EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : Metrolink Lures New Riders as Service Resumes

Hoping to avoid post-quake traffic tangles, Ventura County commuters hopped aboard Metrolink on Thursday morning as the trains resumed operation for the first time since Monday’s earthquake.

“I’m a fugitive from the freeway,” Agoura resident John Batcheldor said in Moorpark as he readied himself in the early morning chill for his first ride on Metrolink.

Waiting to be zipped past tumbled freeways to his job in the Los Angeles area, Batcheldor explained his decision to try the train.

“I just couldn’t stand the thought of the freeway.”

Many residents whose homes were badly shaken in the quake found refuge in the train’s air-conditioned cars, equipped with restrooms, fold-out tables and padded, high-backed chairs.

“I spent the whole day yesterday cleaning up,” Dodi Autry said. “It’s sort of a relief to get away from it for awhile.”

Although smaller than usual crowds gathered at the Moorpark and Simi Valley platforms, Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission, said she expected the commuter load to skyrocket next week as residents return to work.

“We’re anticipating that the demand is going to go way up,” she said. “We want to be ready when it does.”

County officials are seeking earthquake relief funds to handle the expected increase in passenger load on the trains, which usually carry about 600 riders a day.

They hope to add additional cars and speed up plans to extend the service into the west county, with stops in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo.

Gherardi said funding for Ventura County was “second priority” behind plans to expand service to Sylmar and Santa Clarita, where the Foothill Freeway was severely damaged in the quake.

If the funding is approved, trains may be running to the west county as early as next week and would run for up to a year.

“We need to check and make sure the tracks are in good shape and that our times aren’t going to conflict with other trains on the line,” said Mary Travis, transit manager for the commission. “It would be great if we can make it all happen.”

Some county officials have been working to extend service to the west county since the service opened in October, 1992.

As many as a third of the riders who board in Moorpark drive from the west county, said Travis, who added that the expanded service could entice many residents who want to try Metrolink.

“Once they try it, I think they’ll get hooked,” Travis said. “It’s hard to give up that extra time to read the paper and relax.”

Arlene Miller, a secretary whose house on the east end of Simi Valley was damaged in the quake, is a regular Metrolink rider.

“Before the earthquake, I took the train three times a week,” Miller said. “Now the freeway is out of the question, so I’ll be on the train every day.”

Carolyn Dosick and Judy Hedrick decided to take Metrolink rather than drive to a trade show in downtown Los Angeles.

“We’ve never taken it before,” Dosick said. “But we talked it over on the phone last night and we decided the only way to get there in time is to take the train.”

Hedrick added: “The only problem is that if we have a bad aftershock, we might not get back.”

FYI

Individual round-trip Metrolink tickets are $12 from Moorpark and $10 from Simi Valley. Ten-trip ticket passes are $55 and $45, respectively. Monthly passes cost $176 from Moorpark and $144 from Simi Valley, and can be used the rest of this month and through February. The Moorpark Metrolink station is at 300 High St.; the Simi Valley station is at 5050 Los Angeles Ave. For schedule information, call (800) 438-1112 or (800) 371-5465.