Transit: Green Line Link for Hughes Employees

Your article of Feb. 9, titled “All Aboard?” quotes me as saying that “none of the Hughes employees now taking public transportation will be taking the Green Line.” This can be misleading, indicating no potential interest or ridership by Hughes employees. To the contrary, we look forward to the opening of the Green Line with great anticipation.

There is currently no viable public transit option for our employees who come from eastern Los Angeles County to El Segundo. The article confirms this by featuring Kathy Davis, an employee of TRW, who relates that taking the bus from her home in Cerritos takes 2 1/2 hours. That simply is not an attractive commute option. Many of our current transit riders come from West Los Angeles and the South Bay, because plenty of well-designed transit services are available.

The Green Line will allow commuters taking the Blue Line light rail or Metrolink commuter rail to reach the El Segundo area in a time competitive with driving alone. Indeed, with the relocation of more than 1,000 of our Fullerton operations employees to El Segundo, we believe the Green Line will be an important link in our commuters’ travel plans.

We are also proud of Hughes’ efforts to make the Green Line a success. Hughes has donated space at one of our facilities for a Green Line station and a park-and-ride lot. I co-chaired a task force of employers, agencies and developers that has designed a Green Line Circulator proposal. This shuttle service would accommodate the needs of the majority of employees as they go to and from the light rail stations to their offices. This proposal is currently under MTA review. Hughes is also working with the MTA and the city of Norwalk to facilitate transfers from the Norwalk Metrolink station to the Norwalk Green Line station.

The addition of the Green Line to Southern California’s light rail system should create a new, viable commute opportunity and eliminate barriers that have kept employees from using transit. In the face of this information, I suggest we change the headline from “All Aboard?” to “All Aboard!”

CAROL GOMEZ

Gomez is manager of commuter and mobile programs for GM Hughes Electronics.