MTA MAY DIRECT FUNDING TO NETWORK OF `RAPID BUSES'; VEHICLES WOULD OVERRIDE STREETS' TRAFFIC SIGNALS, USE SPECIAL LANES.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer

With $1.3 billion to spend by 2004, MTA managers said Thursday the first priority should be the creation of a network of ``rapid buses'' that could override traffic signals and use dedicated busways.

``The (rapid-bus) proposal identified important and immediate improvements to the bus system, which serves 95 percent of the transit dependent,'' Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, said in a prepared statement issued after the board discussed the plan for improvements.

``The overall plan provides for a balanced system of bus, rail and highway improvements,'' Riordan added.

Because the MTA board voted in January to suspend federally funded subway extensions to the Eastside and Mid-City, federal officials have required the agency to explore alternatives for serving the same communities.

Of the $1.3 billion expected to be available for the improvements, about $266 million will result from suspended rail projects and much of the rest will result from a massive federal transit bill approved this year.

The board is expected to consider the proposals during Nov. 9 and Nov. 19 meetings, but some members said they expect it will take more time.

The gold-painted rapid buses would make fewer stops than regular buses, travel long routes and be outfitted with technology that would allow them to override traffic signals so the buses would get mostly green lights.

The rapid-bus plan, as proposed by an MTA consultant, would include 300 to 400 buses on a network of 16 routes, four of them serving the San Fernando Valley: downtown to Sylmar along San Fernando Road, from Sylmar to Westwood on Van Nuys Boulevard; from the North Hollywood subway station to Warner Center via a northerly route along Roscoe Boulevard, and from the Universal City subway station to Warner Center along Ventura Boulevard with a branch line to California State University, Northridge, up Reseda Boulevard.

Nate Brogin, a vice president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, said the rapid-bus system won't help much unless ``flyovers'' are constructed at major intersections - improvements that take one street up and over the cross street.

``I don't think signal pre-emption or override is enough,'' Brogin said.

In addition to the rapid-bus proposal, MTA management is proposing a universal fare system that would be in operation on all transit systems, from bus to rail, throughout Los Angeles County, making it easier for passengers to go from one line to another.

Douglas Carter, a consultant with Booz-Allen & Hamilton, presented the report Thursday with a series of highly tentative findings and a few recommendations to the board on those alternatives. ``This is a work in process,'' Carter told the board.

``We need to look at all the options, from (car-pool) lanes to a rapid-bus network to light rail,'' county Supervisor Don Knabe, an MTA board member, said in an interview.

Even a subway may be appropriate in some areas where above-ground transit doesn't make sense, he said.

Knabe and Duarte City Councilman John Fasana, also an MTA board member, said the report was issued only within the last few days and it's too early to say how the board will respond to it.

The Bus Riders Union also is digesting the report, but has found much to like initially, especially the proposed countywide rapid-bus network, said organizer Kikanza Ramsey.