County Hopes Bus Lines Weave East L.A. Together

Try on the worn shoes of Tomas and Elisa Aguirre as they walk a mile for groceries or just about any other errand, and you understand why the senior couple looked at a fleet of new county shuttle buses parked outside the East Los Angeles Civic Center on Saturday with giddy smiles.

After years of getting by without a car or affordable public transportation in the vast, unincorporated expanse of freeways and modest neighborhoods that make up East L.A., here at last was a ride. For a day, at least, it was free.

Hundreds like the Aguirres took advantage of complimentary trips throughout East L.A. on Saturday as part of an all-day celebration of the new East Los Angeles Shuttle Service that officially begins Monday. The new three-route system will provide 25-cent service to 127 stops, such as the county library, East Los Angeles College and the Commerce Shopping Center.

Able to carry 27 passengers, three air-conditioned buses--run by Operation Shuttle Inc.--will also link with other public transit services, such as Metrolink buses, the Los Angeles city DASH service and the County-USC Medical Center shuttle.

“It’s about time they do something like this,” said Aguirre, 70, whose frequent vertigo caused him to lose his driver’s license a few years ago and made it rough to walk in the sun.

“Everything is too spread apart for old people like us,” 61-year-old Elisa Aguirre said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who represents the area, hopes the $2.8-million shuttle service that is funded for three years through the county Public Works Department will help weave East L.A. together.

Even though the shuttle doesn’t stop in every neighborhood, it is part of the larger goal of transforming East L.A. into something more like a small town, Molina said.

“Many of us who have lived in East L.A. all our lives don’t know what the other neighborhoods in the area look like,” she said. “This shuttle will help create a greater sense of unity.”

Though the shuttle may never result in the Mayberry with murals that some in the community dream about, several other projects are underway to further that goal.

Most notably, a $26.5-million rehabilitation of the civic center near Belvedere Park--the hub of the new shuttle service--is scheduled to begin in the fall.

It will include building a larger public library, adding a child-care center and more county services and beautifying the area around Belvedere Lake.

A new East Los Angeles civic pride campaign run in conjunction with community leaders has such aims as commissioning murals, lobbying for greater community policing from the county Sheriff’s Department, and securing more stop signs and street lights for neglected neighborhoods.

It is centered on a green and gold sun logo used by the shuttle service and included in welcome signs recently posted near freeway exits and major streets leading into East L.A.

Historically, there has been plenty of community pride among the area’s roughly 130,000 residents, Molina said, but the government has not done much to make people feel happy about where they live.

Divided by freeways and lacking a central locale for government services, East L.A. has long been considered an afterthought in the region, she said.

For many in the area who cannot afford cars, “If a government agency is not around the corner, they won’t be utilizing it,” Molina said.

The same goes for the area’s struggling shopping districts, she said, adding that the purpose of the new shuttle is to make everything in East L.A. seem as if it were around the corner.

That is also the rationale behind a proposal for light rail in East L.A. that has been pursued by Molina and others since the MTA Red Line subway extension was killed.

Such a project--opposed by bus advocates who say it would violate a federal consent decree for more buses--”would connect East L.A. to Pasadena, Long Beach, wherever,” Molina said. “That’s what people here want: to be part of the rest of the county.”

As she prepared to board one of the new shuttle buses Saturday, Rosario Castillo, 43, agreed. But, for the moment, she was happy to have easier access to the Kmart department store on Whittier Boulevard, which is more than a mile from her home.

Without an MTA bus stop nearby, “I try to walk,” she said. “But, on hot days, I go about three blocks before I think about turning back. It gets lonely out there.”

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3 New Bus Lines

The East Los Angeles Shuttle Service operates on three routes, with 127 stops at places such as Cal State L.A., East Los Angeles College, the East Los Angeles Civic Center and the Commerce Shopping Center.

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Source: Los Angeles County