COUNTYWIDE : Study Urges Single Rail Authority

A new study says Orange County is ready for an urban rail system, but it recommends that the nine cities planning it should fold their specially created agency into the Orange County Transportation Authority.

The merger between OCTA and the Central Cities Fixed Guideway Agency is needed to avoid conflicting “visions” of Orange County’s “rail future,” according to the study. For example, some city officials believe that the prime purpose of the rail system is to allow increased development and revitalize communities, which could increase traffic. Others say it should simply serve commuters’ needs, regardless of development.

The nine cities involved in the Central Cities Fixed Guideway Agency are Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Irvine, Orange, Stanton and Santa Ana.

The study, prepared by four consultants who each prepared findings, also recommends slowing down the $2.2-billion project until key questions are answered, such as who will use the system and how much they’re willing to pay.

The consultants, each paid $15,000 by OCTA, say not enough is known about potential users of the 49-mile “core” system proposed for central Orange County in seven to 10 years to justify the remainder of a $750,000 route alignment and station-siting analysis now underway by the Gannett-Fleming engineering firm.

OCTA officials said the firm would be paid for the work it has already completed, but the rest would be “put on hold.”

The four consultants, whose findings were released Thursday by OCTA, were hired to perform a “peer review” on the way OCTA and the Central Cities Fixed Guideway Agency have pursued the project.

The project would connect John Wayne Airport with Los Angeles International Airport by way of an elevated rail line through central areas of the county to Los Angeles’ Green Line station in Norwalk.

The OCTA board was scheduled to approve the route in September, but Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, an OCTA board member, and OCTA Chief Executive Officer Stan Oftelie successfully sought postponement until the review was completed.

The OCTA and Fixed Guideway agency boards will discuss the findings at a joint meeting Monday morning at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, one of the original boosters of the project and chairman of the Fixed Guideway Agency, said Friday that it has outlived its usefulness. “It was created because nothing was getting done,” he said. It was set up to spark interest, and that’s been accomplished.”

The planned transit system, the consultants said, should be examined again because there are conflicting “visions” of urban rail service among project proponents.

“The transit system may be made more efficient by fitting the transportation mode to the rider rather than to force riders to change habits to fit the system,” one of the consultants wrote.

Key questions still needing answers, the consultants said, include the type of rider who will use the system, the amount riders will pay, the type of service to be offered, the areas with potential riders, and whether the service population is great enough to support it.