BUSWAYS ARE MOST COST-EFFECTIVE TRANSIT OPTION.

Byline: Richard Riordan 

TODAY the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will set the direction for transit improvements in the next decade. The MTA stands poised to end its focus on rail and begin the process of building and operating fast, effective busways to improve countywide transit service, including service across the San Fernando Valley.

With future rail construction in Los Angeles canceled indefinitely, the need to serve those who rely on public transportation and provide viable alternatives to driving still exists.

The question facing the agency is simple: How can the MTA ensure that the most service is provided to the most parts of the county as quickly as possible?

The MTA must improve service in transit-dependent areas and provide faster, more reliable connections to outlying areas of the county, especially where greater job opportunities exist. These connections are vital to building a strong middle class. Linking employment centers also makes the system a viable alternative to driving.

The most cost-effective way to advance these goals is through a series of ``bus rapid transit'' (BRT) lines that extend and leverage the existing rail transit network. BRT is essentially a subway on wheels, designed to offer all the advantages of a rail system at a fraction of the cost. By using low-floor buses and priority traffic signals, BRT will produce travel speeds comparable to surface light rail.

The flexibility of BRT makes it well-suited for the complex travel patterns of a sprawling Los Angeles that has little available land for new transit systems. Better bus service also helps MTA's bottom line: Fewer delays for buses means lower operating costs. Saving money means the MTA can fund additional services to continue to better meet the public's travel needs.

A vital element of the proposed BRT projects is that they can provide service to many different parts of the county by 2004. BRT service is proposed for Wilshire Boulevard and 1st/3rd/Whittier in East Los Angeles. New busways are also proposed for the Mid-City/Exposition and San Fernando Valley Burbank-Chandler railroad rights-of-way already owned by the MTA.

The Wilshire busway will serve the second highest ridership and most commercially dense corridor in the county. The Wilshire, Eastside and Exposition lines all will directly serve highly transit-dependent areas.

The Wilshire, Exposition and Burbank-Chandler busways also will serve five of the top 13 employment centers in the county - Beverly Hills, Century City, Warner Center, West Los Angeles and Universal City - as well as the Van Nuys Civic Center. Combined with current rail lines, almost 25 percent of all county jobs will be served by rail or BRT.

Perhaps most important, BRT is up to 20 times less expensive than subway and one-third the cost of surface light-rail systems per mile. This means that more service can be provided sooner. Some 56 miles of new service will be added, almost doubling rail service and carrying over 21 million trips per year.

County population will grow 33 percent by 2020, with total travel and delays increasing even faster. The MTA does not have the luxury of slowly building expensive lines while most of the county waits and gets nothing. This means that new transit services in the next decade will favor more affordable bus rapid transit.

Every part of the county was promised better transportation when voters approved two half-cent sales taxes in 1980 and 1990. It is imperative that the MTA keeps this promise by fairly improving transit in all parts of the county.

Today we must focus our energy on what we can do in our lifetime. While by no means a panacea for all of Los Angeles' transportation problems, BRT is nevertheless effective, pragmatic and politically feasible, passing three important tests for any public policy. With proper design and management, busways will provide exceptional service to those who rely on public transportation and those looking to get out of their cars. And, best of all, bus rapid transit systems can be up and running in two to three years.