EARTHQUAKE / THE LONG ROAD BACK : Improving Commutes : Transportation Officials Are Gearing Up to Offer Alternatives to Autos

Transit officials moved quickly Tuesday to expand bus and train service to relieve the crushing commutes on the Westside and in the Santa Clarita Valley, where roads were demolished by the earthquake.

“Our challenge now is mounting additional service that we need to help people affected by the failure of the roads,” said Frank White, chief executive of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Monday’s earthquake closed portions of six freeways, most notably the Santa Monica Freeway and the two major routes connecting the Santa Clarita Valley to Los Angeles. Caltrans officials vowed Tuesday to rebuild the collapsed bridges and overpasses within a year.

To help motorists avoid difficult commutes in the meantime, MTA officials announced that they will begin express commuter bus service connecting Santa Monica to Downtown Los Angeles on Thursday morning. Buses will run every 20 minutes for the standard $1.10 fare.

The transit officials were still trying to determine the terminus for the new line but said it is likely to be at beach parking lots in northern Santa Monica.

Metrolink, the local commuter rail line, has added extra cars to existing routes that serve the Santa Clarita Valley and is considering the creation of a line that would extend 35 miles into the Lancaster/Palmdale area, officials said.

The freeway damage--while costly and inconvenient--is an opportunity for transit planners, experts say. An excruciating commute may prove more successful in persuading Angelenos to use public transit or car pools than years of advertising campaigns.

After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco, for instance, ridership on the BART rail line and public buses increased dramatically. And BART gained an additional 35,000 passengers even after the roads were restored.

“Look what happened to us--we were banging our heads against the wall to get these people to ride and then they had to,” said BART spokeswoman Vicki Wills.

The key, Wills said, is responding to a catastrophe in a timely manner. In the case of BART, officials resumed running the train four hours after the earthquake, once workers had inspected the 71 miles of track.

Transportation officials say Metrolink will be crucial to relieving commuters’ woes in the Santa Clarita Valley, which was cut off when the Antelope Valley Freeway connection to the Golden State Freeway collapsed.

Five extra cars were added to trains on the Santa Clarita line, which increased capacity to 1,200 passengers.

But the Santa Clarita-to-Los Angeles line could be disrupted if Caltrans uses dynamite to clear debris from a collapsed section of the Antelope Valley Freeway, said Pete Stanger, Metrolink’s executive chairman.

Metrolink officials halted service to Moorpark, Chatsworth and Simi Valley, however, because the tracks were damaged by the derailment Monday of a freight train, spokesman Pete Hidalgo said. That area also lost access to the Simi Valley Freeway, which was badly damaged in the quake.

Service to Moorpark is expected to resume Thursday, Hidalgo said.

Metrolink officials are trying to create a line running into the Lancaster/Palmdale area using existing freight tracks. Use of the line had been considered but discarded in the past because the route is filled with curves, which would mean costly rehabilitation or running the trains slowly, Stanger said.

But with all the damage caused by Monday’s quake, Stanger and others believe that commuters would take a train even if it traveled at 35 m.p.h.--almost half the usual speed.

“It may be that this earthquake changes conditions so we can run a slow train and people will still find it attractive,” Stanger said.

On Tuesday, county supervisors approved a motion to ask the MTA to consider extending Metrolink on this route. Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a longtime proponent of extending Metrolink, said federal disaster funds might be available to pay the costs.

In addition, county officials will be working with the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale to locate office space from which county employees based in the Valley could work without commuting Downtown. Each county department will be asked to identify space for its Valley employees.

Across Los Angeles, transit officials said they intend to carefully monitor the plight of commuters, ready to assist where possible. Bob Ayer, assistant director of the Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines--which include the Big Blue Bus that runs between the beach community and Downtown--said the agency is poised to use additional buses if they are needed.

Currently, the commuter bus line--which used to zip down the Santa Monica Freeway for 12 miles--will run mostly on side streets. The freeway caved in at the overcrossing of La Cienega Boulevard and is closed for about a five-mile stretch.