PANELS LOOK AT SPEEDIER BUS ROUTES.

Byline: Eric Moses Daily News Staff Writer

While subway alternatives for the Eastside were announced Monday, officials of two agencies were working on studies for one or more busways that could speed passengers around the San Fernando Valley in coming years.

The intent of the separate Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Southern California Association of Governments studies is to find less expensive alternatives to the east-west Valley subway project and other major transit projects countywide that have been shelved.

At the heart of Valley transit improvements would be a busway using extra-long buses that would shuttle passengers between Warner Center and the North Hollywood subway station now under construction, according to two studies now under way.

On Monday, the city of Los Angeles and Councilman Richard Alatorre, who is an MTA board member, announced plans for express buses with so-called signal prioritization on major city streets in East Los Angeles and the Mid-City, two other areas where subway plans were shelved by the MTA.

``We don't have any particular street designated for the Valley, but if the City Council wants us to find a demonstration route in the Valley, we could develop something like this,'' said James Okazaki, assistant general manager of the city Transportation Department.

Simultaneously, the MTA has been studying mass transit alternatives for the suspended rail projects to the Eastside, Mid-City, Pasadena and San Fernando Valley. Last week, a House subcommittee recommended giving the MTA $8 million in federal funding for the study.

The Woodland Hills-North Hollywood busway proposal under discussion at the MTA would feature high-capacity buses along the defunct Chandler Boulevard rail right-of-way, said Jim de la Loza, MTA executive officer for regional planning.

The underlying premise behind the busway, which is akin to a light rail line without the rail and is modeled after a bus-only route used in Brazil, is to increase the speed of service.

To do that, no regular traffic would be permitted in the busway, buses would be equipped with devices to change traffic lights, passengers would purchase fares before getting on board and the accordion-like buses would have as many as four extra-wide doors for quick entry and exit, de la Loza said.

The busway could be built for about $15 million a mile instead the $300 million a mile for subway.

The MTA study will leave open the possibility of converting to rail later when money is available.

``In any right-of-way we could start off with a rapid bus solution and upgrade it to rail as ridership builds,'' de la Loza said.

The second and more regional plan, proposed by SCAG, will call for busways along Chandler and three other routes - Roscoe and Van Nuys boulevards and Canoga Avenue - with flyovers at intersections.

``All of this alignment will link into existing Metrolink service and the planned subway in North Hollywood,'' said Hasan Ikhrata, SCAG's manager of transportation analysis.

``Buses can go between 35 to 50 mph as opposed to the 10 to 15 mph they go today.''

The busway idea was included in the Regional Transportation Plan SCAG's board approved earlier this spring, but the details will come out in a report to be given to the MTA in mid-August, Ikhrata said.

Much like a report about alternatives for East Los Angeles issued to the MTA Planning Department last week, SCAG's Valley report will examine the transit situation in the Valley and propose possible immediate and long-term solution, Ikhrata said.

``I know we all want to put in subways, but the reality is we don't have money at this time, and I hope money comes available to put in subways to the Eastside and the Valley,'' Ikhrata said.