For bus service, the future is here.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

It's show time - and "show me" time - for the Lane Transit District's foray into the brave new world of bus rapid transit.

After 12 years of pondering, partnering and preaching, the EmX "Green Line" will shuttle riders between downtown Springfield and downtown Eugene beginning Sunday morning - even before a formal dedication about noon in Eugene.

The stakes are high for a system that supporters see as a visionary response to a traffic-clogged future, and that some critics decry as a $24 million boondoggle that may or may not shave minutes from bus travel times.

"It's a show-me deal now," said Mark Pangborn, LTD's general manager, in a meeting with Register-Guard editorial writers on Tuesday. `People are saying, `I want to see it and then I'll tell you how much I like it.' '

In alternative transportation circles, the EmX is viewed as a model project - especially for a community as relatively small as Eugene-Springfield. Traffic designers from as far away as Israel have come to study the project, and Pangborn said he expects many more to visit after the EmX line is up and running.

James Simpson, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, will be among the dignitaries on hand Sunday - testimony to the high regard and high hopes government planners have for the EmX, LTD officials said. U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., also will attend.

The Green Line's 60-foot-long buses will carry passengers along a four-mile route that connects the Springfield Station and the Eugene Station via Franklin Boulevard.

Sixty percent of the route features exclusive bus-only lanes, integral to LTD's long-stated goal of getting riders from one downtown to the other in 16 minutes.

Actual run time is still a question mark, however, with trial runs during the past several weeks ranging from 13 minutes to 19 minutes or longer.

Complicating factors have included the need to negotiate curving bus lanes around tree-lined medians, and glitches in the signal priority and block signaling systems designed to speed travel time, LTD spokesman Andy Vobora said.

The transit district has billed EmX as providing an initial 25 percent savings in travel time, compared with 22-minute trips involving the existing Route 11 bus line. However, LTD's current bus schedule shows Route 11 run times between the two downtown terminals ranging anywhere from 13 to 21 minutes.

Vobora said the Route 11 bus often has run late, and the 22-minute benchmark is tied to actual travel time during peak hours.

Unlike Route 11, in which buses are scheduled to arrive every 15 or 30 minutes, depending on the time of day, the EmX is slated to show up at each of eight stations every 10 minutes. Four of the hybrid electric-diesel buses will ply the route at any given time.

While trying to keep expectations in check, LTD officials have said they expect ridership on the EmX to ultimately increase 50 percent - to 4,200 boardings a day compared with the current 2,800.

Helping them get there could be this crucial factor: Riding the EmX, at least for the first several years, will be free.

The so-called Franklin Corridor is the first of what LTD hopes is as many as five EmX legs. LTD has identified a Pioneer Parkway loop in Springfield as the second EmX corridor, and is looking to west Eugene for a third corridor.

The key, Pangborn said, is to reach a "tipping point" where a connection of corridors will make bus rapid transit attractive to a critical mass of riders - especially as regular traffic worsens.

One of the immediate concerns leading into Sunday's debut is motorists' limited familiarity with the EmX.

At some locations, EmX operates in the opposite direction of other traffic. Drivers making left turns need to be sure to look both ways before crossing a bus lane. Special signing has been erected at some intersections to alert motorists to the new realities.

Also, the bus lanes really are for buses only. Parking in the EmX lane can result in a $25 ticket, and driving in the EmX lane can produce a ticket of $237.

EmX DEBUT The bus rapid transit system begins on Sunday. First bus: The first EmX bus will leave the Springfield Station at 8:10 a.m. Sunday and arrive at the Eugene Station at 8:26 a.m. The first departure from the Eugene Station will be at 8:29 a.m. Dedication: An EmX bus of dignitaries will arrive at the Eugene Station about 11:51 a.m. Sunday, with brief remarks and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bay S. The ceremony then will continue at the Downtown Athletic Club in Eugene shortly after noon. Speakers will include U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., FTA Administrator James Simpson, ODOT Director Matthew Garrett and LTD board President Gerry Gaydos. More information: Call 682-6100, e-mail [e-mail] or visit www.ltd.org.