Officials Unveil Bus Plan to Link 10 Cities

Ventura County transportation leaders unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to create four new public transit lines that would link the county’s 10 cities and make it easier to ride buses to work or to a shopping center.

After hearing a report on the plan, Ventura County supervisors agreed to work with bus operators, city officials and the Ventura County Transportation Commission to set up the routes and the operating rules.

“Each of the cities is serving their own population pretty well” with bus service, said Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the transportation commission. “The problem is getting from one city to the other. With these new services, the entire county would be connected by public transportation.”

County supervisors still must vote on whether to fund the project, but probably will not do so until the fall when final costs have been determined. The cities participating in the project will also have to vote on whether to help fund it.

Because these buses could take cars off the road and reduce air pollution, federal funds will probably cover almost 90% of the cost for a two-year tryout, Gherardi said.

She told county supervisors that if the intercity buses do not attract enough riders during the tryout, the service can be halted. “There’s no point in running a public bus that is not needed,” she said.

Nevertheless, county officials have high hopes that the new bus lines will attract many riders.

“It really has some merit, tying together the county and helping employers comply with” air pollution reduction rules, said Supervisor John K. Flynn.

Over the past 18 months, Gherardi’s commission has hired consultants to look at Ventura County’s 10 independent bus systems and to suggest new routes to link them.

Based on these studies, the commission has proposed that three new intercity routes be created and that one existing route be changed. They are:

* The East County Interconnect, which would run from the Metrolink station in Moorpark to Moorpark College, then to Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills.

It is expected to cost about $565,000 annually and attract about 600 riders daily.

* The Central County Interconnect, which would link Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo, serving Camarillo State Hospital and the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station, with a connection to the Port Hueneme Naval Construction Battalion Center.

This line is expected to cost about $398,000 annually and attract about 500 riders a day.

* The Highway 126 Interconnect, a three-part system. It would provide express buses serving Fillmore, Santa Paula and Ventura; “dial-a-route” door-to-door service in Piru, Fillmore and Santa Paula; and commuter shuttles between Fillmore and the Moorpark rail station, with a stop at Egg City.

These services are expected to cost about $600,000 annually and serve about 450 people a day.

* The Highway 101 Interconnect, a new version of the existing service that runs along the Ventura Freeway between Ventura and Westlake Village. Under the new plan, the buses would run more often between Ventura and Thousand Oaks, with new stops at Camarillo Airport and St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

This route is expected to cost about $236,000 annually and serve about 240 riders a day.

The Highway 126 express bus would run hourly. The East County, Central County and Highway 101 buses would run every 30 minutes during weekday rush periods and once hourly during off-peak weekday periods.

If the federal subsidy is obtained, local governments will have to provide matching funds.

The county would have to pay about $48,000 annually, while cities served by the new routes would pay smaller amounts ranging from about $25,000 for Thousand Oaks to about $5,000 for Ventura, said Mary Travis, the transportation commission’s director of transit services.

The commission, county officials and the affected cities will seek private bus companies to operate the new routes. The Highway 126 service could begin in the fall, while the other three routes could begin operating in January, 1994, Travis said.