Countywide Bus Pass System Suggested to Increase Ridership : Transit: Transportation Commission staff supports a consultant’s conclusion. Service operators raise questions.

Ventura County can coax more people out of their cars and onto public transportation by creating a countywide bus pass that would allow riders to transfer more easily from one system to another, a consultant has concluded.

Ventura County Transportation Commission staff members agree that such a pass, recommended by Barton-Aschman Associates, will boost ridership and reduce traffic jams and smog.

At its meeting today in Camarillo, the commission is scheduled to decide whether to ask the county’s 10 public bus agencies to refine the pass proposal and put it into effect.

The commission, which includes representatives of the county’s 10 cities and the Board of Supervisors, evaluates transportation improvements in the county and makes recommendations to local bus operators.

Some of these operators said Thursday that several key questions about the pass still must be resolved: Are there enough intercity riders to justify it? How will money collected from bus pass sales be split?

And finally: Are there enough places where the different bus lines meet?

“We don’t connect with Moorpark (City Bus),” said Ray Turpin, administrator of Simi Valley Transit. “We don’t connect with Thousand Oaks Transit.”

He questioned how a countywide pass program might benefit Simi Valley riders. But “I’m willing to review it,” he said. “I’m willing to look at it with an open mind.”

Roy Myers, manager of Thousand Oaks Transit, said his buses do not link up with routes in Simi Valley and Moorpark. But because such connections are being considered, he believes that the countywide passes should not be delayed.

“We don’t want to have our systems tied together, and then all of a sudden start talking about how to do this,” Myers said. “It would be better if we had a plan ready to go.”

Kathy Connell, who oversees county-operated bus lines, said the multi-system pass could be used immediately by some riders on the Interconnect Bus that runs along the Ventura Freeway between Westlake Village and Ventura.

Connell said these buses stop in Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Oxnard, and connect to local lines in each city. “Allowing people to transfer easily between all of the systems is a good idea,” she said.

But she warned that the program must be set up so each bus line receives its fair share from the sale of countywide passes.

“It would have to be administered in such a way that each of the transit systems would have a clear accounting of who is transferring from one line to another,” Connell said. “It’s something we have to work out together.”

The Irvine-based Barton-Aschman has urged the county to adopt a “flash pass” that would be shown to the driver when a rider boards. It would be purchased monthly, with stickers attached to identify the bus lines that each rider plans to use.

The firm has suggested that drivers keep track whenever such passes are used.

Peter Drake, general manager of South Coast Area Transit, which serves Oxnard, Ventura, Ojai, Port Hueneme and Santa Paula, said he’s willing to give the countywide pass a test run.

“It’s difficult to say how many interagency trips we have,” Drake said. “The concept is that it will increase bus ridership because someone has a pass they can use throughout the county. You don’t really know until you try it.”

Mary Travis, manager of transit programs for the Transportation Commission, said county regulators are pressing local companies to cut smog and traffic jams by persuading more of their employees to use public transportation.

These employers can move toward that goal and reap tax credits by buying bus passes for their workers, Travis said.

If the idea is approved by the commission and adopted by the bus operators, the countywide pass could be available by next fall.

Currently, single bus fares range from 50 cents to $1.25 in the county. Travis estimated that the bus passes might cost $50 to $75 a month.

“We’re not talking about doing anything new or leading the nation by offering a monthly pass,” Travis said. “We would be able to key off the experience of other operators in other counties that have tried it.”