All Aboard? : As Opening of $718-Million Line Nears, MTA Plans Blitz to Coax Riders to Greener Pastures

On mornings that Kathy Davis takes the Century Freeway to work, she can see her future in clean steel lines running down the highway median.

By summer, she plans to be riding those rails in a Green Line train, reading or daydreaming as she whips past stalled traffic, slowing only to collect more passengers. The new rail line, Davis said, will give her at least an hour of precious free time each day--time away from the demands of work, of teen-age children, of the mind-numbing tension of crawling traffic.

The county’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority can only hope Davis’ dream comes true--especially the part about stopping for more passengers. But a few months before the grand opening of the Green Line, which cost nearly $718 million, projections don’t look good.

Green Line passengers, traveling among Norwalk, El Segundo and Redondo Beach, probably won’t be arriving in the numbers initially projected by officials, largely because of the loss of thousands of workers in South Bay industrial parks.

That means Davis may have plenty of room to stretch out, in part because her employer, TRW Inc., has dropped nearly 8,500 employees since January, 1990.

“Before (the defense industry) fell apart and we lost all those employees, we estimated 25,000 riders a day and we hoped those numbers would climb,” said Andrea Greene, MTA spokeswoman.

These days, MTA officials say a fair projection for the first year is about 10,000 riders a day. One passenger taking a round trip would be counted twice.

Whether or not the trains are full when they start up in late June or early July, the MTA will still be paying for the overhead of salary, cars and tracks.

If ridership tops out at 10,000, the transit system will be paying a subsidy of as much as $16 for Davis’ ride to work, MTA officials estimate. But the subsidy will drop as rail and car costs are paid off.

The MTA Blue Line, which runs between Long Beach and Downtown Los Angeles, had fewer than 22,000 daily boardings in June, 1991, and cost the MTA $11 per passenger. Since then, daily ridership has climbed to 37,800 passengers a day at a subsidy of $3.21 each.

The lower-tech buses rumbling along South Bay streets, from five different transit agencies, carry about 90,000 passengers a day and only require $1.15 to $2 in taxpayer subsidies.

In hopes of coaxing more commuters out of their cars and onto the Green Line trains, the MTA is planning a $527,000 marketing campaign to begin March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, employing that holiday’s traditional color. The campaign’s slogan, written by a bus driver who won an MTA contest: “The world just got a little greener.”

But even if the hoped-for riders don’t arrive, the Green Line will forever alter the crazy quilt of interlocking transit systems that move thousands around the South Bay every day.

MTA planners are working with six local transit agencies, redesigning South Bay public transportation to hook up with the train line. As many as 46 bus lines could be rerouted, and thousands of commuters will find schedules altered or their old, familiar bus stops moved blocks away.

And all of this will be happening in an atmosphere of pessimism for rail systems. Last week, the MTA announced it may drastically scale back its 30-year plan for the region. About 200 miles of proposed track would be eliminated from the MTA’s long-range goals--including extensions of the Green Line to Los Angeles International Airport and Torrance. The Green Line, it appears, may be one of the last train routes to open in Los Angeles County for years to come.

It may seem like a questionable idea now, laying permanent tracks from the suburbs to a faltering industrial center, but in the hopeful 1980s, it seemed like just the ticket.

In June, 1984, the old Los Angeles County Transportation Commission approved construction of a Green Line route down the center of the Century/Glenn M. Anderson Freeway, then under construction. A federal judge had required that the freeway include some type of public transportation, bus or train, and transit officials chose more glamorous, more expensive trains.

Two years later, when some 100,000 people were commuting into El Segundo every day and expansion and growth were the only buzzwords, an extension of the line into El Segundo was authorized. Another extension into Redondo Beach, where the destinations were industrial giants like TRW and Hughes Aircraft Co., was approved in September, 1989. Ten months later, a devastating recession hit Southern California and lingers still.

By the time the first track was laid in June, 1992, the Cold War was over and thousands of defense industry workers had been laid off. El Segundo officials estimate the city lost at least 30,000 workers. Thousands more were gone from offices and businesses in Redondo Beach.

