MTA to Cut Several Popular Bus Lines to Benefit Subway

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to cut several popular bus lines in the San Fernando Valley in an attempt to funnel commuters into subway stations set to open next summer.

The cuts, involving 5,000 riders, mostly commuters on express buses running from the Valley to downtown, will coincide with the creation of a bus service in the Valley, East Los Angeles and Mid-City designed to have fewer stops and speedier service.

The changes will avoid duplicating transit service and save commuters money, MTA officials said. Buses that now run from the Valley to downtown will be redirected to new subway stations in Universal City and North Hollywood, where riders will transfer to the subway for the trip downtown.

“It makes sense for people to use the rail system. It does not make sense to duplicate bus service along subway lines,” said Marc Littman, an agency spokesman.

But critics charge that the changes, the subject of a public hearing this Saturday, are an attempt by the MTA to force more people onto the Red Line subway to boost ridership.

Similar cutbacks, proposed before the Hollywood leg of the Red Line opened this summer, were postponed after an outcry from angry bus riders. Eighteen bus routes were going to be altered; in the end, only 10 were changed.

By June 2001, the agency hopes to double the number of people on the $4.5-billion subway system from the current 29,000 riders a day to about 60,000 a day, a figure that has been lowered over time as ridership figures have flagged.

Critics also say the changes will deprive the agency’s poorest, most vulnerable customers--its bus riders--of a choice in transit. The MTA board won’t act on the plan until January at the earliest.

“You’re forcing people off the bus and onto the subway. I believe it’s a trick” to show increased ridership, said Martin Hernandez, an organizer for the Bus Riders Union.

Hernandez said the union isn’t necessarily against the proposed alterations. Instead, he said the MTA should keep both systems in place for six months after the final leg of the Red Line to North Hollywood opens next June, to determine whether riders choose to cruise 900 feet below the Santa Monica Mountains on their way downtown.

The union has not taken a position on how low bus ridership could drop before it would support cutting the lines.

“Let the people decide,” Hernandez said. “You’re forcing people on the subway and not giving them a choice.”

One of those affected is Priscilla Vazquez, 25, who takes the bus from her home in Silver Lake to work at a documentary company in North Hollywood. Under the proposal, Vazquez said, she will have to transfer twice instead of once, adding to the hassle and time of her commute.

“It’s going to be very inconvenient for me,” Vazquez said.

The MTA acknowledged that the proposed changes won’t have much of an effect in terms of saving commuters time. “It’s a wash,” Littman said.

For instance, a commuter traveling from Woodland Hills to downtown could take an express bus that--theoretically--would take an hour and 15 minutes. Under the proposal, that same route would take an hour and 12 minutes, not including the time spent waiting for the subway at the Universal City station.

The changes will, however, result in a cost savings of 50 cents to $2, MTA officials said. Commuters who take bus lines shortened by the changes will get transfers allowing them free passage on the subway.

Subway riders would avoid those times when express buses are anything but--especially in bad traffic.

“The advantage is on-time performance and the service reliability of the rail,” said Carol Silver, a planning manager with the agency. “Any type of incident could delay the bus. It’s unpredictable.”

The MTA also plans to start a new service designed to make the buses a sort of “subway on wheels.”

Designed loosely along the lines of a successful Brazilian bus system that is the buzz among transit planners today, the Metro Rapid Bus system would feature fewer stops and a maximum five-minute wait.

The public hearing is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. at MTA headquarters, One Gateway Plaza.