TRANSIT: Several lines in the Valley among those slated to be eliminated.
Faced with budget cuts, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will reduce or eliminate service on several bus lines next week, while expanding rush-hour service on its light-rail Gold Line.
The cuts prompted outrage from the Bus Riders Union, which plans a protest in downtown Los Angeles this morning.
BRU organizer Sunyoung Yang said bus service has eroded steadily over the last several years, which has "put a tremendous burden on low-income people and people of color who rely on the bus to get around."
Metro spokesman Marc Littman offered assurances that passengers would not be stranded by the cuts.
"We took great pains to make sure that where we did have to cut bus service, that line was either underutilized or duplicated by Metro or other municipal bus operators, and we made sure there would be alternative service within a quarter-mile," he said.
Weekday service will be discontinued on Line 634, which runs along Hubbard Avenue in the Mission College and Sylmar areas; and Line 902, which runs along Van Nuys and Burbank boulevards in Pacoima and North Hollywood. Lines 247, 335 and 445 are also being eliminated.
Weekend service also will end on Line 794, which runs between downtown Los Angeles and Sun Valley via San Fernando Road. Weekend service on Lines 485, 751, 757, 760 also will be ended.
Service will be modified on other lines to pick up the slack.
The new schedules are posted on Advertisement
Littman defended the cuts as necessary, saying Metro's current number of bus lines is excessive, routinely creating budget deficits.
"The reality is that we couldn't have sustained racking up deficits that were exceeding $100 million year after year," he said.
According to Littman, Metro's average bus ridership is only 42 percent of capacity, which means many buses cannot fill half of their seats with passengers. He added that fares cover only 29 percent of the cost of operating Metro's buses and trains, the rest is subsidized.
Littman said eliminating or reducing service on underused and redundant bus lines will free up money so that Metro can finally clear its backlog of maintenance work to ensure buses don't break down and affect on-time performance.
Metro is not shrinking its bus service entirely. The Silver Line, which operates along the Harbor Freeway Transitway - El Monte-Los Angeles-Artesia - will be expanded to run every 15 minutes during middays on weekdays, and every 40 minutes on Saturday.
Also on Monday, Metro will boost rush-hour train service on its 19.7-mile light rail Gold Line between Pasadena and East Los Angeles, which includes a stop at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.
To handle continued ridership growth, the trains will operate every six minutes from 6-8:30 a.m. and 3:30-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The trains currently operate every seven or eight minutes.
Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18342665?source=rss
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