During this time, the Transportation Commission suffered its own upheavals. In 1992, it was merged with the RTD bus system to become the MTA. Since the organizations combined, officials have faced reduced ridership, a labor strike, enormous budget deficits and a lawsuit over a 25-cent fare increase. In January, a federal judge ruled that the MTA could increase fares to $1.35 for both trains and buses and raise the price of monthly passes from $42 to $49. MTA officials estimate they lost $110,000 a day while the proposed fare increases were stalled in federal court for five months.

Still, the Green Line rolls forward.

These days, the trains mostly roll through extensive testing. Using Blue Line cars, engineers and operators ride into empty, nearly finished stations and open train doors to the vibrating thunder of freeway traffic that will one day greet passengers. The environment on these open platforms is harsh: The painted-metal benches and handrails in the Long Beach Boulevard station are already beginning to rust.

Each of the 14 stations, designed cooperatively by artists and architects, bears a different theme, from Native American myths to images of children at play. The new cars will look exactly like Blue Line cars, including the external blue stripes, allowing the cars to be used on either line.

Because motorists never cross the path of a Green Line train, these electric cars can be operated without a driver. MTA officials hope, at some point, to have them operated by centrally located engineers. Blue Line cars, which cross traffic, must always be operated by a driver.

*

When the line turns from El Segundo and goes south to Redondo Beach, trains leave the freeway noise for the county’s first elevated railway.

Green Line ridership projections would certainly be more hopeful if the line went all the way to LAX. The MTA will probably offer a shuttle bus from Aviation Station, at Imperial Highway and Aviation Boulevard in El Segundo, to cover the last mile and a half to terminals at LAX.

This trip to LAX from downtown would take at least 50 minutes. A rider would board the Blue Line at the Flower Street Terminal, ride south to the Imperial/Wilmington Station, transfer to the Green Line, take that west to Aviation Station and transfer to a shuttle.

The line may not go to the airport or thriving employment centers, but MTA officials like to say the Green Line is really a train for the future. In 50 years, Greene said, the MTA expects the new line will be living up to its full potential.

In other words, the train was planned to follow a route lined with jobs, but MTA officials now hope that jobs will follow the train.

Others are more optimistic about the immediate future, believing there is plenty of untapped demand.

“There was a lot of pessimism about the Blue Line before that opened,” said Davis, who plans to take the train to work. “But that line has exceeded their expectations. And if you look at the 105 or the 91 freeways, you see there are a lot of people who take that route.”

Compare the train to a bus or car, and one can see why some are predicting the Green Line’s popularity.

When Davis took buses from her home in Cerritos to work at TRW, it took about 2 1/2 hours. Driving the same distance, as Davis does every morning, takes about an hour.

When train service begins, she will be able to drive about five minutes to the Green Line’s Norwalk terminal at Studebaker Road near Imperial Highway, park for free and board the train for a 35-minute ride to the other end of the line. The walk to Davis’ office in TRW’s Space Park is about a block.

Of the 14 Green Line stations, 11 offer park-and-ride lots, with between 160 and 1,550 spaces. All lots are free for commuters.

But will free parking be enough to pry Southern Californians from their beloved vehicles? Besides the “green” marketing campaign, the MTA is working on a few other strategies.

While officials have no set plans, they are running possible scenarios through computer programs to see what might increase ridership. What they are considering, officials admit, are strong-arm tactics--such as working with companies and local governments to penalize employees who continue to drive to work alone.

“We’re asking questions like, ‘What if parking costs were increased (in employee and public lots)?’ Or ‘How about if the price of gas shot up? How many more riders could we expect then?’ ” Greene said.

Currently, large employers such as TRW and Hughes Aircraft prefer to offer their employees incentives--such as monthly bus passes, preferential parking and prizes--to take public or other alternative transportation.

