Legislators May Act to Relieve Clogged El Monte Busway

An experiment that critics said slowed traffic to a crawl on the once hugely successful El Monte Busway may soon be over.

Legislative amendments that would restore the busway’s diamond lane to a minimum of three occupants per vehicle during peak rush hours were introduced Wednesday in Sacramento, with hopes that the legislation will be put on the fast track and speedily passed by the Legislature.

“We have seen and studied the ineffectiveness of this experiment and it’s time we as legislators realize that our plan isn’t working,” said Assemblyman Bob Margett (R-Arcadia) in a statement, calling the experiment a “fiasco.”

Saying “Enough is enough,” Margett amended one of his bills with language that would restore the requirement for three occupants per vehicle on the San Bernardino Freeway during peak rush hours.

State Sen. Hilda Solis (D-La Puente), whose legislation started the controversial experiment, is joining Margett as a co-author.

“I don’t think this was a bad experiment,” Solis said Thursday, calling the amendments a compromise that will allow the high occupancy vehicles lane to stay open to vehicles with two occupants during non-peak hours. “Sometimes things don’t work and you modify them.”

Under the new plan, which Margett and Solis hope will be drafted as urgency legislation so it can take effect immediately upon adoption, the rule requiring three occupants per vehicle would be back in effect from 5 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m.

The original Solis bill took effect at the start of the year, and applies to 11 miles of busway from Baldwin Avenue in El Monte to Mission Avenue near downtown Los Angeles.

Overnight, the buses that heavily used the diamond lane to transport commuters from the San Gabriel Valley to downtown Los Angeles became caught in the same heavy traffic on the San Bernardino Freeway as everyone else.

Buses and high occupancy vehicles that had once traveled along the busway at up to 65 mph slowed to as little as 10 mph. Buses began running late half the time, according to Foothill Transit. Commuters complained, particularly single parents, who had to adjust child-care hours or pay high penalties for each minute they were late to pick up their children. Many commuters left the buses and began driving again, according to state officials.

There was no congestion in the diamond lane before the Solis bill, Caltrans said, but after the bill took effect there was congestion in the lane from 7 to 9 each weekday morning.

Between February and March, Caltrans reported, the number of commuters traveling each hour over the diamond lane dropped from 6,150 to 5,000 people an hour.

The attractiveness of buses to commuters was that they once could breeze past gridlocked commuter traffic in other lanes. Once the change took effect, there was virtually no difference in speed, with an average speed of 31 mph in the diamond lane during the peak hour, compared with an average speed of 30 mph in the freeway’s four mixed-flow lanes, according to Caltrans.

Caltrans said transit agencies reported 800 complaints from commuters, many of which were forwarded to lawmakers.

“We’ve gotten tons and tons of letters from a wide range of commuters,” said Steve Johnson, an aide to Margett. “We found out there are a lot of moms who work in downtown Los Angeles. The single moms were being so late they had to adjust their child-care hours and they let us know.”

Solis said her bill was drafted in response to complaints from San Gabriel Valley constituents, who believed that the High Occupancy Vehicle lane should allow two occupants per vehicle like carpool lanes on other local freeways.

Though it breezed through the Legislature, there were some strong opponents, such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Foothill Transit, which predicted that the law would doom the busway.

When the busway was opened in the 1970s, cars were not allowed at all. But during the energy crisis in the mid-1970s, pressure built and the limit of three people per vehicle was established. The busway was successful through the 1980s and 1990s, with Foothill Transit making 500 trips each weekday between the San Gabriel Valley and downtown.

Julie Austin, executive director of Foothill Transit, said ridership on commuter buses down the San Bernardino Freeway is about the same, roughly 18,000 trips a day, but delays have been a problem. She said that in April the buses were on time only 50% to 60% of the time.