L. A. Officials Pledge Not to Give Up on DASH Shuttle Despite Low Ridership

Nearly a year after it started, a clean-air shuttle bus service for Van Nuys and Studio City is attracting fewer riders than expected, but Los Angeles city officials say it’s too early to put the brakes on the program.

The three natural gas-powered DASH buses--an acronym for Downtown Area Short Hop--serve about 11 passengers per hour per bus. City Department of Transportation officials had hoped that the ridership would be up to 15 passengers per hour by this time.

By comparison, the city’s most successful DASH program, a 2-year-old line in Watts, carries about 41 riders per hour. Ridership on the Van Nuys/Studio City line ranks second lowest of the 11 DASH routes, tied with the Exposition Park line. Only the Westwood Village line is ranked lower.

“I would like to see the ridership accelerating faster than we’ve seen,” said Phil Aker, a city transportation supervisor in charge of marketing for the program.

But city officials say they are not giving up on the project, which costs $1.6 million a year to operate in the San Fernando Valley.

Representatives for Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Marvin Braude, who represent Van Nuys and Studio City, said they are concerned about the ridership figures but believe that the program can succeed with route adjustments and improved advertising.

“The routes need to be overhauled,” said Alisa Katz, Yaroslavsky’s chief deputy. “But we are not talking about trashing it at all.”

She said transportation officials will do surveys and send out questionnaires to determine the areas that riders want the buses to serve.

Rosalind Wayman, Braude’s transportation deputy, said it’s too soon to make a live-or-die judgment on the service. The question, she said, is not whether to kill the line but “how can we get more people on this.”

The Van Nuys/Studio City shuttle is the first such program in the Valley and the first to use compressed natural gas. Officials say natural gas-powered vehicles produce 65% less air pollutants than vehicles powered by conventional gasoline engines.

The buses run every 20 minutes from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. There is no service on Sundays or major holidays. The fare is 25 cents.

The buses have 49 stops along a route that loops between Ventura Boulevard in Studio City and the Van Nuys Government Center at Sylvan Street and Van Nuys Boulevard. The stops include the CBS Studio Center near Ventura and Laurel Canyon boulevards, Valley College and Sherman Oaks Fashion Square.

In addition to the Watts and Van Nuys/Studio City routes, DASH shuttles operate in the Fairfax, Midtown, Crenshaw, Hollywood, Pacific Palisades, Exposition Park and Westwood areas, including two lines in downtown Los Angeles.

An additional line is planned to start in June at Warner Center in Woodland Hills.

To be considered a success, shuttle buses should generate about 15 riders per hour per bus during the first year, 19 riders per hour in the second year and 25 riders per hour in the third year, Aker said.

To increase ridership, he said the city last month sent mailers to residents within a quarter-mile of the route to explain the service. Aker said they have also touted the program at meetings of several chambers of commerce in the Valley.

But some Studio City business representatives say DASH’s weak ridership might pick up if residents along the route were given some say in the routes and schedules.

For example, Sondra Frohlich, executive director of the Studio City Chamber of Commerce, said she can’t understand why the bus runs to downtown Van Nuys.

“Very few Studio City residents have any reason to go to downtown Van Nuys,” she said. “I don’t know why that route was picked.”

Although she supports the concept behind DASH, she said the schedules don’t make sense because the buses stop running at 6 p.m. and most workers head home later in the evening.

“Most shops close at 6,” she said. “So employees can’t make it home.”

Lorena Parker, who coordinates the Ride Share Program at CBS Studio Center, said the hours are inconvenient for many CBS employees.

“A lot of our employees get off at 6. They’d have to leave early to catch the bus,” she said.

Still, Parker said she supports DASH.

“I think the DASH is a great idea and I want it to stay in Studio City,” she said. “I just wish it were doing better.”

Times correspondent Scott Glover contributed to this story.

DASH Ridership The city of Los Angeles operates 11 DASH shuttles, two in the downtown area. Additional routes are planned, including one in Warner Center.

Passengers DASH per hour route per bus Watts 41 Hollywood 31 Downtown 27 Fairfax 23 Midtown 18 Crenshaw 17 Pacific Palisades 15 Van Nuys/Studio City 11 Exposition Park 11 Westwood 4

Source: Los Angeles Department of Transportation