Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : City Bus Ridership Hits Record High : Transportation: Usage jumps 16% from last month. Santa Clarita officials credit expansion of service hours and routes, increased public awareness.

Southern Californians are known for their love affair with the automobile, but a record number of Santa Clarita residents are now flirting with public buses, too.

City bus ridership hit 112,848 in March, the highest usage in the four-year history of the program, Santa Clarita officials announced Monday. It represents a 20% increase over March, 1994, and a 16% increase over last month.

“That’s really good to see,” said Gail Foy, city public information officer. “It’s what we want, getting people out of their cars.”

Bus ridership is measured by the number of one-way trips, rather than by counting passengers, so one person making a round-trip is recorded as two rides.

Transit officials were pleasantly surprised by the ridership growth. They believe steady expansion of the program’s service hours and routes, as well as increased public awareness, are largely responsible.

“There is not a single reason to explain it,” said Ron Kilcoyne, city transportation manager. “It’s probably a convergence of several things.”

“We’ve always had some growth,” said Kilcoyne. “Now we’re seeing accelerated growth.”

Santa Clarita officials also suggest they are still seeing part of the ridership boom that many transit systems enjoyed after the Northridge earthquake. Many people who rarely rode buses began to do so after the temblor buckled freeways and caused traffic to overflow onto city streets.

“I’ve always felt (that) once you get a person on a bus once, you’ve removed a great barrier,” said Kilcoyne. “It’s in their consciousness.”

High ridership is predicted for this month as well. Two weeks ago, evening service was added to the city’s busiest bus route, which passes through Newhall.