MTA LEADERS BULLISH ON VALLEY'S BUSWAY.

Byline: RACHEL URANGA and SUE DOYLE Staff Writers

Encouraged by the Orange Line's continuing popularity 10 1/2 months after it opened, MTA officials said Tuesday that they want to extend the busway six miles north along Canoga Avenue -- a route that could carry passengers from Warner Center to Chatsworth in less than 15 minutes.

While the expansion could dislodge dozens of established industrial businesses, officials said it would boost ridership and encourage more economic development around commercial centers.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking at initiating environmental studies for the $135 million project, which would be built along the old railroad right of way through the commercial-industrial corridor.

``There is something about the Orange Line that is drawing people out of cars. We ought to build on it. We should not just declare victory,'' said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, an MTA board member and champion of the Orange Line.

``This doesn't just connect people to Chatsworth. People that are coming in from the northwest, from Simi Valley, to get to Warner Center, they will have an alternative.''

The idea must still be approved in committee before it goes to the full board. If approved, the extension could be completed by 2012.

The route, as imagined by MTA officials, would be one of the quickest transit north-south connections -- about 10 to 14 minutes -- across the Valley basin.

The extension would also link one of the region's largest job centers, Warner Center, to the Chatsworth Metrolink station along a railroad right of way paralleling Canoga Avenue.

``Right now we are not connected. We have the dots but we don't have the lines,'' said Bruce Ackerman, president and chief executive of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. He expects the new line to further spur economic development in the corridor and around the shopping district along Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

MTA officials are pushing for the project to get approved before year's end in order to capture $98 million in state funds that must be allocated by January 2009.

But for about 36 properties along the industrial stretch dotted with auto-repair shops, tire stores and box-shape warehouses, the new line could mean an end to their businesses.

Green Light Auto Sales is among the businesses leasing the land from the MTA that have stood along the railway corridor for decades.

Rusted train tracks slice through their lots. Green Light Auto Sales owner Michael Sanatkar said he will wait for official notice about the bus line before he thinks about packing up shop and relocating.

``Everything happens for a reason. And in this part of the world, that reason is money,'' he said, referring to increased revenues for the MTA through bus fares.

MTA officials say they will not begin reaching out to the community for comment before the board fully approves the idea.

But the idea behind the line is to create a major corridor that connects the northern and southern ends of the San Fernando Valley and reduces traffic congestion along surface streets.

The extension would be an appealing alternative to freeways for those on the western edge of the Valley, MTA officials say.

Right now, the closest Park and Ride lot for the Orange Line serving residents of West Hills, Canoga Park and other northwestern communities is at Pierce College. The new extension would connect to a new Park and Ride lot near Victory Boulevard that could open as early as December.

Still, earlier MTA studies have shown there is a far greater need along Van Nuys Boulevard and other corridors that cut through the heart of the Valley.

``The idea is that this is the first in a series of improvements,'' said Richard Katz, a mayoral appointee to the MTA board. ``It's not the end-all or the be-all.''

Over the next year, the MTA expects to open a Rapid Line bus along Sepulveda and Reseda boulevards, and efforts are under way to extend the San Diego Freeway car-pool lane from Wilshire Boulevard to the Century Freeway.

Still, Yaroslavsky called the proposed extension a ``steal'' because of the strong ridership appeal of the Orange Line, the state money available for congestion relief and the MTA's ownership of the Canoga Avenue right of way.

Daily boardings on the Orange Line dropped in August from 20,760 to 19,531, but officials say bus ridership always dissipates during the summer months when students are on break. Up until August, the busway's ridership was on an upward trajectory since its opening on Oct. 29 last year.

Metrolink commuter Christian Devett was excited about the proposed Orange Line extension and said he would take it to Warner Center. Although a public bus already runs along the same route, he said adding another would help because buses can be late, drivers don't always stop, and routes can change with notice.

``It would be convenient for everyone,'' the Chatsworth man said. ``I would take it.''

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, chart

Photo:

(1) Michael Sanatkar, co-owner of Green Light Auto Sales, stands Tuesday where unused train tracks end at his car lot on Canoga Avenue. The rail right of way could be taken for an extension of the Orange Line busway from Warner Center to the Chatsworth Metrolink station.

(2) A new parking lot and bus turnaround are under construction on Canoga Avenue, north of Victory Boulevard, in Canoga Park.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Chart:

Orange Line popularity

SOURCE: Metropolitan Transportation Authority

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