Metrolink Service to Camarillo OKd for Another Year

With none of the debate that marked the same decision a year ago, the Ventura County Transportation Commission agreed Friday to continue funding Metrolink commuter train service to Camarillo for another year.

The unanimous vote came after little discussion among commission members, and limited testimony from the public. The $2.8-million budget covers train service through Ventura County for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

But it also includes a one-time payment of $141,200 to Metrolink to replenish the regional self-insurance fund, which was depleted after Metrolink lawyers agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a truck driver who died after being struck by a train in 1992.

Metrolink operates five trains daily, with two trains leaving Oxnard and Camarillo on weekdays and five trains running from Simi Valley and Moorpark each business day.

Ridership on the Ventura County line averages about 2,700 passengers a day, though only about 700 people board the trains from stations in the county.

Mary Travis, a transportation coordinator with the commission staff, said the recent loss of shuttle service around the Chatsworth Metrolink station has reduced the number of Ventura County commuters using the trains.

“The loss of that shuttle service has cost us about 100 riders a day,” Travis told the panel.

But Travis said shuttle service, which transports people to job sites near the Chatsworth train station, could be restored later this year under an agreement being negotiated by Metrolink operators in the San Fernando Valley.

“We expect that to take place sometime this fall,” Travis said.

Metrolink service began in Ventura County in 1992, with stations in Simi Valley and Moorpark.

The commuter service was extended to Camarillo and Oxnard on an experimental basis after the Northridge earthquake crippled highway corridors throughout Southern California.

Last May, after a feisty public hearing, the Transportation Commission agreed to continue Metrolink service to Camarillo and Oxnard, which together draw about 130 riders a day.

At a public hearing earlier this year, several commuters requested that Metrolink service be extended to Ventura.

The request did not resurface Friday and the commissioners rejected that proposal. They said the tracks and platform at the Montalvo station in Ventura are not adequately prepared to handle the commuter trains.