City Awarded 2nd Grant for Transit Hub

The city’s plans for a one-stop transit center received a boost Monday with news of a $595,000 federal grant to help finance the facility that would place most public transportation services under one roof.

The federal grant is the second in as many years, designed to supplement funds already set aside for the project.

“I’m very happy,” city Public Works Director Donald Nelson said Monday. “These are purely discretionary grants. It’s due to the very hard work of our [congressional] representatives.

“Absent their work and support, we certainly would not be looking at a center being a reality in the near future,” Nelson said.

With the latest grant, Nelson said, Thousand Oaks now has about $2.5 million set aside for the project. “That probably is sufficient, depending on which site is selected,” he said.

The center would serve as a single stop for catching buses, taxis or shuttles to train stations and airports. The station would also include parking areas, a ticket sales booth and shelter for passengers.

The latest discussions about where to build the project have focused on two sites in Thousand Oaks--one near a major shopping center and the other next to the Ventura Freeway.

Officials with the Ventura County Transportation Commission applied for the grant last year for the city of Thousand Oaks, targeting an obscure, $20-million line item in the federal transportation budget.

“It’s a pot of discretionary money,” Carlos Hernandez, the commission’s manager of transportation programming, said last year when completing the grant application. “It’s actually pork. . . . But it’s worth a shot.”

Hernandez was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment. Transportation Commission Executive Director Ginger Gherardi also was unavailable for comment.

But city officials were pleased with the grant and predicted great things from the transit hub.

“Any time you’re talking about mass transit, a centralized location will improve the situation,” Nelson said.

The City Council has narrowed the list of potential sites to one at The Oaks mall and the other at the park-and-ride center near the Ventura Freeway-Rancho Conejo Boulevard junction, Nelson said, adding that if the council wants to emphasize mass transit within the city, the most likely spot would be near The Oaks mall.

But if the council wants to stimulate transit programs outside the city such as MetroLink trains or VISTA buses, then the most appropriate location for the center would be near the park-and-ride lot, he said.

“That’s definitely a council decision,” Nelson said.