At Hughes, employees who take public transportation receive a $21-per-month subsidy and MTA tokens are sold on site, said Carol Gomez, who manages ride-sharing for the company. About 20% of Hughes employees take alternative transportation, but the majority of these are in car pools at least three days a week. Just 4% take public transit, Gomez said.

According to Gomez, none of the Hughes employees now taking public transportation will be taking the Green Line.

“Our people who use public transit are coming from the South Bay and West L.A.,” Gomez said. “So the Green Line won’t make sense for them.”

*

Local transit companies are doing their share to encourage Green Line riders--mostly by rearranging their routes to meet the train at one of its stations.

Three months ago, the MTA distributed a fat document to local transit agencies--a wish list detailing how various buses might connect with the Green Line. It would require the cooperation of six local transit systems.

Agencies in Culver City and Santa Monica have declined to reroute their buses, after being approached by the MTA. But transit companies that run close to the new stations have been eager to comply.

*

Local agencies are now submitting proposed routes to MTA, including cost estimates. Most transit companies look forward to rerouting some buses, despite possible rider confusion, since more passengers mean more state and federal money for local bus lines. Most tax money earmarked for public transportation is distributed by the MTA.

Out of its 198 bus lines, the MTA is considering altering 46 lines from Norwalk to Redondo Beach.

Torrance Transit proposes rerouting one bus and adding a circulator loop around three stations with buses from the Municipal Area Express (MAX) system, which Torrance Transit controls. The Gardena Municipal Bus Line has proposed changing two of its 17 bus lines. Even Long Beach Transit and the Orange County Transportation Authority are jumping aboard with proposals to have buses meet the train.

*

While no new bus routes have yet been approved, the net effect of this bus-line shuffling will mean changes for thousands of people who depend on public transportation.

Like 50% of MTA users, 31-year-old communications engineer Henry Irineo Jr. doesn’t have the safety net of a car. He rides buses to friends’ houses, to visit his mother and to the Santa Anita Race Track, where he sometimes works at a betting window on the weekends. Irineo has memorized the complex web of bus routes, including those of five transit systems, in the South Bay and knows what times all of his regular lines run.

He figures he can memorize all of that again and include the Green Line schedule as well. Irineo doesn’t know if he will use the train much, but like many in Los Angeles County, he looks forward to riding it at least once, for curiosity’s sake.

After that, he said, he will probably go back to the solid, dependable, unglamorous buses.

“Most people see it like, ‘Why take a bus when you can drive?’ But I’m just the opposite,” Irineo said. “It really isn’t the hassle that everyone thinks.”

Kathy Davis would politely disagree. The 2 1/2 hours she spent on the bus going to work was a hassle, she said. And if that was her only alternative, Davis would still drive to work every morning, alone in her car, spewing exhaust and exasperation. Instead, she is waiting for the train.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Green Line Number of stations: 14

Miles of track: 20

Travel time, end to end: 35 minutes

Train frequency: 12 minutes scheduled, but capable of running every two minutes

Hours: 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Capacity: 250-300 passengers per train, 76 seated.

Fare: $1.35, but will probably have reduced introductory fares

Open for business: Late June or early July

Source: Metropolitan Transportation Authority

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Green Line:

When it opens later this year, the Green Line will have 14 stations and 20 miles of track from the 605 Freeway to Redondo Beach. METRO GREEN LINE STATIONS: 1. 605 and 105 (freeways) 2. Lakewood Blvd. / 105 (freeway) 3. Long Beach Blvd. / 105 (freeway) 4. Imperial Hwy. / Wilmington Ave. 5. Avalon Blvd. / 105 (freeway) 6. 110 and 105 (freeways) 7. Vermont Ave. 105 (freeway) 8. Crenshaw Blvd. 105 (freeway) 9. Hawthorne Blvd. 105 (freeway) 10. Aviation Blvd. 105 (freeway) 11. Mariposa Ave. / Nash St. 12. El Segundo Blvd. / Nash St. 13. Douglas St. / Rosecrans Ave. 14. Marine Ave. / Redondo Beach Ave.