COUNCIL WANTS SHUTTLES TO FILL MTA BUS GAPS.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Concerned that MTA cuts in bus service will strand thousands of riders, the City Council directed the Los Angeles Transportation Department on Tuesday to develop shuttle services to take over abandoned routes.

Councilmen Hal Bernson and Richard Alarcon took the step in response to a proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to cut back service on more than a dozen bus lines in the San Fernando Valley.

``It's important for us to send a message that we are concerned whenever the MTA proposes to cut services in our neighborhoods,'' Alarcon said.

Bernson said cuts planned to take effect beginning in April include the elimination of weekend service on Line 166, which serves 1,300 passengers a day on busy Nordhoff Street, including the campus of CSUN and the Northridge Fashion Center.

``My No. 1 priority is to deal with transit-dependent people,'' Bernson said.

The council told Transportation Department officials to work with MTA officials to develop Smart Shuttle and Dash lines, to be paid for in large measure by the MTA, to fill gaps caused by the elimination of services.

Dash lines run on small, fixed routes, and fares are as low as 25 cents.

The Smart Shuttle program, begun three months ago as an experiment, sends buses on a circular route, but buses can be diverted for short distances to pick up people at homes and businesses before returning to the route.

Councilman Mike Hernandez questioned using Smart Shuttles because they have not been proved to work and their fares can be $2 or more, which is too much for people used to lower MTA bus rates.

Hernandez voted for the transit effort after amending the motion to find ways to reduce the Smart Shuttle fares on new routes.

Bernson, an MTA board member, plans to try to block the agency's board Thursday from approving the cuts in bus service, proposed to make up for a $50 million funding gap.

But if that fails, Bernson said he will press for the city to withhold a portion of its $200 million share of subway project costs unless the MTA agrees to finance the new shuttles.

``If MTA is going to cut service in areas that are critical, we're going to ask them to help finance that,'' Bernson said of the shuttle proposal.