Proposed Cuts in Popular Valley Bus Lines Protested at MTA Hearing

Scores of bus riders railed against cuts planned to several popular San Fernando Valley lines at a contentious hearing Saturday morning at MTA headquarters, where police arrested one man and escorted a second from the room.

Many opposed to the cuts supported a second proposal to introduce a bus service in the Valley and East Los Angeles designed to have fewer stops and faster service.

No Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members showed up to listen to the testimony, further angering many of the 150 people in attendance.

“Thousands of people who work in the Valley cleaning houses, school students and disabled people are going to be affected by this,” said Elizabeth Medrano, 23. “Where is the board?”

Dana Woodbury, the MTA hearing officer who bore the brunt of frequent outbursts directed at the agency, said board members will have the opportunity to review the testimony, recorded by a court reporter. Board members rarely attend hearings involving routing changes, he said.

The bus cutbacks, which the board won’t act on until January, are designed to streamline service, redirecting several lines to feed into two Red Line subway stations that are set to open next summer in North Hollywood and Universal City.

MTA officials say the changes, which will affect at least 5,000 bus riders, will avoid duplication of bus and rail service. Most of those affected ride express lines between the Valley and downtown Los Angeles.

Under the proposal, those commuters will instead exit at one of the two new Valley subway stations and take the Red Line downtown. While MTA officials estimate the total travel time will be about the same, fares under the new plan will drop between 50 cents and $2, depending on the type of ticket.

However, officials with the Bus Riders Union said they believe the changes are designed to force commuters onto the subways, boosting rail ridership numbers and providing justification for the $4.5-billion system.

Many of the commuters who use buses said the changes would result in an increase in the number of times they have to transfer buses. That, in turn, would result in longer commutes, they add.

Carlos Royal, 30, who takes buses from his home in Baldwin Village in southwest Los Angeles to his job in Northridge, said his commute would jump from 90 minutes a day to more than two hours.

“You should have more buses and less money put in the subway,” Royal said.

A minority of the more than 50 speakers supported the changes. Southern California Transit Advocates, a transit group frequently at odds with the Bus Riders Union, generally approved of the modifications, saying they would allow the MTA to redirect resources to relieve crowding.

The transit group joined the Bus Riders Union and others at the meeting in endorsing the new Metro Rapid Bus service, which will run along Ventura Boulevard in the Valley and along Wilshire and Whittier boulevards between East Los Angeles and the Westside.

The new service will have stops one mile apart, with buses arriving every five minutes.