Alliance Distributing Transit Needs Survey

In an effort to gauge the transportation priorities of Valley residents before its December summit, the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley will begin widespread distribution of a transit survey, officials said.

Results of the 11-question survey, which will be mailed to neighborhood groups, churches, businesses and individual households, will be announced Dec. 8 at the alliance’s Valley Transit Summit II, said David Fleming, the group’s chairman.

“This has never been done before. No one has ever directly asked the Valley ‘What do you need?’ ” Fleming said. “We are trying to arrive at a consensus of what the Valley can afford and what it needs.”

The survey asks residents such questions as how far they commute to work, how much they are willing to pay for public transit, how many transfers they are willing to make and what type of transportation they currently use.

“It’s not a scientific survey, but it will give us an idea of the tastes and wants of the community,” Fleming said, adding that the alliance was particularly interested in receiving responses from the northwest and northeast areas of the Valley, where public transit ridership is at its highest.

Fleming said the responses will be used to formulate the goals and design of a workable and affordable Valley transit system.

“In light of the collapse of the MTA’s grandiose plans, it’s time we take the initiative and begin to act,” he said.

The alliance, a consortium of volunteers and business groups, was created after the 1994 Northridge earthquake to spur economic growth in the San Fernando Valley. The group has advocated increased bus service--as opposed to a rail system--as an answer to the Valley’s transit problems.

In September, the alliance held its first summit, drawing Mayor Richard Riordan, county Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich, and other government officials and transit experts.

Requests for surveys, available in both English and Spanish, can be faxed to the alliance at (818) 947-0721 or (818) 753-5657 or mailed to P.O. Box 55834, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413.