DASH Shuttle Service Will Offer Free Rides to Draw Passengers

From Day One, the natural-gas powered shuttle bus service for Studio City and Van Nuys seemed cursed.

On the day Los Angeles City Department of Transportation officials scheduled a press conference to officially unveil the DASH bus service, rioting sparked by the verdicts in the police beating case of Rodney G. King broke out.

With little publicity, the buses began rolling nonetheless. But they have since attracted little ridership. Each bus has carried a maximum of only seven riders per hour, less than one-third of what city transportation officials had expected.

Now, in hopes of salvaging a program that cost $1.6 million to operate in the first year, city transportation officials are offering the ultimate promotion gimmick--free bus service for a month.

The promotion was begun Monday at a press conference in Studio City attended by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky and representatives of the Studio City Chamber of Commerce and the Studio City Homeowners Assn.

The start of the promotion coincides with the beginning of California Rideshare Week, a statewide event designed to encourage commuters to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution by using car pools, buses, trains and bicycles.

Transportation officials, residents and business owners said that low ridership on DASH--an acronym for Downtown Area Short Hop--can be attributed mostly to a lack of publicity.

Yaroslavsky said the April 27 start of DASH was overshadowed by the riots, which began April 29.

On Monday, Yaroslavsky said, “So far, it’s been a slow news day. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”

Katz, chairman of the Assembly’s transportation committee, said he believes incentives are the best way to get motorists to stop commuting alone. “If anything underscores the need for mass transit it’s a ride across the Valley in the morning,” he said.

Phil Aker, supervising transportation planner for the Los Angeles City Department of Transportation, said there has been no talk among city transportation officials about ending the bus service if ridership does not increase. He said it is customary for ridership on new lines to increase gradually.

Riders interested in a free trip on one of the seven DASH buses must pick up a coupon from one of the dozens of merchants and employers in Studio City who are participating in the program. Thousands of coupons have been and will continue to be distributed to merchants until the promotion ends Oct. 14, organizers said.

The Studio City/Van Nuys shuttles are the first such program in the San Fernando Valley and the first to use compressed natural gas. Representatives of Southern California Gas Co. said natural-gas powered vehicles produce 65% less air pollutants than vehicles powered by conventional gasoline engines.

The city already operates eight DASH programs in sections of the city such as Pacific Palisades, Watts, Westwood Village and Fairfax. The buses are all paid for by funds from Proposition A, the 1980 ballot measure that provided a half-cent sales tax increase for public transportation.

The fare is ordinarily 25 cents and the shuttles run every 20 minutes weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is no DASH service Sundays or on major holidays. The shuttles have 49 stops, including the CBS Studio Center near Ventura and Laurel Canyon boulevards, Valley College, Sherman Oaks Fashion Square and the Van Nuys Government Center at Sylvan Street and Van Nuys Boulevard.