A LITTLE BIT FASTER NEW BUS SET TO CUT COMMUTE TIME.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

A shorter commute means housekeeper Claudia Mazariegos could spend more time with her young daughter before going to work, Pacoima mom Maria Baca could tidy up around the house before she walks out the door, and Arleta resident Rudy Martinez could enjoy a leisurely breakfast.

So they have high hopes for a speedier ride to work aboard the new Metro Rapid bus route that made its weekday debut Monday along Van Nuys Boulevard.

``Instead of rushing through breakfast, I could relax a little bit with the paper before getting on the bus,'' said Martinez, 43, who hopes to shave 30 minutes off his two-hour commute to Sony headquarters in Culver City. ``I'm hoping it's better.''

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority promises the new route will eventually shave 25 percent off a typical commute, which means just over an hour to get from Lake View Terrace to the University of California, Los Angeles.

The new 761 Line, modeled after the popular Metro Rapid on Ventura Boulevard, makes fewer stops and relies on technology that keeps traffic signals green as the buses approach. It replaces Line 561.

But the MTA said the route opened without the green-light technology fully constructed, so buses averaged only a 15 percent to 20 percent time savings.

Delays in awarding the contracts stalled the work, which now is slated to be finished in September, officials said.

The MTA decided to go ahead with the opening anyway, saying even a modest time saving would benefit the 18,800 people who ride the Van Nuys lines daily.

``Our goal is to get our speed advantages out there as fast as we can,'' said MTA spokesman Ed Scannell, adding that service may be adjusted, based on periodic reviews.

Martinez, the Sony employee, said he had been counting on the 25 percent time savings when he boarded the bus early Monday.

``If that's the case, I'm going to be late today. I was expecting for it to be done,'' said Martinez, who saved just 10 minutes on his first Metro Rapid ride. ``I'm hoping once they get everything on schedule, a half-hour will make a big difference.''

Mazariegos, 27, boards the bus at 7 a.m. in Sylmar and returns home at 5 p.m. - about a five-hour commute for about as much work.

She still needs two other buses to complete her trip to Pacific Palisades, but was anticipating the benefits of the new Rapid bus.

``I decided to take this one today because I hope it would be better, faster,'' she said. ``Still three buses, but faster.''

But Gunasena Hennadige, coming home from working the night shift as a cashier at a Los Angeles International Airport parking lot, worries about how he'll get back to work since there are no longer late-night buses on the route.

``It's a problem for me,'' said Hennadige, a former planning official from Sri Lanka who moved his family to Van Nuys last year, and starts work at 11:30 p.m.

``Daytime, I think we can manage it. There's so many buses. Nighttime, it's very difficult,'' he said. ``If they could provide one bus for LAX at the nighttime, that's very useful.''

But Baca, the Pacoima mom, talked about how fast new service takes her to her cleaning job at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills - just 50 minutes total on the Van Nuys Metro Rapid bus, then 20 minutes on Ventura Boulevard Metro Rapid.

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

The new Metro Rapid bus on the Van Nuys line loads in Westwood on its way back to Sylmar on its weekday debut Monday.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

Map:

VAN NUYS BLVD. METRO RAPID

SOURCE: MTA

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