Safety of Busway Assailed

A citizens group opposed to a planned San Fernando Valley east-west busway alleges that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is pushing the project forward despite evidence of potential dangers.

In its ongoing lawsuit against the MTA, Citizens Organized for Smart Transit stated in its brief filed late Monday: “The impacts of this ‘bus highway’ are many, but foremost among them is safety. A facility of this type, at street grade and without barriers or crossing gates ... would on its face have the potential for serious safety risks.”

The group also contends that the MTA has used flawed data in its environmental impact and safety analyses of the 14-mile busway, which would use a defunct rail corridor on Chandler and Victory boulevards to provide transit between Warner Center in Woodland Hills and the North Hollywood Red Line subway station. Its lawsuit seeks to void the busway’s environmental impact report, calling it “a paper exercise designed to feign compliance” with California’s Environmental Quality Act.

MTA lawyers declined Tuesday to discuss the group’s latest allegations, saying they are preparing a written response that they would file next month. An Oct. 4 hearing is scheduled before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Yaffe.

In the meantime, the busway is proceeding as planned, with construction slated to begin in spring 2003 and be completed by spring 2005, said MTA spokesman Ed Scannell.

While the busway’s advocates say the project would provide a needed boost to the Valley’s mass transit system, opponents say its $329.5-million price tag would be better used to expand the Valley’s rapid bus lines, which run on regular streets at a fraction of the cost.

Tom Rubin, a transportation consultant and member of the opposing group’s executive committee, said he believes the busway could be much more dangerous than the MTA’s Blue Line because of its numerous street-level crossings.

The Blue Line, which runs from downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach, had the highest light-rail accident rate in the state during the 1990s, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. But, unlike the Blue Line, the proposed busway will not have any warning bells or safety gates for crossing drivers or pedestrians, Rubin said.

The busway will cross at least 40 streets, including numerous intersections that are crooked and difficult to control, court papers said.

Others say the dangers of the planned busway are exaggerated.

“People have been crossing Chandler Boulevard for decades,” said Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, a Sylmar-based rider advocacy group. “Now, all of a sudden because they’re putting in a busway ... it becomes impossible to cross the street?”