Minimum for El Monte Diamond Lane Increases
Gov. Gray Davis has signed legislation that will once again require a minimum of three people in vehicles using the El Monte Busway diamond lane during peak commuting hours.
Davis signed the law on Monday.
Transit officials on Wednesday were hoping to have the new minimum requirements in place by the end of the month and to see an end to delays that have plagued the San Bernardino Freeway busway since the beginning of the year.
The delays were attributed to legislation last year that reduced the diamond lane requirements from three to two people per vehicle as part of a demonstration project. Traffic jams developed almost immediately.
Praising Davis for signing the law, carried by Assemblyman Bob Margett (R-Arcadia) and state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-La Puente), Foothill Transit executive board president Robert Bartlett said he was elated.
“This decision will help thousands of people to get to work on time each day,” Bartlett said.
Foothill Transit makes almost 500 trips a day on the busway.
The three-person minimum will be required each weekday from 5 to 9 a.m., and 4 to 7 p.m.
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