Valley Commentary : Commuters Can’t Be Railroaded : Metrolink success cannot be measured when there is no choice. Recruiting a committed ridership will take reassurances that it will be convenient, affordable and reliable.

We commuters loved the first Metrolink train when it pulled into the hurriedly assembled Palmdale station Jan. 24. It relieved our fear of being cut off from the world by earthquake damage to our main road south.

Since then, we new Metrolinkers, on whose permanent conversion to mass transit the transportation planners are pinning their hopes, have had our share of mood swings, not to mention a rise and fall in our numbers. Will we all, finally, learn to love the train?

Maybe, maybe not. Here’s one commuter’s account.

On Day 1, no one minded the frigid morning air, the fact that we were still half asleep at 5:07 a.m. and the reality that getting back and forth was going to be a job in itself. We basked in the glory of the moment! Complimentary newspapers were shoved under our arms. Jim Ledford, Palmdale’s mayor extraordinaire, shouted encouragement from a boarding ramp. We got a hero’s send-off.

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As the first week progressed, our enthusiasm gave way to a new spirit, the kind you see on football fields. Instead of brothers and sisters joined by adversity, we began to see ourselves as “get a seat by any means necessary” Metrolink warriors! It took a healthy dose of shoving, cursing and bullying to get a seat. A well-placed elbow didn’t hurt either, and we didn’t feel guilty, we felt frustrated because the train crawled along and hardly ever got to its destinations on time.

When people started complaining about our rude manners we muttered, “Walk a mile in our shoes.” Better yet, “Ride a few miles in our rigid, unreclining seats,” which are so close together your knees are either sticking into the aisle or jammed against those of the person across from you.

We believed it when we read that daily ridership on the Antelope Valley/Santa Clarita line was 21,956--it was easier to get a parking space at a Lakers game than at the Santa Clarita station. Try being sunny and lovable, we urged our unseen critics, after getting up at 3 a.m. to catch a train that gets you to the office at 7 a.m. even though work is supposed to start at 9.

The honeymoon wasn’t lengthened by our having to pay twice what our car-commuting fuel bill had been. Yes, it’s true, we were a cranky crowd. Mr. and Mrs. Congeniality stayed home.

But, as with everything else in life, the rough edges got smoothed out. Metrolink warriors were slowly transformed into Metrolink commuters. For one thing, the ride improved.

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When additional car lanes opened on the Antelope Valley Freeway, the sunshine patriots deserted the train and got back in their cars. Transit planners fretted, but riders smiled because at last we had enough room. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 2-for-1 ticket deal also helped win our loyalty.

There are intangible advantages to Metrolinking as well. There’s the sense of community that the peaceable form of ridership encourages--meeting and greeting your neighbors in the morning and connecting with your regular traveling companions. You can relax and not have to fight the auto traffic. You feel you’re attacking pollution by keeping your car parked. You are part of something big, if it happens: the trend toward mass transit in Southern California.

But you, of course, are among those still on the train. What about all those people back on the highway?

Forget new pals and social movements. They just want to get to work. These are the people who returned as fast as they could to the freeway, reducing the Antelope/Santa Clarita line’s daily ridership to 12,362 a week ago. They prefer to be locked away in their toasty autos, sipping coffee from 7-Eleven mugs and not having to worry about getting a citation if they’re caught eating on the train.

These people need reassurances that Metrolink will be convenient, affordable and reliable. I hope the addition of another new station in the Santa Clarita Valley and scheduling a third, later train from the Antelope Valley, begun late last week, will lure them back.

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As a former resident of New York, where pushing, shoving and bullying on the rail system is an art form, I assure you that even the most aggressive and obnoxious Metrolink warrior seems like an angel. And even the most die-hard, wed-to-the-car commuters will take a second look at the Metrolink if the powers that be realize their patronage can’t be taken for granted.

Success cannot be measured by ridership when no one has a decent choice. Winning by default won’t last. Recruiting a committed ridership will take a lot of effort and muscle. Employee incentives by business are one way to make it work. So is continued improvement in service.

At least that’s the way it looks from my train window.