would replace the four yellow-and-red Foothill Dial-A-Ride vans that have been contracted by the city since 1984 to transport people within a designated service area in the communities of Sunland, Pacoima, Lake View Terrace and Sylmar. The dial-a-ride program has disappointed city officials by attracting only about 50 commuters a day at a cost of $170,000 a year, Fong said.

Transportation officials have said the program would be successful if it attracted at least 150 people a day, each paying a $1 fare. The funds for the program are collected from a half-cent countywide sales tax approved by voters in 1980.

A taxi coupon program for commuters has never been tried in Los Angeles but would be important in the hillside areas of Sunland and Tujunga, where residents have complained for years that they are underserved by public transportation, Fong said. Buses do not serve the hilly areas of the two communities because their weight would prematurely wear out the narrow, curved streets, he said.

Fong said the taxi program is more cost-effective than the dial-a-ride shuttle because the city would only be responsible for the taxi trips that are used.

“It saves lots of money,” he said. “It’s more cost-effective from the city’s perspective.”

Part of the problem with the Foothill Dial-A-Ride program may have been the lack of publicity it has received.

“I don’t think that anybody around here knows anything about it,” said Sylvia Gross, chairwoman of the Sunland-Tujunga Residents Assn.

The program, initially known as Foothill Transit, was first announced through 13,000 brochures mailed to residents in the target area.

But Gross said she never heard of the dial-a-ride program and is not aware that city officials are considering a taxi coupon program to replace it.

Gross said, however, that she would support a taxi coupon program.

A spokeswoman for Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the area, said she is concerned about whether the proposed taxi program will be promoted enough by the city to make it a success.

“The greatest concern is how are people going to know about it,” said Heather Dalmont, a legislative deputy for Wachs.

Fong said it is too early to say how the city would promote the taxi coupon program. But he said he suspects that the city will distribute pamphlets to retailers in the area.

He said the 50 or so commuters who now use the Foothill Dial-A-Ride program would also be notified of the change by mail.

To qualify for the taxi coupon program, residents must live in the designated service area--a narrow 10-mile corridor that extends along Foothill Boulevard from Sunland to Sylmar.