Sepulveda Blvd. High-Occupancy Lane May Be Cut : Traffic: The reversible northbound route to the Valley was used by about 265 vehicles per hour when it started last June, but only 143 per hour by October.

So few motorists are using an innovative high-occupancy vehicle lane on Sepulveda Boulevard that it may be eliminated soon, Los Angeles officials said Tuesday.

The lane, which runs northbound every weekday from the Westside to the San Fernando Valley, carried 17% of the road’s traffic when it was established in June, 1991. That number has dropped to 12%, Los Angeles Department of Transportation officials said.

Still, the Los Angeles City Council voted 11 to 1 Tuesday to spend $31,000 to pay for a worker to provide traffic safety for crews placing cones to reverse a lane that normally runs southbound between Mountaingate and Mulholland drives, creating a temporary northbound HOV lane. The lane operates Monday through Friday, between 3 and 7 p.m.

During the council’s discussion of the item, Councilman Ernani Bernardi--who cast the sole dissenting vote--sharply questioned the value of HOV lanes based on his personal experience.

An existing HOV lane on the Santa Ana Freeway is rarely used, Bernardi said. “All they do is further clog up the remaining lanes,” he complained. “It’s a joke.”

The Sepulveda Boulevard HOV lane--the only one of its kind on city streets--was used by an average of 265 vehicles per hour in June, 1991. That number dropped to only 143 vehicles per hour in October, 1991, according to city transportation officials, who were at a loss to explain the decline. The northbound lanes, including the HOV lane, carried a total of 1,548 vehicles per hour in June.

Tom Conner, assistant general manager of the city Department of Transportation, said the $31,000 is part of $261,000 that the council approved to develop other HOV projects throughout the city. An initial list of possible future project sites included none in the Valley.

Conner, in an interview, said discontinuing the Sepulveda Boulevard HOV lane is under consideration by his department because so few commuters are using it. But a final decision won’t be made until the department has reviewed a final report on lane usage, he said.

“We want to see one more progress report and then we’ll decide whether to discontinue it or not,” he said.

Tim Little, director of the Coalition for Clean Air, a group based in Venice that advocates ride-share programs, said the city should not abandon the HOV lane and should put more effort into advertising it.

“I think you’ve got to advertise them to tell people they are there,” he said, adding that he has driven Sepulveda Boulevard and has not noticed the lane. “It sounds like it’s been a well-kept secret.”

Los Angeles County Transportation Commissioner Nikolas Patsaouras said Tuesday he was angry that city officials are considering eliminating the HOV lane. He charged city officials with being shortsighted and irresponsible.

Patsaouras, who also sits on the Rapid Transit District board of directors, said the city should be studying ways to add more HOV lanes rather than considering eliminating them.

Tom Swire, a senior transportation engineer for the city, said one reason why fewer cars are using the HOV lane could be that motorists have felt too confined by the traffic cones that border both sides.

He said the city has recently designed a more “user friendly” lane by using fewer traffic cones, making it easier for motorists to exit. He said a study of traffic flow has not been undertaken since the lane was redesigned last month.

Swire said a study done before the HOV lane was added showed that one-sixth of the vehicles traveling all lanes on Sepulveda Boulevard were high-occupancy vehicles, defined as buses or cars carrying two or more passengers. But he said the HOV lane now carries only one-eighth of the traffic.

Swire said advertising for the HOV lane was minimal because motorists who use the route to commute home should see the cones and realize they represent an HOV lane.

“We are not advertising to people to go out of their way to drive this,” he said.

He said further studies of traffic on Sepulveda Boulevard are needed. But he added: “If HOV usage goes down we may recommend . . . to terminate the project.”