Supervisors Take No Stand on Rail Service

Despite concerns over high operating costs, Ventura County supervisors declined Tuesday to take a position on whether to continue Metrolink commuter train service to Oxnard and Camarillo.

Instead, the board decided to let the Ventura County Transportation Commission decide if the $900,000 cost of extending the train service is warranted. The commission is scheduled to take up the matter at its May 5 meeting.

County transportation officials said the costs for the Camarillo and Oxnard leg of the Metrolink service would be covered entirely by state and federal transportation funds.

But Supervisor Frank Schillo, who is also a member of the Transportation Commission, said he shared the concern of the county Public Works Department that state and federal transportation funding may be cut this year. If that happens, Public Works Director Arthur Goulet warned that the county and its cities could end up using transportation money earmarked for bus service and road improvements to pay for the extended rail service.

The current daily ridership on Metrolink, which connects Ventura County to Downtown Los Angeles, averages 570 from Simi Valley and Moorpark, and 135 from Camarillo and Oxnard, according to public works officials who asked the board to take a position on whether the service should continue.

Supervisors Maggie Kildee and John K. Flynn, whose districts include Camarillo and Oxnard, said they believed that ridership on the train should be given more time to grow because of all the money that has already been spent on Metrolink.

Metrolink service was extended to Camarillo and Oxnard last fall to help relieve freeway congestion after the Northridge earthquake.