Trains Try Parade Route to Add Riders

Transportation officials hope to boost the county’s meager yet growing contingent of Metrolink riders by tapping into Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Parade this New Year’s Day.

The Orange County Transportation Authority on Monday approved the county’s first-ever Rose Parade Express Train--a special holiday Metrolink connection that will haul an anticipated 650 spectators from Orange County to parade central. Officials hope the special connection will entice those who have never before ridden the train to give it a try.

The special $88 promotion, which includes round-trip service and reserved grandstand seating, accompanies a raft of Orange County Metrolink upgrades that have occurred this year and more that are planned for 2001. In addition to plans for new stations in Tustin, Laguna Niguel-Mission Viejo, Buena Park and Yorba Linda, transportation authorities will begin adding 28 new cars to Orange County connections in February. Metrolink now maintains 119 cars for Orange County service.

The upgrades, according to OCTA officials, are part of an effort to attract new users and accommodate a combined 27% increase in ridership along lines that connect Orange County to Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

The Rose Parade Express, which is funded through ticket sales, will provide service from Oceanside to Glendale, in Los Angeles County. Ticket buyers will also receive round-trip shuttle service from the train station to the parade.

Overall daily ridership along the two Orange County Metrolink lines is 8,727--a number that critics say is small, compared to the millions of daily car trips in the county.

“The number of people who ride the train is significantly insignificant,” said Wayne King, a long-time rail critic and director of the group, Drivers for Highway Safety, in Orange.

King said reports have frequently shown that it is difficult to attract new rail users and said he doubted the parade gambit would work.

Transportation officials insist that any Metrolink ridership gain is significant for Southern California, where commuter rail service is not a matter of tradition.

“People say those numbers are small, but this is not Boston or New York, where rail commuting is a regular part of business,” OCTA spokesman George Urch said. “This is tough territory out here.”

OCTA officials said demand is especially strong now because of increased congestion on the Riverside and Santa Ana freeways and an increase in gas prices. This demand prompted officials to order the 28 new rail cars for $35 million.

The weekday, 420-seat, 6:30 a.m. train from Riverside to Orange County is full, officials said.