Panel Approves Freeway Service Patrol Program : Towing: Transportation Commission vote preserves county’s share of funds for the plan to help disabled cars.

The Ventura County Transportation Commission voted Friday to move ahead with a plan to pay tow truck drivers to roam local freeways and aid disabled vehicles, although several members argued that the program is not needed.

The commission had to approve the program before June 30 or forfeit up to $140,000 in state funds that can be used only for so-called freeway service patrols.

Most panel members said freeway congestion in Ventura County probably does not yet warrant the roving rescue trucks.

But Ginger Gherardi, the commission’s executive director, warned that the state money may not be available tomorrow if the county doesn’t begin drawing its share today.

“Whether we would be able to enact the program in the future if traffic gets worse is questionable,” she said.

Friday’s vote will preserve Ventura County’s share of state funds for the tow truck program. But skeptical commissioners said they want more information on why it is needed locally before they award a contract to a towing company later this year.

Freeway service patrol drivers make minor repairs, such as changing a tire or providing a gallon of gas. If the disabled car cannot be fixed within 10 minutes, the truck tows it to a public location off the freeway, where the owner can call for help.

The service is free to the driver of the disabled vehicle. The tow truck driver cannot accept a gratuity or take the disabled vehicle to a garage or gas station.

In recent years, freeway service patrols in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and elsewhere in the state, have been hailed as an effective way to help stranded motorists and keep rush-hour traffic moving.

Ventura County Transportation Commission staff members proposed that a tryout patrol program be launched along the Simi Valley Freeway between Tapo Canyon Road and the Los Angeles County line.

Commission staff members said it would cost $65,000 annually, plus $5,000 in start-up costs, to pay a tow truck driver to patrol this stretch each weekday for two hours in the morning rush period and two hours in the evening.

State funds would cover 75% of the cost, staff members said. The commission would have to pay the remaining $17,500 out of money that county motorists contribute to the area’s emergency call-box system through vehicle registrations.

“This is one of the most cost-effective transportation management programs you could put into place,” Gherardi told the commission.

But the pilot proposal triggered unanimous opposition from the Simi Valley City Council, which said in a letter that the money should be spent instead on more call boxes. Local towing firms had complained to the council that the program would hurt their businesses.

County Supervisor Vicky Howard, a Simi Valley resident who also serves on the transportation commission, expressed strong opposition Friday to trying out the tow truck patrol on the Simi Valley Freeway.

“That’s not a heavily congested freeway,” she said. “I frankly feel that this is one of those opportunities when we would not spend money and be doing the right thing.”

Howard triumphed briefly when her motion to abandon the Simi Valley Freeway pilot program was approved in a 4-3 vote.

But Commission Chairman Frank Schillo, a Thousand Oaks councilman, argued that his city might support the tow truck program on the Ventura Freeway through Thousand Oaks.

“I think we need to keep our options open,” he said.

In a second vote aimed at preserving its share of funding, the commission agreed 5 to 2 to notify the state that Ventura County will begin a freeway service patrol program.

The panel put off a decision, however, on where the patrol service will be launched.