Valley Tries to Ride Out Strike

Tens of thousands of Valley residents limped through the transit strike Monday, hampered by frustrating waits, late arrivals at jobs and no-shows at school campuses.

Although it was Day Three of the walk-off by Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers, the bus and subway shutdown hit hard as many students and employees struggled to find transit alternatives for the first time.

In the Valley, about 180,000 people ride the MTA’s Red Line subway and the 34 bus routes that travel here.

Take those away and it made for a bad case of the Monday blues.

“Usually the MTA bus is every 15 to 20 minutes,” said Brandi Brentari, 29, as she struggled to keep her two young children and a stroller balanced while waiting for a Smart Shuttle, which is not operated by the MTA.

She had been at the stop since 8:30 a.m. and wouldn’t be on her way until after 10 a.m.

“By the time we get there, we will have to figure out how to get home,” said the Van Nuys mother, whose 4-year-old daughter had already curled up on the Victory Boulevard bench for a nap in the hot sun.

On Van Nuys Boulevard, anxious passengers, many toting groceries, waited for other packed shuttles and DASH buses, which are run by the city’s Department of Transportation. Some slumped under bus shelters, either unaware of the strike or waiting for substitute rides. Others hoofed it in the muggy heat.

Up the street, Juan Telles, 28, and Silva Flore, 17, had just walked an hour to take their 15-day-old baby for a checkup at the Northeast Valley Health Corp. clinic. Telles tried to shield the baby with an umbrella as they made the trip.

“We didn’t have a ride and we don’t have a car so this is all we could do,” he said.

Those who could afford it dug into their pockets for cab fare.

Myriam Cordoba, 23, of Canoga Park, counted out rolls of change and bills to come up with the $37.70 for her taxi ride to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar.

The cost, she lamented, was $8 more than what she makes in a day as a nanny.

Taxi companies reported a higher number of calls than usual Monday morning as stranded commuters desperately searched for rides to work and school.

“We are inundated,” said Debbie Waters, who helps oversee operations for Valley Cab Co., based in Van Nuys. “We are always busy, but it was worse than normal.”

Hagop Hakverdian, a 48-year-old taxi driver from Sherman Oaks, started his day just after 5 a.m., an hour earlier than usual. “A lot of my [passengers] were complaining and cursing about the strike,” he said. “They weren’t happy about having to find a way to get to work.”

Or making sure the kids got to school.

Freddy Hernandez, 15, of Sun Valley, said he had to leave home in the dark Monday morning--an hour earlier than usual--so he could hitch a ride with his father, who works near Taft High School in Woodland Hills. Freddy then hung out until 7 a.m. with a friend who lives close to the school.

But he had no contingency plan for the afternoon.

“How am I going to get home?” he wondered aloud.

Schools Report Increased Absences

Taft senior Elmer Arana, 16, of Arleta, listed his numerous problems.

Slurping down orange juice, he said his father didn’t want to wake up early every morning to take him across the Valley to Taft. After school he needs to be at CityWalk in Universal City by 5 for his job. His mom can’t help out because she works at a Westside hospital. And if he skips work, it would be irresponsible.

“I honestly don’t know what is going to happen,” Elmer said.

Myra Fullerton, Taft principal, said student absences almost doubled Monday--from about 100 each day last week to 196.

“I fielded some phone calls from students saying they wouldn’t be able to get to school because of the strike,” Fullerton said. “I saw parents dropping kids off later than usual. Students were late all through” first period.

At Van Nuys High School, absences were up 50%, according to one official.

The impact of the strike on local businesses was mixed. Some companies reported higher-than-usual absentee rates while some others provided van pickup service or encouraged workers to carpool.

At Precision Dynamics in Pacoima, which employs about 365 people, human resources director Bob Shaub said about 10% of employees use MTA buses and most of them appeared to have arranged carpools or rides with family.

“Our employees are pretty chummy,” Shaub said. “I’m sure they will find other means of getting to work. We haven’t seen a big impact.”

A spokesman for Molly Maid house-cleaning service in Woodland Hills also said it was business as usual Monday, though company officials made transportation arrangements for about half of their 15 employees.

Not everyone was so fortunate.

At the Smart Shuttle stop on Victory Boulevard, just east of Sepulveda Boulevard, Lela Del Real, 29, of Van Nuys, was already late to her clerk’s job at Robinsons-May in North Hollywood. She had been waiting an hour and a half. “It’s a lot of cut wages, because I work 9 to 6,” she said as her watch ticked past 9:30. “I hate being late for work.”

Behind her, Miriam Lemus, 29, of North Hills, nervously twirled a soda bottle. She had left her home at 7:30 and usually takes two shuttles to work. This time she didn’t expect to be able get to her job at Panda Express in Burbank by 10:30 a.m, she said.

With extra shuttles added to some routes, Smart Shuttle ridership in the northeast Valley doubled on Monday, said Scott Manchan, project manager.

Highway, Metrolink Traffic Unaffected

In some cases, the strike defied logic.

Police and California Highway Patrol spokesmen reported no discernible increase in traffic or accidents on streets and freeways. And several Metrolink stations actually seemed less crowded than normal.

Metrolink had added four trains on both its Valley-crossing Ventura County and Antelope Valley lines for increased afternoon service, but some regular riders may have opted to drive to work because of the lack of MTA bus and subway service at the end of the line downtown, said John Schwarzenbach, a Metrolink “transit ambassador” at the Van Nuys station.

He also wondered how many regular MTA riders knew that their passes were now valid on the more expensive Metrolink trains.

“So far,” Schwarzenbach said of the expected deluge of riders, “it’s a wash.”

The first rider to arrive at the Northridge Metrolink station Monday was Phyllis Sandler, 54, who pulled up to the dark, hazy depot in a taxi at about 5:15 a.m.

Sandler, a Northridge resident, usually takes an MTA bus to another Metrolink station on the Antelope Valley Line. She paid $5 for Monday’s taxi ride, hoping that her employer in Glendale would agree to pick up her extra commuting costs.

Commuter Express buses, run by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, also ran smoothly from the Valley to downtown.

At the park-and-ride lot at Hayvenhurst Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard in Encino, a relieved Edgar Rios, 17, settled into his seat on an air-conditioned bus.

Since the Red Line subway opened, he said, he had loved the convenience of a 10-minute walk to the bus stop, then a ride to the Universal City Red Line subway stop, then--zip--he was downtown.

But on Monday, it was a 30-minute walk to the Commuter Express stop, and he wondered if he would reach his McDonald’s job at 7th and Hill streets in downtown L.A. on time.

While many people were improvising bus and subway alternatives, a few unlucky souls were caught off guard.

Some Didn’t Get the Word

Outside a bus stop in Sylmar, Wan Taek Shin stood waiting patiently. He needed to get to a job at a Koreatown church and his car was in the shop. When told of the strike, he strode quickly down the street, briefcase in hand.

The disruptions in the San Fernando Valley--which stretches nearly 20 miles from Chatsworth to Tujunga, and 14 miles from Sylmar south to Sherman Oaks--was not lost on advocates of a separate breakaway transit system.

The proposed Valley bus system would be the second-largest in the county, after the MTA.

Bruce Ackerman, president of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, said the strike “supports what we’ve been saying all along, which is: We should have a separate transit authority similar to other independents like the Foothill Transit.”

Contributing to this story were staff writers Andrew Blankstein, Jeffrey Gettleman, Hilary E. MacGregor, Patrick McGreevy and Kristina Sauerwein and correspondents Richard Fausset and Grace E. Jang.